Gap’s is no stranger to anyone, but the recession is hurt their bottom line. Enough to close down 189 stores in the coming month to off set their loss. Due to the fact they had to many stores to begin with, the recession didn’t help much as they profit margin is slowly dwindle. They came late in the jeans market, and now with morecompetition and slower economy, they will close more US stores, and open many stores in China and Italy. When I go to the Gap store , I always wonder about what to buy there, everything there is quite simple, there isn’t really another strong brand within Gap for me to look around for. Plus with some many Gap stores in this saturated retail market , it’s no shocker, as many other retailer’s might follow suit.

Kohl’s was not always the high-flying retailer it is now. At one time, they did not have designers such as Vera Wang, and Lauren Conrad designing clothes for them. They were flying under the radar with their clever marketing tools such as Kohl’s cash and their sales strategy.
At first, if a customer spent $50 in the store, then they would receive $5 Kohl’s cash. Kohl’s slowly increased that to $10 for $50 you spend, and then in the 2010 holiday season for a few days they were offering $15 Kohl’s cash for every $50 you spend to attract more customers during the tough economic recession.

JCPenney saw how successful Kohl’s cash was and they responded by introducing JCP cash similar to Kohl’s cash except it comes in a different increments. You can print your JCP cash online and they take it the store. For example, if you spend $100 or more you can save $20 bucks. If you spend $75 or more you can save $15, and if you spend $50 or more you can save $10. The key difference is Kohl’s cash is earned while you shop, you cannot print out Kohl’s cash prior to shopping. JCPenney allows their customers to print their JCP cash online and take it to the store to use prior to shopping.

JCPenney has also adopted Kohl’s sales strategy. Kohl’s is known for having a “Night Owl” sale on Friday normally from 3PM-11PM, and then an “Early Bird” on Saturday normally from 7AM-1 PM. JCPenney has picked up on this, and calls their sale “Doorbusters”. Their Friday Doorbuster goes from 3PM-close, and then on Saturday from 9AM-1PM.

More Retailers including Walmart, Walgreens and others
are marketing the H1N1 vaccine to lure more customers
into their stores. In return, they will play a bigger
role in the Healthcare system with the new Healthcare plan
being passed by Congress. Even tho most retailers don’t
make any profit off these shots, it does let the customers
come into the store and look around on what these retailers
have to offer.CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY.

Retailers getting ready for black friday are going to make it
more orderly for all the retai shoppers this year. I personally
won’t be going out as it just gets way to busy and the lines are real
huge, but good luck to us all.CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY.

Online deals are coming strong from all the websites and they will
only keep getting fierce for the holiday season. I have noticed
a lot of sites cutting down prices across the board and it will
continue to do the same as holiday season comes closer. Online
shopping will be a major part of business for a lot
retailers .CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY.

Walmart is already a cheap place to shop. I have been to many Walmarts and
they have a gorilla buying power higher than anyone I have seen. And now
it seems like Walmart is about to trim down prices on most of its
products for aggresive sales pitch.CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY.

Kohls new chairman is the current ceo and the president of kohls,
kevin mansell . He will take over for larry montgomery
who is retiring. With Kohls getting ready to open more stores,
Kohls outlook is real strong.CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY.

Safeway is starting to lower their prices for shoppers
who are looking for cheap great deals at the grocery
stores. Grocery shoppers are getting much more frugal
and smarter on how to shop for groceries. As the recession
still strong, safeway needs to cut prices to survive
in this tough times.CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY.

Kohls is getting ready to open 4 new stores near
sacramento area creating 600 jobs that is must
needed boost in sacramento. I am a big fan
of kohls, they have alot of clothes that very
affordable and very cheap. I am not shocked that
they are growing rapidly and very fast.CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY.

Radioshack will be renamed as The Shack, trying to be
pulled away from the radio part that didn’t really
make sense to be anyway. They will focus on
selling tons of mobile devices to boost
their numbers once again in this tough
economic climate. I think its a good idea but
I am thinking that it’s quiet late of some
name changes. The Shack does sound better but
will it pull consumers into their stores,
that’s the real question.