Retailers Have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season

This post in retailwire highlights that retailers have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season. Economist feared a total economic collapse, and so far we have not yet seen that. They have been though entering this year's holiday season with a little more caution than they have in the previous years. What are some positives coming into the retail industry this year?

Costco No Longer Does Business with Coca-Cola

According to this article in retailwire, the largest warehouse club store in the US, Costco, has decided to stop doing business altogether with Coca-Cola. Costco has mentioned that Coca-Cola has not given the warehouse competitive pricing and so Costco is not able to pass along the discounts over to their members.

Brands associated with Coca-Cola like Coke Classic, Cherry Coke, Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite and Squirt, Dasani Water and Vitamin Water along with several energy drinks will also cease to be sold at Costco warehouses.

Luxury Brands Focus on Outlet Shops

This post on RetailWire highlights how several luxury brands are beginning to shift their focus from their retail mall locations to outlet shops which include overstocks, canceled orders, and many of the same goods found at retail mall locations but of lesser quality.

Outlet malls are seeing much more traffic now and companies like Kate Spade, Lucky Brand Jeans, Juicy Couture and True Religion are among some of the high end brands that are moving into the outlet space to get a piece of the action. Will these companies see the tremendous success that Coach has seen in their outlets?

Teen Niche Concepts are Failing

Many retailers are struggling with the teen niche concept during the past couple of months. This post on RetaiWire discusses how companies like Pacific Sunwear, American Eagle, The Finish Line, and Abercrombie & Fitch have all closed different concepts that were targeted at slightly different customers than their flagship chain.

Special niches like skate/surf crowd, club kids or slightly older customers have pushed retailers in the past to create special concepts, but the Journal mentions that many of these niches are overestimated. Creating special niches have at times led stores to take their eyes off their main core business.

Segregated shopping in neighborhoods

In a recent blog at Reveries, they look at how shopping experiences have become more segregated than ever. Neighborhoods with strong concentrations of different ethnicity lead to segmented shopping experiences.

An example is provided in the post about a shopping experience in Queens, New York.

If you were to take the 7 subway line to the 74th Street stop in Queens, you might think you were in "a South Asian neighborhood. There are shops selling saris and Indian jewelry ... Yet nearby flats are mostly occupied by immigrants from Central America. The shops are patronized by South Asians who travel into the neighborhood."