Store Operations

The National Retail Federation, in support of the Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week, will promote retail entrepreneurship through a series of digital, social and research initiatives Monday, June 17 through Friday, June 21.

NRF’s ninth annual Organized Retail Crime (ORC) Survey found that 93.5 percent of retailers say they have been a victim of organized retail crime in the past year, down slightly from 96.0 percent in 2012. For the past three years, more than 90 percent of the retailers surveyed have admitted to being victims of ORC.

More than two dozen college students received great news this month when they learned they were chosen as a recipient of a $5,000 scholarship from the NRF Foundation’s Ray M. Greenly Scholarship fund. Each student, representing 26 schools around the country, was nominated by educators based on demonstrated academic achievements and their strong passion for retail.

The NRF Foundation, the careers and education division of the National Retail Federation, today announced the launch of its new Retail Insight Center, a website designed to serve as a resource for researching industry, government, economic and consumer trends within the retail industry.

The National Retail Federation will announce today a new initiative to broaden and enhance perceptions of the industry beyond providing consumers with great products. NRF’s This is Retail: Careers, Community, Innovation campaign, will highlight the industry’s opportunities for life-long careers, how retailers strengthen communities at home and abroad, and the critical role that retail plays in driving innovation.

Shop.org, the National Retail Federation’s digital division, is bringing together thought leading digital retail executives and solution providers to tackle some of the industry’s top challenges. The Shop.org Think Tank collaborates to identify and develop points of view on trends, business models, technologies and strategies that will shape the future of online retail and the role of digital in retail.

A change in federal tax law that decreased the take-home pay of many working Americans is impacting household budgets. According to NRF’s 2013 Tax Returns Survey conducted by BIGinsight, nearly three-quarters (73.3%) of those polled say their spending plans are taking a hit.

Shop.org is launching today a multi-part initiative to engage the industry in examining how retailers are integrating all things “digital” into their business structures.

The Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS), the National Retail Federation’s technology standards division, today announced the release of three diverse standards for the retail technology community, all of which will be available for review in the ARTS Pavilion, booth 2253, at Retail’s BIG Show.

The NRF Foundation, the non-profit arm of the National Retail Federation, announced today that Mindy Grossman, CEO, HSNi, was elected as the new chair of its Board of Directors for a two-year term.

As shoppers become increasingly connected, online retailers in 2013 will get back to basics, focusing on strategies and tactics to improve the customer experience and increase web conversion and loyalty across all devices

Bringing together the world’s leading retailers and their business partners, Retail’s BIG Show is set to commence next week, offering a speaker lineup never seen before. The four-day convention, held January 13-16, 2013 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, will feature topics ranging from digital and mobile retailing to corporate and social responsibility to economic and consumer trends in the new year.

The NRF Foundation and American Express today announced the winners of their annual Aspire2Retail Intercollegiate Challenge, which is designed to increase understanding of diverse career paths in retail by engaging university students in a competitive, collaborative role play that involves implementing a multi-tiered business strategy.

Christmas came early for 24 college students when they learned they were recipients of a $5,000 scholarship through the NRF Foundation’s Ray M. Greenly Scholarship fund. Each student, nominated by educators at their schools based on their high scholastic achievements and passion for retail, will receive a $5,000 scholarship to cover educational costs and a stipend to attend Retail’s BIG Show in January.

The New England Patriots and the Washington Redskins weren’t the only winners this Thanksgiving Day as more than 35 million Americans visited retailers’ stores and websites Thursday – up from 29 million last year – scoring deals on everything from hot electronic items to cashmere sweaters and toys. According to a National Retail Federation survey conducted by BIGinsight over the weekend, traffic and spending grew over the entire weekend*.

Despite record levels of online spending over the Black Friday weekend, savvy shoppers still have plenty of appetite for one-day only deals that retailers have lined up for Cyber Monday, as 129.2 million shoppers say they’ll head to retailers’ websites on Cyber Monday.

Even the post-turkey coma couldn’t keep a good shopper down last night as millions of people across the country lined the sidewalks late Thursday night and by midnight on Black Friday to stock up on discounted toys, laptops, tablets, apparel, and more.