These retailers are beefing up their stores to survive a new era of shopping - and it's paying off

Business Insider/Jessica Tyler

Target is investing in its stores, and it seems to be paying off.

• The retailers who have found the most success lately have beefed up their stores to make them more amenable to shoppers who mostly purchase things online.
• Walmart, Target, Nordstrom, and Kohl's all reported strong earnings results in the most recent quarter after launching new initiatives to blend e-commerce and in-store shopping.
• The move to beef up the in-store experience seems to be paying off for these retailers.

There is a growing divide between retail's winners and losers - and the answer may be in the store experience.

Target, Walmart, Nordstrom, and Kohl's were among the more successful retailers in the quarter. Target posted its strongest same-store sales numbers in 13 years, and traffic was at its highest since it started reporting the metric in 2008. Walmart, Nordstrom, and Kohl's reported a same-store increase of 4.5%, 4%, and 3.1%, respectively, beating analysts' expectations.

What these retailers all have in common is that they have all recently launched new initiatives to better blend e-commerce and in-store shopping. Kohl's, for example, launched a program to allow customers to make Amazon returns in-store, while Target and Walmart both offer several different options for picking up orders.

Find out what these retailers are doing to keep up in a new era of retail: