More Senior Women Executives Emerging in Retailing

Posted on July 14, 2015 by bermanevansretail
After a very long period in which men have dominated the senior executive positions in retailing, more women have now ascended to top positions.
As Laura Heller writes for FierceRetail:
“Change has been slow to come to retail. And that is why we chose to launch the FierceRetail inaugural list of the ‘Most Powerful Women in Retail.’ It’s heartening to see women in top leadership roles at leading retailers such as Apple, Sam’s Club, and TJX. It’s especially heartening to include Sam’s Club President and CEO Rosalind Brewer, whose media relations team has been a great advocate of her abilities and need for recognition. Brewer was invited to speak at Forbes’ Most Powerful Women Summit this year and is No. 65 on the list.”

“FierceRetail is a young publication and for our first list, we combed through corporate directories, cross-referenced other awards programs (including Forbes) and scoured women’s groups and organizations. In the end, we decided to feature only those women in president or CEO positions, and only those at traditional brick-and-mortar retailers.”

Here are FierceRetail’s 2015 top 10 most powerful women in retail (in alphabetical order):

 

 

Posted in Career Useful Information, Careers in Retailing, Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 5: Managing a Retail Business, Part 8: Putting It All Together | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

E-Commerce Activity for Select U.S. Apparel Retailers

Posted on July 13, 2015 by bermanevansretail
Online U.S. consumer purchases of apparel and accessories have certainly picked up in recent years. And this is expected to continue. From $45 billion in sales for 2013, online apparel and accessories revenues are expected to grow to more than $86 billion in 2018.
According to eMarketer:
“As a general rule, apparel-specific retailers tend to have a higher percentage of revenues coming from E-commerce than do discounters or department stores, according to a new eMarketer report, ‘Apparel Retailers and Digital Commerce: Trends and Benchmarks.’ Nearly all of the leading E-commerce retailers (as measured by E-commerce as a percentage of revenues) in this product segment are known for having translated mail-order businesses to the Internet.”
“A background in catalog retailing doesn’t guarantee success, but multichannel retailers with strong direct-mail roots, such as a J. Crew or an Urban Outfitters brand, 
can command as much as 30% of sales digitally.
 For mid-tier retailers like Ann Taylor Loft, New York & Company, and Gap, 10% to 15% is more common. Shoes, accessories, and teen-focused retailers generally win smaller proportions of sales via Ecommerce. For example, none of the shoe retailers tracked by eMarketer had E-commerce penetration higher than 14.1% for the January 2014 to January 2015 period.”

 

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Posted in Online Retailing, Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 5: Managing a Retail Business, Part 6: Merchandise Management and Pricing, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

In-Store Price Comparisons by Ethnicity/Race

Posted on July 10, 2015 by bermanevansretail
Here are the results of some recent research on U.S. shoppers’ in-store price comparisons, as reported by eMarketer. Comparisons differ significantly be ethnicity and race:
“Hispanic millennials are big spenders when it comes time to grocery shop. March 2015 polling by ThinkNow Research and Sensis found that U.S. Hispanic millennial Internet users were most likely to spend an average of $149 on groceries each week — more than any other race/ethnicity group. White millennials spent $136 on average, Asian millennials $119, and black millennials $105.”
“This cohort wasn’t as eager as other groups to conduct research on deals prior to heading to the store. Half of Hispanic millennials browsed a grocery store’s Web site for specials before shopping there, vs. 61% of Asian respondents and 57% of whites. In-store price comparison played a large role in whether or not mobile Hispanic millennials took the plunge and purchased. About half used their mobile phones to compare prices while at the store, similar to the percentages for whites and Asians. And if they didn’t like what they saw, they weren’t scared to head out the door. Fully 88% of Hispanic millennials said they would go to a different store to buy a product if they found a better price—tying white millennials for No. 1. In comparison, just 75% of Asians said they would leave, as did 85% of blacks.”

 

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Posted in Online Retailing, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 5: Managing a Retail Business, Part 6: Merchandise Management and Pricing, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment