Yesterday, my wife and I visited a local science museum that is featuring an exhibit on the brain that I very much wanted to check out. While the exhibit was phenomenal, I came away with a bitter taste in my mouth after visiting the museum's gift shop. When we finally made it to the front of the line to pay for our items, the cashier informed us that they'd run out of plastic bags, but that we had the option to purchase one of their tote bags for $3. Interestingly enough, this happened to be the third time in as many months where a merchant I'm buying from has tried to coax me into purchasing one of their tote bags. As someone who earned degrees in psychology and marketing, I can tell you that this is likely a clever sales ploy retailers are trying to pull just to earn more money. Think about it: If on a given day, say, 300 people opt to buy a $3 bag, that's $900 bucks the store would not have if they used regular plastic bags! And most people -- especiall...

Who would have thought that Macy's would be in such a slump? The department store's shares dropped over 9 percent following the market's close Wednesday after it posted disappointing holiday sales and released the locations of 68 stores it plans to close nationwide as it aims to turn its fortunes around. Macy's comparable sales tumbled over 2 percent in November and December; it expects full-year diluted earnings to be in a range of $2.95 to $3.10 -- considerably lower than the $3.15 to $3.40 it was hoping for. In an effort to cut costs and streamline operations, Macy's said it will eliminate layers of management and will work to reduce other non-payroll costs. As a result of these steps, the company expects its work force will shrink by 6,200. Plus, some 3,900 workers will be displaced by the store closures and some of these employees may be reassigned. The store closures reflect an attempt to reverse slumping sales at its established shops, with the de...

I think it's safe to say we've all shopped or browsed on Amazon.com at some point. It is, after all, the largest Internet-based retailer in the world in terms of total sales and market capitalization, not to mention the fourth most valuable public company as of 2016. Amazon has separate websites for the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom/Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, China, Brazil, Japan, India, and Mexico. To say that it has a global footprint is an understatement. With product lines ranging from apparel and books to jewelry and groceries, there's almost nothing a consumer can't find on the site, which was founded in 1994. According to a recent report, 55% of Americans begin their online shopping experience at Amazon.com. That's a 25% increase over 2015. If you're Amazon, you have to be pleased with those gaudy stats. It means that the retailer has achieved top of mind awareness in more than half of the population. And th...

On Thursday, Los Angeles prosecutors sued four national retailers for deceiving shoppers into believing they got bigger discounts than they actually did. The separate lawsuits alleging deceptive advertising were filed against Sears, Macy's, Kohl's, and J.C. Penney. The retailers falsely advertised higher regular prices for merchandise so customers, leading customers to think they were getting bigger bargains. California law bars retailers from promoting a higher original price unless the product was sold at that very price within three months of the ad. The lawsuits seek civil penalties up to $2,500 for each violation and injunctions to cease false reference pricing to bolster sales. As it turns out, thousands of "sale" items were advertised at false reference prices. One of the lawsuits asserted that J.C. Penney was selling a maternity bathing suit top online for $31.99 earlier in the year, down from the original price of $46. The top was later marked dow...