We all have that queue of articles we’ve been saving to read when we have an extra minute, and those websites we’ve bookmarked to visit later when we have the time. Our goal at Midwest Retail Services is to help save you time — both in choosing the best retail fixtures and accessories, and in finding the most beneficial information and resources to make your store more successful.
Because we strive to be of service (it’s right there in our name!) we’d like to provide you with a little helpful filtering and content curation for those must-read articles and must-visit web links. Like the shelving and fixtures we carry, we’ve selected only the best items to feature in our new email newsletter “10 items or less”. Think of it as a weekly Top 10 (or less!) countdown of the most important industry news and innovations that should be on your radar.
We hope you enjoy this issue!
Scanning items…
Halloween Spending Predictions Are Wicked Awesome
According to the annual survey released by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics, consumers plan a record $9.1 billion splurge on Halloween this year! Shoppers say they will spend $3.4 billion on costumes (purchased by 69 percent of Halloween shoppers), $2.7 billion on candy (95 percent), another $2.7 billion on decorations (72 percent) and $410 million on greeting cards (37 percent).
Kohl’s Begins Accepting Free Returns for Amazon Customers
Kohl’s announced they will begin accepting returns for items purchased on Amazon.com at 82 Kohl’s stores beginning in October. New In-store Amazon shops will debut within these select Kohl’s locations, along with previously revealed plans to introduce 1,000-sq.-ft. Amazon departments within 10 of its stores.
Store Floor Plans in a Snap
MagicPlan is an award-winning app that uses AR (Augmented Reality) to automatically measure, draw, and publish interactive floor plans — just by taking pictures. The images can be downloaded and shared with co-workers and vendors to aid in store fixture layouts, remodeling, etc.
BestBuy’s Secret for Survival in the Amazon Age
The once glorious mecca for all-things entertainment is recovering from a near fatal stumble, outperforming Wall Street’s expectations in six of the last seven quarters, and raising company stock prices more than 50% in the past year. Their secret to survival in a Amazon Prime, the lowest-price is a cell phone scan away, retail-is-dead world? Focusing on human interaction and shifting to a “Showroom and Ship” strategy.
As Digital Sales Surge, Target, Best Buy and Others Get Physical
Target CEO Brian Cornell and other industry peers are shifting emphasis to focus on a not-so-secret weapon: physical retail store locations. “While Walmart and other competitors move resources toward online operations, Target plans to invest more than $3 billion over the next three years in its brick-and-mortar locations. It is remodeling one-third of them and opening new, smaller ones in the heart of cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.”
Digital’s Influence On Grocery Grows
According to a new report from Deloitte, digital now influences 51% of grocery purchases. This momentum has pushed the grocery sector closer digital influence levels of categories like health (51%), apparel (56%), home (58%) and auto (59%). Grocery still falls far behind category leaders like electronics (69%).
Midwest Makes It Easy!
If you want some ideas on how to apply any of the concepts we shared in links from this post, or have questions about retail store fixtures and accessories, please contact us online or call us toll-free 800-576-7577.
We look forward to serving you!
