More people shopped by phone than by computer over the holidays

Jan 4, 2024
Consumers are more comfortable making impulse buys on smartphones — and retailers know it.
As people get more comfortable shopping on their phones, retailers are offering apps meant to attract and retain time-pressed customers.
Tero Vesalainen/Getty Images

Layoffs signal retailers are adjusting to more sharp turns

Apr 17, 2023
Retailers like Walmart and Best Buy are cutting staff as consumers pull back on discretionary spending.
Retail sales had a weak showing in March, and stores like Best Buy and Walmart are laying off workers.
Ken Betancur/Getty Images

How does a water bottle go viral — and stay viral?

Feb 21, 2023
Stanley, the popular drinkware brand, has transitioned from venerable camping staple to TikTok sensation.
A woman with a Stanley tumbler in hand. Short-form social media has accelerated the trend cycle of various products, says marketing professor Justin Huang.
Courtesy Stanley

How a Seattle retailer hopes to navigate an uncertain holiday season

Dec 3, 2020
Sales estimates are all over the place. Small business owners are hoping to ride out the uncertainty.
 Tom Butcher, right, and Cindy Reichel, left, co-owners of Patchwerks in Seattle. The four-year-old store and online business specializes in synthesizers and other electronic music instruments.
Image provided by Tom Butcher

U.S. was top seller to China during Singles Day

Nov 12, 2020
But overall retail sales in China for the year are still down significantly due to the pandemic.
Workers sort packages for delivery at a warehouse of China Post Group in Hengyang, in central China's Hunan province on Nov. 12, 2020, a day after the end of the Singles Day shopping festival.
STR/AFP via Getty Images

With stores closed, local bookstores lean on online sales

Mar 31, 2020
At Bookshop.org, a platform for independent bookstores, sales are way up.
Keystone/Getty Images

How Bath & Body Works is still going strong

Feb 24, 2020
The company is about to be the last retailer left at L Brands, which is selling Victoria's Secret.
Bath & Body Works is still able to cultivate an in-store experience.
Courtesy of L Brands

For public good, not for profit.

Resellers find treasure in online returns

Aug 8, 2019
Ever wondered where your online returns go? They may be fueling new resale businesses.
Naveed Ahmed uses his living room to sort through returned merchandise from pallets he bids on online. He says he makes between $150 and $200 in profit on each pallet he buys.
Leila Goldstein/Marketplace

What happens when a consumer giant like Edgewell buys a niche retailer like Harry's?

Jun 14, 2019
With deals like this, customers sometimes worry that the smaller brand will abandon its roots.
Edgewell is buying subscription razor company Harry’s. Above, English comic Benny Hill shaves at his flat in London in 1955.
John Pratt/Keystone Features/Getty Images

What Blackstone's purchase of $18 billion worth of warehouse space tells us about e-commerce.

Jun 3, 2019
For online retailers, urban warehouses are the key to same-day delivery.
Packages are prepared for delivery at a warehouse in 2014.
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images