The end of summer means back to school and major sales for Labor Day. The National Retail Federation is predicting back-to-school sales will reach a record per-family high this year of $696.70. However, since fewer families have school age children, overall spending will drop to $26.2 billion, down from $27.5 billion last year. Forbes takes a look at what mall retailers should consider for back to school, especially looking past Labor Day for sales and foot traffic.
In other big August news, Lord & Taylor announced it will be sold to Le Tote, the clothing rental start-up. This article examines why new is buying old.
KWI’s clients were busy this summer too. Stance was featured on Cheddar TV in honor of the brand’s 10th anniversary and discussing their unique way of including celebrities and athletes in their products. NARS also just celebrated its anniversary of 25 years in business. PopSugar spoke with Francois Nars about his years in the business and 72 new lipstick colors.
Check out other interesting retail news from August below:
1. Like we saw with the Lord & Taylor sale to Le Tote, the resale market is exploding with more and more traditional retailers getting into the game like Ann Taylor, Urban Outfitters and recently announced, Banana Republic. Modern Retail takes a look at the challenges these brands are facing as they add resale and rentals to their offerings.
2. In terms of retail technology, Fast Company explores how Walmart has integrated robots into their stores and how humans are learning to interact with them. According to the article, the last time people had to readjust with having machines in their space was when automobiles became the norm. The growth of robots brings about new challenges for shoppers and workers as they both figure out ways to coexist and help each other.
3. A second Fast Company article examines the growth of Bluetooth in retail and what that may mean for privacy, with retailers like Target and Macy’s using Bluetooth for beacons to share store promotions. However, not all shoppers are aware of what Bluetooth can enable for location tracking purposes and privacy.
4. Luxury Daily reports on a new study from Yotpo on ecommerce returns, finding only 12 percent of shoppers say they have not returned any fashion merchandise in the past year. Returns can be expensive to handle, with common return issues related to fit and ecommerce imagery vs. reality. The report examined the ways to cut down on returns, including user generated content to help shoppers manage expectations on fit, quality and more. The study found that 98 percent of shoppers say that reviews are an important factor in making purchase choices. Additionally, 66 percent of shoppers look to reviews for clues about how an item fits.