J. Jill Names Coach Vet as Chief Marketing Officer
J. Jill appointed former Coach North America marketing VP Kimberly Wallengren as chief marketing officer, effective April 27. The retailer posted a fourth‑quarter net sales decline of 3.1% to $138.4 million, with comparable sales down 4.8% but direct‑to‑consumer revenue rising 2.6% to 53.5% of total. Wallengren replaces Kara Howard and will focus on brand positioning, expanding the customer base, and boosting consumer engagement. J. Jill projects 2026 net sales to be flat to a 2% dip, underscoring the need for a marketing refresh.
Carter’s Brings on Build-A-Bear Vet as CEO
Carter’s announced Sharon Price John, former CEO of Build‑A‑Bear Workshop, as its new chief executive officer and president effective June 15, 2026. She succeeds Douglas Palladini, who departed after only a year, with CFO Richard Westenberger serving as interim CEO....
Kohl’s Delves Into AI for Gift Finding, Aiding Associates
Kohl’s introduced a conversational AI Gift Finder for Mother’s Day, built on Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise. The tool lets shoppers describe a recipient’s interests, upload photos, receive tailored product suggestions and add items to the cart without leaving the chat....
Wayfair Touts Market Share Gains in Retail’s Toughest Category
Wayfair reported a 7% rise in Q1 net revenue to $2.9 billion, driven largely by U.S. sales, while active customers grew to 21.4 million, up just over 1% year‑on‑year. Despite the sales boost, the retailer’s net loss barely improved, standing at $105 million,...
The Backroom: Redefining Pacsun
Pacsun, ten years post‑bankruptcy, has reshaped its identity by moving beyond its skate‑surf roots toward a culture‑driven, own‑brand strategy. CEO Brieane Olson detailed the pivot in her new book "Co‑Created," emphasizing co‑creation with young consumers. The retailer recently opened its...
EBay Scrambles to Fix Outages
eBay’s marketplace went completely offline for a second consecutive day, beginning Sunday afternoon and persisting into Monday. The company confirmed intermittent technical issues but declined to comment on the root cause or whether a cyber‑attack was involved. In its latest...
Why Academy Sports & Outdoors Is Going Against the Grain with Store Openings
Academy Sports & Outdoors announced a plan to open 125 stores over the next five years, roughly a 40% increase, targeting exurbs and satellite markets rather than major metros. About 40% of the new locations will be in legacy markets,...
Bankruptcy Court, Citing Saks Global’s Merchandising Woes, Approves $500M in Exit Financing
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Alfredo Pérez approved a $500 million exit financing package for Saks Global, clearing a major hurdle in its Chapter 11 restructuring. The funding addresses the retailer’s acute inventory shortage that stemmed from unpaid vendor bills, which had forced many...
Lowe’s to Open 5 New Stores This Year
Lowe’s announced it will open the first of five new stores in 2026, beginning with a 94,000‑square‑foot location in Port St. Lucie, Florida, that adds a 30,000‑square‑foot garden center and about 100 jobs. The store will showcase centralized selling desks, digital...
3 Takeaways From Walmart’s 2026 Annual Report
Walmart’s FY2026 report shows U.S. e‑commerce now adds 4.3% to comparable sales, up from 2.9% a year earlier, while global online revenue surged 24% to $150.4 billion. Total revenue grew 5.1% to $715.9 billion, driven by higher‑margin e‑commerce deliveries and a 212%...
Complete Guide to Building a Revenue-Generating eCommerce CX
Retailers seeking to grow eCommerce revenue must first audit the customer journey, which spans awareness, consideration, purchase, retention, and advocacy. Optimizing each stage—through SEO and emerging GEO tactics, streamlined checkout, personalized upsells, and robust loyalty or gamification programs—directly lifts conversion...
In Commerce Media, the Hardest Part Is Getting to “Ship It”
Commerce media still offers abundant opportunities, but the era of easy, incremental dollars is ending. Retailers like Foot Locker are expanding into new channels such as same‑day delivery with DoorDash, creating fresh monetization prospects. However, the growing complexity of multiple...
Party City Launches Inside 700 Staples Stores
Party City is embedding shop‑in‑shop kiosks inside more than 700 Staples stores and on Staples' website, creating a combined destination for balloons, décor and print services. The rollout begins amid a global helium shortage linked to the Iran war, which...
Men’s Wearhouse Owner Aims to Rejoin the Stock Market
Tailored Brands, the parent of Men’s Wearhouse and other apparel chains, announced it has confidentially filed a draft Form S‑1 with the SEC to re‑enter the public markets. The filing comes five years after the company emerged from a 2020...
Primark to Be Spun Off Into Stand-Alone Company
Associated British Foods (ABF) announced a demerger that will split its fast‑fashion retailer Primark from its food division, now called FoodCo, with both entities slated to list on the London Stock Exchange by the end of 2027. The move follows...