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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Are Macy’s plans sustainable?
Macy’s is the latest apparel retailer to boost its focus on sustainability as customers continue to expect a greater environmental commitment from the fashion industry. Will sustainability be a positive…
Could Crocs’ supply chain mitigation steps work for others?
Crocs, facing both factory shutdowns overseas and port congestion in the U.S., on Thursday unveiled a multi-step plan to circumvent supply chain challenges and drive another year of strong growth…
Is retail in danger of getting burned out?
Improving compensation may seem like the obvious place for retailers to start when they are attempting to retain employees. For the majority of workers who were on the way out…
Walmart is ready to deliver ‘Black Friday Deals for Days’
Walmart is making three updates to its delivery options to make it even more convenient for customers to shop online during the holiday season. Do you expect most retailers to…
What does Gen Z want?
Tech savvy Gen-Z has unprecedented power to influence not only its peers but prior generations. But it’s important not to label them, according to an IRI white paper. What suggestions…
Will physical and digital retail operations perform better on their own?
The lure of high valuation, standalone digital businesses is leading some retailers in a new strategic direction. Are retailers’ sales and profit objectives more likely to be achieved by separating…
Instacart aims to transform in-store shopping with smart cart/checkout acquisition
Instacart has acquired Caper AI, a smart shopping cart and checkout technology startup. Caper AI uses computer vision, weight sensors and other technologies in its Caper Cart and Caper Counter…
Is it time for retailers to retire ‘offensive’ Halloween costumes?
A recent survey of parents of young kids identified a top-ten list of “offensive” Halloween costumes they believe should be banned from stores. Have merchants gone too far or not…
Get ready for the ‘IOU Christmas’
This is what happens when the shipping container crisis meets Shipageddon. We are all experiencing the supply chain crisis together — delays at ports, skyrocketing container costs and supplier delays…
Did Amazon execs mislead Congress about how it uses third-party sellers’ data?
Members of Congress are wondering whether testimony given by Amazon executives about the company’s use of sales data from third-party sellers may have been misleading or a direct attempt to…
Is the privacy paradox being resolved?
A new survey finds 83 percent of U.S. consumers between the ages of 18 to 49 willing to license their social and digital platform data for rewards and benefits of…
Is Amazon 4-Star a winner?
A year after the first Amazon 4-Star opened in fall 2018, a Financial Times review predicted the concept “could be the future of bricks-and-mortar retail.” Is Amazon 4-Star a proven…
Can 24/7 supply chain operations save Christmas?
President Joe Biden last week said the government is partnering with major ports, retailers and carriers to ramp up efforts to relieve some of the port congestion threatening holiday sales…
Walgreens does its own pivot toward healthcare
Walgreens last week announced plans to focus on primary care, post-acute care and home care as part of a new Walgreens Health growth strategy. What do you think of Walgreens’…
Just how casual will wardrobes become?
A new survey found that one-third of employees would prefer an informal dress code to an extra $5,000 in salary. Do you see the pandemic becoming a milestone event accelerating…
Are brands about to take over the produce department?
A new survey finds that more than half of consumers consider it to be important to shop specific brands in the produce department versus non-branded products, led by two-thirds of…
Meal kit maker seeks to scale ‘pay what you want’ pricing strategy
Meal kits appear to be experiencing a resurgence at the present moment and one startup in Georgia is meeting demand while offering those who would not normally be able to…
Wawa goes big on self checkout tech
Wawa has added self-scan checkout kiosks in 61 of its locations after a successful pilot, and the kiosks are slated to appear in more stores soon. Do you see self-checkout…
What lessons should retailers take from the Theranos fraud debacle?
Testimony in the criminal trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes paints a picture of major retailers willing to take a vendor’s word without engaging in the type of due diligence…
Will visual search bring eyeballs to Google Shopping?
Google is updating the look and format of product search pages so that feature images better resemble a digital store rather than a long list of links and text. Is…
Stores? Kroger don’t need no stinking stores
Kroger may not have found the treasure of the Sierra Madre, but the grocery giant appears to have struck grocery retailing gold with its use of automated warehouses, spoke hubs…
