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Top Sears Execs Depart

More concerns emerge about the company’s health and viability By David Gill | December 6, 2016 Two of Sears Holdings top executives left the company last week, again raising questions about the retailer’s future. Joelle Maher, president and chief member officer of the Sears chain, and Jeff Balagna, executive vice president, both departed the company. Maher, who took her post in July 2015, was in charge of the chain’s merchandising, marketing and profit-and-loss operations, along with the development of its Shop Your Way member-centric business strategy. Balagna joined Sears Holdings in May 2013 as head of its information technology operations. Sears Holdings announced Balagna’s departure in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which said he left “to focus on his other business interests and pursue other career opportunities.” Maher’s departure was confirmed by Howard Riefs, spokesman for the company. Successors have not yet been named, Riefs added. Press reports about [...]

TGC2018-03-26T08:55:14-04:00

HomeGoods on the March

Spitting in the eye of e-commerce, the off-price retailer strategically focuses on brick-and-mortar stores By David Gill | November 2, 2016 HomeGoods is home retailing’s new Gold Medalist. With many brick-and-mortar retailers posting up-and-down results lately—some with all down performance—the specialty operation of The TJX Cos. has maintained an upward trajectory for the past few years. Its net sales rose 31 percent to $3.9 billion from fiscal year 2014 to fiscal year 2016, which ended on Jan. 30 of this year. It reported same-store sales increases of 7 percent in 2014 and 2015, and 8 percent for 2016. Its profit rose 42 percent in that three-year time span, to $549.3 million. Contrast that with the results over the same three-year period from Bed Bath & Beyond, its closest retail rival. In the 2014-2016 fiscal span, Bed Bath’s net sales rose 5.2 percent to $12.1 billion. Net income over that period fell 18 [...]

TGC2018-03-26T08:55:14-04:00

5 Secrets to Small-Business Success at the Holidays

By Jackie Zimmermann | November 23, 2016 The doorbuster deals are set and the Black Friday ads are out, perennial indicators that the holiday shopping season is in full swing. The National Retail Federation predicts $655.8 billion in holiday sales this season, up 3.6% from 2015. In addition to securing enough working capital and inventory, you’ll want to prepare for the rush in other ways. NerdWallet asked Steve Goldberg, president of retail consulting firm The Grayson Company, for tips on how to get started. 1. Advertise early To attract early shoppers, your marketing needs to be in front of the right consumers at the right time. According to a survey by the NRF in the first week of November, 56% of respondents had already started buying gifts. But hope is not lost if you’re getting a late start, Goldberg says. Small-business owners can react more nimbly than larger stores, he says. “They can make decisions without having to [...]

TGC2018-03-26T08:55:14-04:00

Ikea’s Omnichannel Experiment

The Swedish retailer makes up for lost time with a thorough and deliberate approach to the newest form of retailing By Allison Zisko | November 2, 2016 Big boxy Ikea may ultimately prove that slow and steady wins the omnichannel race—and be surprisingly nimble at it in the process. After a relatively slow digital start—Peter Agnefjäll, president and CEO of Ikea Group, told CNBC one year ago that the Swedish retailer “could have been faster” getting into e-commerce—Ikea in September reported strong online sales for fiscal 2016. Agnefjäll told Reuters that online revenues grew 30 percent, to $1.54 billion, without entering any new online markets. Back in January, he told Bloomberg Business that the company’s goal is for online revenue to represent 10 percent of total sales by 2020. “On a journey to become the world’s leading multichannel home furnishings retailer, Ikea Group is increasing its focus on integrating physical and digital commerce [...]

TGC2018-03-26T08:55:14-04:00

Finish Line Struggles to Find JackRabbit Buyer

by Tony Owusu | Monday, November 21, 2016 Finish Line announced that it will take a $44 million charge related to the process of searching for buyers of JackRabbit. Finish Line could struggle to find a buyer for its specialty running business JackRabbit, industry analysts told the TheStreet Monday. The Indianapolis-based athletic shoe retailer announced that it is exploring options for the company, which could include a sale, and that it will take up to a $44 million charge as it goes through this process. Finish Line hired M&A investment banking advisory firm Peter J. Solomon Co. to explore a sale. The firm has worked on a number of high profile deals, recently, advising the sale of headphone-maker Skull Candy to Mill Road Capital for $165 million, as well as the failed $6.3 billion merger between Office Depot and Staples. "The challenges Finish Line faces in finding a buyer are multiple," Steve Goldberg of retail consultancy firm The [...]

TGC2018-03-26T08:55:15-04:00

Steve Goldberg discusses “6 Retail Store Design Tweaks to Boost Sales”

6 Retail Store Design Tweaks to Boost Sales Merchandise sells itself in stores with appealing entryways, intuitive paths, upscale lighting and branded signage. by: Joni Sweet Every square foot of your store has the potential to make a sale. But that doesn’t mean you should cram in as many signs and products as possible. An attractive, intuitive design and plenty of open space is more important to your bottom line. “Retail store designs are an extremely important part of today’s strategy for developing sales,” said Steve Goldberg, president of The Grayson Company, a consulting practice that works with brands and retailers. While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to creating the perfect retail space, there are some store design principles that will influence sales across the board. Here are tweaks every shopkeeper should consider. Focus on the front Getting customers into your store depends on having a well-designed entryway, said Goldberg. “The most common mistake [...]

TGC2018-03-26T08:55:15-04:00

TGC on “Customer Service Strategies that Help Maximize Holiday Sales”

Customer Service Strategies that Help Maximize Holiday Sales By: Catherine Conlan The holiday season is make-or-break time for many retailers, hospitality employers and service companies. Perhaps your company is feeling the stress of relying on seasonal employees to generate the holiday sales you’ll need to finish the year in the black. The best way to remedy this situation is to focus on better customer service-- especially during the all-important holiday season. Chances are your competitors are already working on improving theirs. “There have been a lot of lessons learned about customer service failure,” says Steve Goldberg, President of The Grayson Company, a retail and investment consulting company in New York City. “They’re being much more careful.” Here’s how to boost your holiday sales with great customer service. Train Employees in a Scalable Way Retailers are focusing on training their holiday hires more effectively, Goldberg says. “Some of the training is virtual, and some of it is in [...]

TGC2018-03-26T08:55:15-04:00

TGC Weighs In: “West Elm Shows Retailers New Way to Reach Customers”

West Elm Shows Retailers New Way to Reach Customers BY LIZ WOLF OCTOBER 14, 2016 Ever stay in a hotel and wonder where you can buy the chic table lamp or cozy sofa? Well, if you stay at West Elm’s new hotels, everything in the room will be available to purchase online. You heard it right: Trendy home furnishings retailer West Elm, a brand of William-Sonoma that’s been around since 2002, announced plans to launch a chain of branded boutique hotels. The Brooklyn, N.Y.-based retailer is partnering with hospitality management company DDK, with the first hotels scheduled to open in late 2018 in Detroit; Minneapolis; Indianapolis; Savannah, Ga.; and Charlotte, N.C. West Elm will market, design, and furnish the hotels with its contemporary line of beds, linens, tables, lamps, chairs, and other furnishings. That gives potential customers the chance to “test drive” the décor before buying. A New Strategy To Expand the West Elm [...]

TGC2018-03-26T08:55:15-04:00

TGC quoted in HFN article “Bed Bath Enters Tough Territory With Loyalty Program”

Bed Bath Enters Tough Territory With Loyalty Program The $29 annual membership test program offers 20 percent discounts on all orders Posted on October 13, 2016 by Allison Zisko NEW YORK—Bed Bath & Beyond’s new fee-based loyalty test program draws the specialty retailer into an increasingly crowded arena that has had mixed results with the strategy. Bed Bath & Beyond’s new annual $29 membership program offers 20 percent discounts on all orders across all of its retail platforms, according to published reports. The program is believed to be in test mode, and it is unclear whether the new fee-based program would lead to the elimination of its popular 20 percent off coupons, which are individually applied to one item. Withdrawing discounts once they are in the market is risky, noted retail analyst Steve Goldberg, president of The Grayson Company. “Altering buying patterns is always a challenge,” he told HFN. Discounts with expiration dates must also be carefully [...]

TGC2018-03-26T08:55:15-04:00

NYDJ opens first stand-alone retail locations in New York and Arizona

This summer, NYDJ, the "original slimming jean" brand, opened its first full price retail stores in Garden City, NY and Scottsdale, AZ. These two locations represent a new channel of distribution for the company, in addition to its current wholesale, e-commerce, outlet store, off-price and international distribution. TGC is proud to have had the opportunity to work with NYDJ in developing the business plan and real estate strategy for the full price retail stores including the development of a data driven prioritized list of target locations. As NYDJ's exclusive real estate adviser, TGC helped identify and secure locations, negotiating the business terms of each lease. "TGC has been a great partner in helping us develop a realistic business plan and a well-defined actionable real estate strategy. Their extensive use of key selling and customer data metrics allowed us to identify and secure prime locations for our new stores." - Mark Peters, Director [...]

TGC2018-03-26T08:55:20-04:00

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