Lululemon has been raising its profile in big-name sports, including a 2024 partnership with the NHL and its growing roster of sports-linked spokespeople, including PGA golfers Min Woo Lee and Max Homa, ATP tennis pro Frances Tiafoe and NFL player DK Metcalf. Now the athleisurewear mainstay will seek to score a touchdown with licensed apparel […]| Retail TouchPoints
Nordstrom is making its bid to be a major holiday destination with gift shops in every store that will feature more than 1,000 items, 90% of which will be priced under $100 and 60% under $50. In-store events will include special appearances by Santa at each store, with Nordstrom cardholders qualifying for free photos with […]| Retail TouchPoints
Calvin Klein has launched the Re-Calvin takeback program in the U.S., allowing consumers to responsibly say goodbye to apparel items from any brand and in virtually any condition. The program — powered by trade-in technology platform Trove alongside sortation and logistics partner Debrand — will sort items for reuse, recycling or responsible disposal, depending on […]| Retail TouchPoints
This story is part of Retail TouchPoints’ ongoing “Small Business, Big Ideas” series, focusing on smaller retail brands that have found big success and have even bigger ambitions. On the path to creating a category-disrupting product, coming up with an idea is often the easiest part. For entrepreneurs who decide they want to take action […]| Retail TouchPoints
RFID tag technology has traditionally faced operational challenges in cold, moist environments such as meat cases, but Walmart is attempting to overcome those challenges by deploying new RFID-enabled labels from materials identification technology provider Avery Dennison. Use of the readable tags in the meat, bakery and deli departments will help associates track inventory faster and […]| Retail TouchPoints
Target Corp., which has been struggling to achieve growth in a difficult economic environment, will cut 1,800 non-field jobs, amounting to approximately 8% of its global headquarters team, according to CNBC. The job cuts will be the first major layoffs at Target in a decade; employees will receive pay and benefits through Jan. 3, 2026, […]| Retail TouchPoints
U.S. consumers can now receive on-demand deliveries of sneakers and sports-related fashion from nearly 900 of Hibbett’s 1,000+ stores via the Uber Eats platform. Hibbett is the latest non-food retailer to partner with Uber Eats: in September 2025 Best Buy partnered with Uber Eats for on-demand delivery from its 800+ stores, following Dollar Tree and […]| Retail TouchPoints
New consumer research from AlixPartners reveals that despite rising inflation and concerns about the impact of tariffs, price alone is no longer the primary driver of consumer purchase decisions in the fashion and beauty sectors. Rather, the 2025 Consumer Sentiment Index report, Fashion: In Flux, reveals that a combination of value, authenticity and strong brand […]| Retail TouchPoints
Beginning early next year, Morrisons will roll out 10.8 million smart electronic shelf labels (ESLs) across its 497 stores, eliminating traditional paper labels and automating the repetitive manual tasks of repricing and relabeling products. The technology from VusionGroup will be integrated with Morrisons’ digital shelf-edge cameras to help efficiently guide associates to product gaps, speeding […]| Retail TouchPoints
Retailers will be forgiven if their heads are spinning after this turbulent year of near-constant shifts in the landscape thanks to both AI and tariffs. Now, the holiday season is upon us with a (perhaps predictably) unclear picture of where consumers’ minds are, because their heads are spinning too. To help us all cut through […]| Retail TouchPoints
This summer, a new line of Costco hoodies, jackets and pants went viral. Consumers claimed that they looked and felt very similar to their Lululemon favorites – namely the “subca” hoodie, “define” jacket and “ABC” pants – but at a fraction of the cost. The Lululemon “Scuba” hoodie, for example, can retail for up to […]| Retail TouchPoints
Southeastern Grocers, which has been through a series of ownership changes over the past few years, will rebrand in early 2026 with a name that carries a century of retailing history: The Winn-Dixie Company. The rechristened supermarket also will narrow its focus to its home state of Florida — it has reached agreements or is […]| Retail TouchPoints
Walmart has teamed up with Stadium Goods to bring a selection of top sneaker brands to its marketplace. The deal follows similar integrations with other collector-driven marketplaces, including comics site Shortboxed, luxury resale platform Rebag and sneaker site StockX. “Our customers trust Walmart to deliver not only everyday essentials, but also the latest and most […]| Retail TouchPoints
UK-based athleticwear brand Gymshark will make its U.S. wholesale debut this week in 12 Dick’s Sporting Goods House of Sport stores across 10 states. In-store spaces will feature fixtures designed and clad to effectively display the Gymshark branding, as well as mannequins based on Gymshark athletes and specialty mannequin stands made from actual weight plates, […]| Retail TouchPoints
‘Tis the season for seasonal pop-ups: As Halloween-themed retailers race toward Oct. 31, Christmas shops already are stocking up on decorations, trees, gifts and elves on shelves. And considering that they’re only operational for a few months, these retail operations have an outsized impact. Clare Rose, head of specialty leasing at mall operator PREIT, which […]| Retail TouchPoints
Albertsons plans to invest heavily in its owned brands as it seeks to both boost customer loyalty and provide shoppers with some relief from inflationary price increases. In a conference call discussing the supermarket retailer’s Q2 results, CEO Susan Morris said she believes Albertsons can drive “outsize growth” in its private label brands, “reinforcing our […]| Retail TouchPoints
Macy’s has debuted a new 2.5 million-square-foot fulfillment center in China Grove, N.C. equipped with state-of-the-art automation and an advanced warehouse management system (WMS). The facility, which will support all product categories, will initially support customer fulfilment and store replenishment for the Macy’s nameplate, with plans to expand to additional Macy’s banners over the next […]| Retail TouchPoints
Value retailer Five Below will venture into the Pacific Northwest for the first time, opening eight new stores in Washington and Oregon on Friday, Nov. 7, with special grand opening celebrations slated for Saturday, Nov. 8. Store sites will include busy malls and neighborhood shopping centers, and assortments will feature brands including Lego, Disney Stitch, […]| Retail TouchPoints
The future of shopping is supposed to look like this: you tell your AI agent — whether powered by ChatGPT or Perplexity — that you need batteries, a new desk chair and maybe a vacation. Minutes later, the items are purchased, the trip is booked, and all you had to do was…nothing. This vision — […]| Retail TouchPoints
Self-described “embarrassing self-care” brand Norms has created a community retail space devoted exclusively to a difficult-to-spell, difficult-to-discuss subject: hemorrhoids. The Norms Clubhouse, open in NYC’s SoHo through Nov. 25, 2025, is a place where New Yorkers can learn, have shame-free conversations and purchase the brand’s array of hemorrhoid treatments, currently available on Amazon and including […]| Retail TouchPoints
Wayfair has launched My Projects, an integrated project management tool available exclusively to Wayfair Professional members. As part of the Professional ecosystem, the tool is designed to allow pros to create projects and source products directly from the Wayfair catalog, as well as assigning tasks, setting deadlines and tracking progress through status updates and dashboards. […]| Retail TouchPoints
DoorDash will bring autonomous delivery to the Phoenix metro area via an expansion of its partnership with Waymo and will promote the new service with a limited-time $10 Waymo promotion for DashPass members in Phoenix as well as Los Angeles and San Francisco, where Waymo already is a delivery option. Testing of the driverless deliveries […]| Retail TouchPoints
Bombas, known both for its comfy socks and undergarments as well as its social conscience, isn’t exactly a stranger to brick-and-mortar; its products have been available for several years at retailers including Dick’s Sporting Goods, Nordstrom and Scheels. But while direct-to-consumer (DTC) will remain the brand’s primary sales channel, it’s now taking some major steps […]| Retail TouchPoints
Per-consumer spending for the holiday season will average $890.49, down 1.3% from the 2024 record high of $901.99. That’s according to the National Retail Federation (NRF)’s annual consumer survey, conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. Shoppers remain concerned about the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on their holiday budgets: 85% are anticipating that they will […]| Retail TouchPoints
Curacao will help its customers kickstart their holiday spruce-ups by offering up to $350 for old furniture and appliances, now through Nov. 2, 2025. Curacao, which has been serving Hispanic customers for 45 years, will pick up the items for free and provide participants with 0% financing and the chance to double their Curacao credit […]| Retail TouchPoints
A recent CVS Health survey of 2,200 consumers and more than 1,060 pharmacists and pharmacy techs reveals how highly customers value in-person pharmacy care: 80% of patients prefer it, and 48% would switch pharmacies if they were limited to digital-only options. To meet this need for face-to-face care, CVS Health plans to open nearly 100 […]| Retail TouchPoints
Coming off a quarter when it generated net revenues of $1.5 billion — a 7% increase over the same period the previous year — Levi Strauss & Co. President and CEO Michelle Gass revealed that the denim and lifestyle retailer had the potential to double its U.S. store count. However, she didn’t provide any timeline […]| Retail TouchPoints
Cancer treatments can change one’s looks, sometimes radically, and it’s often just one more aspect of the loss of control many cancer patients feel. JCPenney and Look Good Feel Better are addressing both these challenges with Look Good Feel Better workshops, free to those undergoing cancer treatment, that will begin rolling out later this year […]| Retail TouchPoints
Ulta Beauty’s online marketplace is now live on the beauty retailer’s website and app. Plans to add a marketplace, built on the Mirakl platform, were first announced in March as part of the company’s Beauty Unleashed strategy, aimed at combating declining sales and market share losses. Ulta has framed the move as a way to […]| Retail TouchPoints
Walmart has introduced the first of 10 planned “Auto Care Centers (ACCs) of the Future” in Fayetteville, Ark., providing customers with a contactless self-service car care experience via the retailer’s mobile app. After making an appointment, customers put their car in a parking spot near the ACC, then use the app to drop their keys […]| Retail TouchPoints
In the nearly 10 years since Primark first landed on U.S. shores, the Dublin, Ireland-based retailer has been on a slow but steady growth path, with 33 stores in the country and more on the way. But Primark’s U.S. expansion represents more than just another international retailer crossing the Atlantic. The company’s commitment to maintaining […]| Retail TouchPoints
Gap Inc. has launched a social media advocacy platform that will serve as a centralized hub for creators to engage across the Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic and Athleta brands, providing them with access to new releases, product seeding and exclusive promotions as well as content collaboration opportunities. Creators also will gain the ability to […]| Retail TouchPoints
Walmart Marketplace is determined to stake its claim in the collectibles arena, and it’s doing so at one of the largest pop culture events in the country: New York Comic Con (NYCC), running Oct. 9-12 at NYC’s Javits Center. The retailer has also added the Shortboxed comics marketplace, with a catalog of 75,000 books from […]| Retail TouchPoints
The rent-to-own retail sector puts a new spin on the classic “need vs. want” consumer equation. It’s designed for consumers who don’t have the financial resources to immediately pay for big-ticket purchases (and who don’t want to pay the interest that can accrue with buy now, pay later services or credit cards), but who are […]| Retail TouchPoints
Aviator Nation, the lifestyle brand inspired by a 1970’s-era California vibe, wanted to mark the 60th anniversary of the iconic (and apparently undying) Grateful Dead. During a three-night “Dead & Company” celebration that attracted 180,000 Dead Heads to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in early August, Aviation Nation created an immersive sonic and visual environment […]| Retail TouchPoints
Amazon will deploy Amazon Pharmacy Kiosks in select One Medical offices across the greater Los Angeles area beginning in December, giving patients access to their prescriptions within minutes of their medical appointments. Powered by the retailer’s logistics expertise and technology, each kiosk will be stocked with a curated inventory of medications based on each office’s […]| Retail TouchPoints
This spring, American Eagle Outfitters announced a $75 million inventory write-down and withdrew its fiscal guidance for 2025, citing macroeconomic uncertainty and operational challenges. The retail landscape is becoming more and more complex and is putting inventory precision under the spotlight. More than ever, inventory management has become not just an operational necessity but a […]| Retail TouchPoints
Ingka Investments, the investment firm of Ikea parent company Ingka Group, has acquired U.S.-based logistics tech company Locus. The purchase will provide Ikea with an AI-powered logistics management platform featuring advanced route customization, real-time tracking and smarter uses of vehicles and resources. Integrating these capabilities will help Ingka Group enhance supply chain processes such as […]| Retail TouchPoints
[Update as of Oct. 7, 2025] CardVault by Tom Brady will open its seventh store, and first location in New York City, in SoHo on Oct. 8, housing the retailer’s signature showroom of cards, packs and collectibles, a collector’s lounge where fans can connect and rip packs, and a store-exclusive line of New York City […]| Retail TouchPoints
Fast fashion is now a term familiar to most consumers, but similar “buy-it-and-toss-it” mentalities pervade many other categories as well, with far less discussion around the environmental and human impact. In 2014 refurbished electronics marketplace Back Market set out to change this cycle, which it has dubbed “fast tech.” Now, the online platform is bringing […]| Retail TouchPoints
Like its summer predecessor, the fall version of Prime Day — Prime Big Deals Days, taking place Oct. 7-8 — has become a major sales opportunity for more than just Amazon. Multiple competitors, including giants such as Walmart, Target and Best Buy, run their own deal days the same week as they seek to take […]| Retail TouchPoints
The first of what Nike’s Jordan Brand (Michael, that is) promises will be several U.S. “World of Flight” flagship stores will open in Philadelphia on Oct. 10, 2025. Since 2022, the brand has opened six World of Flight flagships, in Milan, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing and, most recently, the Nike & Jordan World of Flight Mexico […]| Retail TouchPoints
Loading docks are the unsung heroes of retail operations — until they’re not. You don’t think about them much until they go down and suddenly nothing’s coming into your store. Then you need to fix them real fast, and “real fast” often means weeks of downtime and hundreds of thousands in lost inventory. After 23 […]| Retail TouchPoints
Walmart has deployed a collaborative ambient IoT (Internet of Things) solution from Wiliot in 500 stores and plans a national expansion next year that will cover 4,600 Walmart Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets as well as 40 distribution centers. Wiliot’s IoT Pixels — battery-free Bluetooth sensors — are being used to track Walmart pallets at scale, […]| Retail TouchPoints
While 218 Big Lots stores have been open for several months, new owner Variety Wholesalers is just now getting around to holding grand opening celebrations, complete with doorbusters and giveaways, that will take place chainwide on Oct. 30, 2025. As part of the lead-up to the event, from Oct. 2-5 shoppers can receive 10% off […]| Retail TouchPoints
Even though more than two-thirds of women wear plus-size apparel, they’re often made to feel invisible — particularly in the world of fashion apparel. But model and plus-size advocate Ashley Graham, who brims with what she calls “Main Character Energy,” wants these women to feel seen and beautiful. Her new apparel line, which drops today […]| Retail TouchPoints
Miniso isn’t waiting around for the next pop culture phenomenon (Labubus, anyone?). The China-based retailer is strengthening its in-house intellectual property development in the hopes of creating the next hit character itself, with a new incubation hub for proprietary IP for which it already has signed nine artists. Miniso already has a significant portfolio of […]| Retail TouchPoints
Amazon is uniting two of its private label grocery brands — Amazon Fresh and Happy Belly — under the simplified Amazon Grocery banner. The renamed private label brand features more than 1,000 food items rated four-stars or above on Amazon.com — including everything from milk and olive oil to fresh produce, meat and seafood — […]| Retail TouchPoints
[Update as of Oct. 1, 2025] Fans of the creepily addictive Netflix show Stranger Things are looking forward to the fifth and final season — and now they can feed their addiction at Target stores and online. As the retailer continues to fight declining foot traffic, 150 new Stranger Things-themed products — including apparel, collectibles, […]| Retail TouchPoints
Ikea has launched the “Year of Cooking and Eating” with an immersive pop-up experience in NYC’s Union Square from Oct. 2-26, as well as a partnership with Vanguard Renewables to divert food waste from its restaurants. The Ikea House Warming activation will bring guests on a journey of all things food, from storing and organizing, […]| Retail TouchPoints
Kizik's desire to bring its unique try-on experience to as many people as possible is a key reason why the brand is hitting the road for an eight-city tour.| Retail TouchPoints
