Displays

It is no secret that technology is changing retail as we know it. But what advancements stand to have the biggest impact as we move into 2018? Take a look at the following trends.

Augmented Reality

With the rise of online shopping, the retail experience is becoming less and less about picking up and trying out a physical product in a brick-and-mortar store. Instead, retailers are becoming more adept at leveraging the power of augmented reality to entice customers into buying products. For example, some furniture retailers such as Ikea now allow you

Retailers in the UK are struggling this holiday season as inflation combined with slow wage growth squeeze shoppers. Analysts say that rising food prices are forcing consumers to focus on the essentials – leaving them without extra money for holiday purchases. The amount of money consumers spent on food in the last 12 months, for example, rose by an average of 3.4 percent. That's the biggest increase since March 2013.

November brought relief as growth in retail sales perked up after last month's dip. But Black Friday, the big retail event of the month, failed to fundamentally shift underlying trends in spending, Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, told the Telegraph earlier this month. Food sales were responsible for pretty much all the growth this month as higher prices continue to absorb more of the weekly

It's no secret that the holiday shopping season can make or break a retailer's entire year. A booming season can lead to soaring profits, while failure to capture holiday shoppers' revenue can wreak havoc on finances. So, what can you do to make the most of the holiday season? Be sure to keep the following tips in mind.

1. Bundle products together. Bundling is an excellent way to entice consumers to spend their holiday shopping dollars. By bundling a number of different products together at a discounted price, you can encourage higher spending.

2. Run flash sales. Most retailers run one long holiday sale. But believe it or not, research suggests that running several smaller sales are actually more effective. In fact, email click-to-open rates tend to be much higher for flash sales than for regular sale campaigns. Why? Well, flash sales, especially those that are only available for a few days or even a few hours

US retail sales are on the rise. In September, retail sales saw their biggest increase in the last two years, jumping up by about 1.6 percent according to the US Commerce Department. Experts say this growth has likely been fueled by reconstruction and cleanup efforts in the aftermath of both Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey, meaning the growth could be an anomaly that is the product of market volatility as opposed to the start of a long-term trend of dramatic growth in sales.

The hurricane has driven up the demand for building materials and motor vehicles as people sought to repair homes and replace cars as well as a host of other goods damaged by the hurricanes. For example, sales at gardening retail stores and building material stores also increased significantly last month, growing by an estimated 2.1 percent. Sales for gasoline also increased considerably, with a 5.8 increase in sales at service stations, which was the largest increase reported since February 2013. However,

The holiday season is expected to bring in a staggering $1.05 trillion in sales this holiday season. It used to be that Black Friday was a key day for retailers to capture a significant chunk of these sales. But is the significance of Black Friday decreasing?

When it comes to holiday shopping madness, it would seem that the infamous Black Friday is no longer the headline event for many consumers. According to recent research conducted by the consultancy PwC, just 35 percent of consumers say that they plan to get the majority of their holiday shopping done on Black Friday. That's down from 59 percent in 2015 close to a 25 percent decline in just two years.

The main issue is that retailers are increasingly rolling out their biggest sales to consumers well before Black Friday to ensure they get to capture more of consumers holiday shopping dollars. For example, both Sears and Kmart inaugurated sales on November 1^st that offered their loyalty members up to a 50 percent

When it comes to the holiday season, one of the best parts of holiday shopping is seeing all of the gorgeous window displays. And when it comes to holiday window displays, few cities offer displays as impressive as those of New York. When meandering through the city in December, here are the displays you absolutely won't want to miss:

1. Saks Fifth Avenue: Saks Fifth Avenue is known to have what is arguably among the most ostentatious of all of New York City's holiday window displays, and this year is no different. The theme for Saks 2017 display is "Land of 1,000 Delights. The display boasts heaps of colorful candy, from jumbo swirl lollipops to mountains of rock candy as well as cutting-edge fashion. The best part of all? Six windows display animations of Clara and the Mouse from the famous to The Nutcracker frolicking among all of the sweets.

2. Tiffany & Co: Famous New York jeweler Tiffany & Co. doesn't

According to the National Retail Association, American consumers are expected to shell out $682 billion in holiday shopping this year. That works out to be around $660 per consumer on average, though millennials will spend less ($431), while baby boomers will spend more on average ($800). And given the current state of the economy; unemployment is down, wages are up, and the Consumer Confidence Index has hit its highest levels in 17 years there are indications that this year could go even better than planned for retailers in terms of holiday shopping.

However, while $682 billion is quite a good chunk of money, that isn't to say that the holidays will be equally happy for all retailers this year. It turns out, more and more customers are planning to skip the stores altogether and head straight to the web to make their holiday purchases. A full 84% of shoppers plan to do their holiday shopping online this year, and this year is expected to be the first year that online sales in the