Category: E-commerce
Coronavirus: Impact on the Retail Industry
Coronavirus Disease 2019 or “ COVID-19 ” continues to dominate national and international discussion. News outlets in Boston , New York , London , Mumbai , Rio de Janeiro , Tokyo , and every other city and town in the world continue to post and print stories related to spread of...
An Unintended Interruption to the Global Supply Chain
The current outbreak of COVID-19 (the coronavirus) will be a test of the global supply chain’s strength in the face of unintended interruptions, and can be a lesson on building-in supply-chain contingency plans. As a result of COVID-19, many factories in China, which supply the bulk or all goods...
Retail Evolution: Continuing to Think Outside of the Box
In a prior blog, we discussed partnerships between retailers and hotel chains as a strategy for providing customers with an interactive experience and staying competitive in the market. This trend has continued and is further evolving. Retailers are bringing the store to the consumer and inventing new and creative...
Now Trending - Amazon’s Brick and Mortar Expansion of New Concept Stores
Although online shopping is extremely convenient, many consumers still want to touch and test out products before they purchase them. Since 2015, Amazon, with its first brick and mortar Amazon Books store, has made its way out from behind its consumers’ smart phones and onto their street corners to give...
The Future of Online Shopping Is Social
Social media has a well-established position in the retail industry. Brands and retailers have mastered digital and social media tools to engage their target market throughout the customer journey, from awareness, engagement, purchase and well beyond purchase. These advancements in technology have spurred a growing trend in retail: social...
Sustainable Fashion – A G&S Panel Discussion
Introduction On January 13, 2020, Goulston & Storrs PC hosted a panel discussion featuring leaders in the fashion industry’s movement towards more sustainable practices. The panel was organized by Jen Furey, a member of Goulston & Storrs PC’s retail group, and Ana Gonzalez Herrera, the founder of the boutique...
What can Amazon do for you?
Economists and industry experts – and the data – agree on little when it comes to holiday sales. In December, a mere ten days after the National Retail Federation proclaimed that a record 190 million consumers shopped over the five days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday – up 14...
Black Friday in July: A Retail Boost in Competition with Amazon
Is “Christmas in July” a bonus for consumers or retailers? Which retailers are coming to the front of the price slashing competition and what products are hot off the shelves? According to retail experts, Amazon raked in an estimated $6 billion in sales during this year’s Amazon Prime Day...
E-Commerce and Industrial Real Estate: “Last Mile” Delivery and What Else You Should Know
In recent years, the extensive disruption to the retail real estate landscape caused by the expansive growth of e-commerce (such as altered consumer shopping habits, increased brick-and-mortar vacancies, and big box retailer bankruptcies) has been well-cataloged and analyzed both within the commercial real estate industry and, more broadly, by...
Intrusion or Tool: Consumer Data’s Increasing Role in Retail
It’s no secret that retailers have access to more information about their target consumers than ever before. This information can help retailers not only to target their broad market but also to tailor the communications they deliver to each segment of that market. Customers, on the other hand, are...
New Payment Structures for a New Age
We’ve written about changes in the way goods are bought and sold, from brick-and-mortar to e-commerce. But what about how goods are being paid for? As the retail landscape shifts to digital terrain, retailers would be wise to think about how they accept payments to suit new ways of...
Recycling the Big Box
Retailers shuttered a record amount of brick-and-mortar store space in 2018, shattering the previous record set in 2017, and big box stores were the largest contributors to the empty space. Iconic brands, such as Sears, Macy’s, J.C. Penney, Toys "R" Us, Inc., Bon Ton and Lord & Taylor all...
Leveraged Returns: How Big Box Retailers are Using In-Store Fulfilment Centers to Bring Consumers Back to Brick-and-Mortar
The growth of e-commerce over the last two decades has forced traditional brick-and-mortar retailers to rethink their operations in order to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving market. For some, this means developing websites and mobile apps to entice consumers with an omnichannel shopping experience. However, a few large retailers...
Does Trademark Protection Extend to On-Line Advertising- Apparently It All Depends
It seems that nearly every day another retailer announces the large-scale closure of brick-and-mortar storefronts, with such household brands as Toys “R” Us and J. Crew, just to name two, planning to shutter stores in 2018. The significant challenges faced by traditional retailers are often attributed to the rise...
Looking Inside the Mind of a Gen Z Shopper
As the 2017 holiday season nears, consumers are getting ready to open their wallets and retailers are hoping their promotions will attract those consumers. Generation Z (“Gen Z”), which includes young people born in the mid-1990s to mid-2000s, is an important but often forgotten portion of the consumer population...
2017 ICSC US Shopping Center Law Conference
San Antonio was host to this year’s ICSC US Shopping Center Law Conference, which occurred from October 25 through October 28, 2017. In-house counsel, counsel from outside law firms, tenant’s lawyers, landlord’s counsel, paralegals, lease administrators and others involved in the retail business came together to discuss the changes...
The Cure For The Last Mile? Retooling Shopping Malls as E-commerce Distribution Centers
In addition to gigantic warehouses that e-commerce companies are constructing away from population centers where real estate is limited or too pricey, shopping malls and former shopping mall sites are well poised to be the newest e-commerce logistics and distribution hubs. With the deluge of vacant malls and vacant...
E-commerce Is Changing the Definition of Retail Employment
The retail landscape is in the midst of a mind-boggling – and fast-moving – evolution. In a short amount of time, Americans have radically changed how they shop for things, utilizing multiple channels of shopping to meet their needs. 80% of Americans are now shopping online, and they utilize...