SMITH BRAIN TRUST – It's not "game over" for Toys 'R' Us. Its filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week is more of a "timeout." And Jie Zhang, professor of marketing at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, says that if the iconic toy retailer plays its cards right, it could end up a winner. Of course, none of that will be easy, says Zhang, the Harvey Sanders Fellow of Retail Management.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Soon, it might be that your favorite place to shop is in your mailbox.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – J.Crew is battling some choppy seas. It's had 10 consecutive quarterly sales declines, two straight years of losses, and now the iconic, classic clothier is swimming in more than $2 billion in debt.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – For Blue Apron, Amazon's blockbuster deal to acquire Whole Foods couldn't have come at a worse time, says Jie Zhang, marketing professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – The U.S. grocery industry is bracing for a shakeup – and a potential price war – as one German supermarket chain seeks to make its debut and another looks to expand its reach. German grocery chain Aldi says it will invest $3.4 billion to broaden its U.S. footprint, adding 900 new stores by 2022 and remodeling 1,300 others. German rival Lidl, meanwhile, is opening its first U.S. stores this month, with plans to open 100 by next summer.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Have you ever filled your virtual cart while shopping online only to leave it without completing the purchase? Consumers often leave behind their virtual carts and retailers have long considered this a huge problem, figuring trillions of dollars are lost due to abandoned online shopping carts. Now new research shows that these numbers are substantially overblown.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Can Victoria's Secret get her groove back? Faced with shifts in customer preferences, rising online shopping and fading mall traffic, the queen of lingerie has reported a slowdown in sales and is cautioning that this year's revenue won't be among its perkiest. Now experts are wondering whether the brand can bounce back.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — It's almost a new year, and across the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, some prognosticating has begun. We asked a group of professors to look ahead at the trends and developments we might see in the next 12 months. Here's what they said. 

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Black Friday is old hat. Cyber Monday is passe. The most interesting shopping day of the year is the one you haven't even heard of: It's Green Monday. It's the Monday after the final shopping weekend before Christmas, when frazzled consumers hit the web to snap up the final few gifts on their list before the window closes on the all-important free-shipping offers.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Walls of yellow lockers have popped up at Shoppers grocery outlets around Maryland, dwarfing the Redbox machines that customers have grown used to seeing near store entrances. The lockers belong to Amazon, which is giving the option of ordering online and then picking up in store.