Store Operations

More than two dozen colleges and universities have joined the NRF Foundation as partners through a program that provides educators and students exclusive access to retail industry research, educational events and other industry networking opportunities.

Consumers are prepared for a holly, jolly holiday season, though it’s evident most will take a conservative approach with their gift-giving budgets. According to NRF’s holiday consumer spending survey conducted by BIGinsight, the average holiday shopper will spend $749.51 on gifts, décor, greeting cards and more, up slightly from the $740.57 they actually spent last year.

Tempered by political and fiscal uncertainties but supported by signs of improvement in consumer confidence, holiday sales this year will increase 4.1 percent to $586.1 billion. NRF’s 2012 holiday forecast is higher than the 10-year average holiday sales increase of 3.5 percent. Actual holiday sales in 2011 grew 5.6 percent.

This Halloween, trick-or-treaters, party-goers and pampered pets will be dressing up in traditional spooky style with pumpkin, princess, witch and vampire costumes taking the top spots in NRF’s 2012 Top Costumes survey conducted by BIGinsight.

A record 170 million people plan to celebrate Halloween this year, according to NRF’s 2012 Halloween consumer spending survey conducted by BIGinsight. Seven in 10 Americans (71.5%) will get into the haunting Halloween mood, up from 68.6 percent last year and the most in NRF’s 10-year survey history. Consumers are expecting to spend more too; the average person will spend $79.82 on decorations, costumes and candy, up from $72.31 last year, with total Halloween spending expected to reach $8.0 billion.*

The National Retail Federation, in partnership with its member companies, today announced the launch of the Integrated Mobile Initiative (IMI), a first-of-its-kind, initiative that will serve as the single source for information about the challenges and opportunities that exist within mobile retailing.

NRF/BIGinsight survey finds consumers will spend more on school and college as consumers replenish children's needs and more children enter school.

The National Retail Federation and its National Council of Chain Restaurants division joined a broad coalition of business organizations today to file an amicus brief before the National Labor Relations Board opposing efforts to form a micro-union at NRF member Neiman Marcus Group Inc.’s landmark Bergdorf Goodman store in New York.

the average person will shell out $117.14 on dad’s gifts this year, up 10 percent from $106.49 last year and closing the gap between its biggest competitor: Mother’s Day (consumers planned to spend an average of $152 on the holiday).

Growing in severity, number and type, retailers are reporting organized retail crime (ORC) has become more troublesome than ever before. Of the 125 retail companies surveyed for NRF’s eighth annual Organized Retail Crime Survey, a record-setting (96.0%) say their company has been the victim of organized retail crime in the past year,

According to the 2012 Social and Mobile Commerce Study, a joint research project by Shop.org, comScore and The Partnering Group, the visually-appealing social media site Pinterest has become a big player in an even bigger arena, with online U.S. consumers reporting that they already follow an average of 9.3 retail companies on the site, compared to the average 6.9 retailers they follow on Facebook and the 8.5 retailers they track via Twitter.

Shop.org will welcome two of the industry’s most influential and prominent executives to its Annual Summit this September in Denver. Jerry Storch, chairman and CEO, Toys“R”Us, Inc., and Jamie Nordstrom, president of Nordstrom Direct will both keynote at the event,

The National Retail Federation will kick off its annual Loss Prevention Conference and Expo in New Orleans this June and will welcome Saks, Inc. Chairman and CEO Stephen Sadove as its keynote speaker. More than 2,600 industry executives and law enforcement representatives from around the country will convene for the three-day event, taking place June 20-22 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

Hawaii has a shining star in Ms. Tanna Dang as the Honolulu boutique owner today was awarded the top $25,000 prize in the National Retail Federation’s inaugural “This is Retail” video contest.