Amazon announced late last week during its fourth quarter conference call to investors that it was planning on raising its Amazon Prime annual subscription of $79 to potentially $99 or even $119. Even though the increase may seem steep, many experts are saying the move will not hurt business.
Even as online shopping continues to grow, more U.S. shoppers are planning to make purchases from physical stores, according to the results of the latest study of “seamless retailing” by Accenture.
Amazon’s fourth quarter financials have been released which show net sales have hit $25.59 billion and an increase of 20% compared to Q4 2012.
If Holiday 2013 demonstrated anything to ecommerce merchants, it was that we need better ways to meet customer expectations and deliver products. So what did we as an industry learn during this challenging holiday season? Here are key observations by ecommerce and catalog operations experts.
Flip Flop Shops announced a master franchise agreement with Middle East fashion leader, Al Mana Fashion Group, W.L.L., that includes significant global expansion with the development of 50 Flip Flop Shops retail locations throughout the region, including shops in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.
As shoppers enter an American Eagle Outfitters store, shopBeacon will welcome and show them location-specific rewards, deals, discounts and product recommendations – without them even having to remember to open the app.
J.C. Penney has announced that it will close 33 under performing stores across the country and laying off 2,000 employees in an effort to save $65 million.
With the threat of showrooming waning, retailers are facing a new challenge: webrooming. This poses a threat to retailers if people webroom on their sites, but purchase at a competitor’s store. But the practice can also be an advantage for retailers if they can find ways to lure webroomers to their own stores.
As part of its ongoing investigation into a security breach discovered last month, Target has determined that the stolen information includes names, mailing addresses, phone numbers or email addresses for up to 70 million individuals.
The Barnes & Noble retail segment, which includes traditional brick-and-mortar stores and BN.com, released its 2013 holiday sales results which show a 6.6% decline compared to last year.