Kohl's to stay open 107 hours straight before Christmas

The end of the marathon opening, Super Saturday, falls on both Christmas Eve and the first night of Hannukah, but heavy discounts could hurt margins.

By Daphne Howland • Dec. 14, 2016

Nordstrom rolls out CashStar eGifting service

The service, a more personal alternative to traditional gift cards, could help retailers increase sales conversion rates and reduce unwanted gift returns.

By Dan O'Shea • Dec. 13, 2016

Wal-Mart sets last-minute holiday pickup, delivery cutoff times

The retail giant, like rival Target, is catering to procrastinating holiday shoppers with omnichannel services.

By Daphne Howland • Dec. 13, 2016

Report: UPS, FedEx struggling to keep pace with holiday e-commerce explosion

On-time delivery rates have been down since Thanksgiving compared to other periods of the year.

By Daphne Howland • Dec. 13, 2016

November retail hiring plummets to 6-year low

U.S. retailers added 521,800 workers during the first two months of the 2016 holiday season, plunging 14% from year-ago totals, according to global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

By Daphne Howland • Dec. 13, 2016

Mall of America, Fashion Island get AI boost from IBM, Satisfi

Mall of America is debuting Experiential List Formulator (ELF) just in time to help visitors manage their holiday shopping and other activities, while Fashion Island is rolling out a mobile concierge called At Your Service.

By Dan O'Shea • Dec. 12, 2016

Holiday discounts up 52% over last year, returns surging

Retailers should brace themselves for reduced margins and more returns than last year, according to DynamicAction’s Retail Holiday 2016 Index.

By Daphne Howland • Dec. 12, 2016

Nordstrom launches its first chatbot for holiday push

Chatbot users will be prompted with questions about gift criteria and the chatbot will reply with multiple shopping ideas.

By Dan O'Shea • Dec. 11, 2016

Oh, Superman: The 10 worst toys of 2016

Slimeballs, elephant pillows and Doomhammers are just a few of the dangers lurking in gift boxes this holiday season.

By Jason Ankeny, Corinne Ruff • Dec. 7, 2016

Holiday season starts slow with 9% drop in ad spend

Retailers’ ad budgets are in transition as shopping behaviors change.

By Chantal Tode • Dec. 5, 2016

Mall of America gets new interactive info kiosks from Express Image

The kiosks feature a search function, step-by-step directions, dynamic pop-ups and text-to-phone features.

By Dan O'Shea • Dec. 4, 2016

Report: Amazon wins Cyber Monday sales crown, but falls shy of Prime Day totals

The e-commerce giant accounted for 30.9% of total revenue generated from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, according to research from Slice Intelligence.

By Daphne Howland • Dec. 2, 2016

Hacked, embellished, high-waisted and premium: 6 fashion experts on the denim that will dominate 2017

Brands like Gap, LVMH, Levi Strauss, Citizens of Humanity and VF are spearheading a premium denim renaissance that now accounts for more than a quarter of the jeanswear market. Here's what’s new in denim — and what’s next.

By Lara Ewen • Nov. 30, 2016

Digital's role on Black Friday ramps up across mobile search, prospecting and retargeting

Two sets of data reinforce shopping’s omnichannel evolution. 

By Chantal Tode • Nov. 30, 2016

4 takeaways from Cyber Monday 2016

Another Cyber Monday, another website outage fiasco. This year, Gap Inc. brands Old Navy and Banana Republic suffered disruptions for much of the afternoon.

By Corinne Ruff • Nov. 30, 2016

How retailers can protect themselves against cyber threats this holiday season

Retailers face a range of security threats, including point-of-sale issues, distributed denial-of-service attacks, inferior IT infrastructure and lax information security procedures. Here's how they can mitigate losses.

By Brian Dunphy • Nov. 30, 2016

EBay pop-up uses biometrics to ease gift-buying stress

A study from eBay and analytics firm Lightwave suggests the pressure of holiday shopping stress is akin to running a marathon, and that 60% of shoppers hit a "wall of disenchantment" after only about 32 minutes, feeling too fatigued to go on.

By Dan O'Shea • Nov. 29, 2016

Shopping via mobile popular on Black Friday, paying by mobile definitely wasn't

Mobile payments were used for only 0.6% of in-store purchases nationwide, according to data from payments firm Cayan.

By Dan O'Shea • Nov. 29, 2016

Report: iPhones in highest demand for holiday gifts

Analysts have worried that Apple didn’t innovate its devices much, but Piper Jaffray’s fifth annual Holiday Spending Intentions Survey found that the iPhone remains the most requested gift this year.

By Daphne Howland • Nov. 29, 2016

H&M unveils Wes Anderson holiday short starring Adrien Brody

The fast-fashion retailer's hire of idiosyncratic filmmaker Anderson is quite a coup. 

By Daphne Howland • Nov. 29, 2016

Under Armour app tracks how much people ate — and exercised — on Thanksgiving Day

MyFitnessPal app users across the country burned more calories on Turkey Day than on an average non-holiday Thursday, the athletic gear retailer found.

By Dan O'Shea • Nov. 28, 2016

UPDATE: Cyber Monday sales surge to record $3.45B

Sales topped forecasts of $3.36 billion, which would have just edged past Black Friday's record-setting $3.34 billion in online purchases, according to Adobe Digital Insights.

By Corinne Ruff • Nov. 28, 2016

The winners and losers of Black Friday 2016

Online shopping scaled new highs, and civility plunged to new lows. Here's what you need to know.

By Jason Ankeny • Nov. 28, 2016

More than 122M plan Cyber Monday shopping after record Black Friday

But many more consumers this year are still saving up for their holiday spending, so it could be a late-breaking season for retailers.

By Daphne Howland • Nov. 28, 2016

A retailer's guide to Black Friday 2016

The biggest shopping weekend of the year has arrived. Here are the trends to watch, the Twitter accounts to follow and much more.

By Jason Ankeny • Nov. 23, 2016