TheBolt

The Hub Magazine wrote a segment in their April issue titled, “Trading Places: Retail is Where Cyberspace Meets the Marketplace”.  In it, they discuss with several retail CEO’s where they draw their inspiration and what they see as a positive way to run retail, but online and in stores.  Jon Abt after being asked what is a best kept secret of retail, he repsonded, “Keeping it simple, focusing on the customer and listening to them is a secret of great retail. On the back end, the secret is empowering your employees to take care of customers without having to ask a supervisor. That’s what’s worked for us for the last 75 years.”

You can read the article in it’s entirety on “Trading Places: Retail is Where Cyberspace Meets the Marketplace“.

U.S. online holiday sales from Nov. 1 through Dec. 26 increased 15% from a year ago, which brings a total spent up to $35.3 billion, according to the latest figures from comScore.  For the week ending Christmas Day, online retail spending was up 16% to $2.8 billion.  By the end of December, the Web research firm has forecast online holiday spending will reach $37.6 billion.

It looks like the economy may be in an upswing. Master Card is reporting consumer electronics sales are up 6% in February 2010. This increase was over a one year period, following a slight climb in sales by 0.4% in January.

Despite the horrible storms in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and North Central regions of the country, consumer electronics sales have steadily risen and are continuing to do so.

Another retail sector that is enjoying the increase in volume is e-commerce. Those sales swelled by 16.7% over the course of a year. It’s likely that internet retailers benefited from the bad weather.

Is this a sign that things are getting better? What do you think?

-Kelly B.