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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Customer loyalty is very much alive
The future of loyalty marketing starts with brands being loyal to customers, going beyond rewarding customers for their “loyalty.” Which retailers do you think have the most progressive and effective…
Costco ends AmEx exclusivity deal
Apparently about to land another banking partner, Costco Wholesale Corp. has decided to end its 16-year deal to accept only access American Express cards in its stores. What are the…
Kohl’s makes its move
While grocers and pharmacies have been jumping all over the health & wellness trend for years, some department stores and apparel chains are now just joining the fray. How is…
Retailers are bringing the love on Valentine’s Day
Beyond the pink cutout hearts on windows, some chains are taking extra steps for Valentine’s Day to encourage intimate engagement among its customers. What do you think of campaigns that…
Best Buy’s wedding registry is for gadget lovers
Best Buy launched a wedding registry last month with little fanfare. The concept is simple and seems perfect for Millennials and the tech savvy generations that are following them. Instead…
Retailers feeling good about prospects for 2015
There is plenty of room for optimism when looking ahead to the rest of the year. According to the National Retail Federation, retail industry sales (excluding autos, gas and restaurants)…
What if shopper anonymity isn’t possible?
A new study led by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that even with names and account numbers deleted from credit cards, just four other pieces of information…
Studies claim Amazon Prime members have delivery issues
Amazon is having some difficulty living up to its promise to deliver packages in two days to Prime members, according to two new research studies. Can Amazon afford to lose…
Should the White House intervene in the West Coast port dispute?
News that terminal operators at busy ports on the West Coast will suspend the unloading and loading of ships for four days over the President’s Day weekend has prompted the…
Will Penney’s ‘best kept secrets’ drive growth?
In a partnership with InStyle magazine, J.C. Penney is planning to “boldly reinvent” its 850 salons across the country under a new “The Salon by InStyle” brand. Are younger women…
Walmart expands online grocery/in-store pickup test
Despite some hard-to-forget past failures (aka, Webvan), retailers continue to see online grocery as an important ingredient for catering to today’s shoppers. And according to reports, Walmart is expanding its…
Equity firm has sights set on Chico’s FAS
Sycamore Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, is in talks to buy Chico’s FAS. The deal to acquire the publicly traded Chico’s would be in the range of $3…
Will Whole Foods reinvent retail health clinics?
Whole Foods is exploring entering the health clinic space, but not surprisingly is taking two unique approaches in addressing the opportunity — getaway health retreats and medical clinics. Does Whole…
Should retailers know what’s in their store brands?
Last week, the New York Attorney General’s Office sent letters to GNC, Target, Walmart and Walgreens telling them to immediately stop the sale of popular private label herbal supplements after…
C-stores are a foodservice force
Back in late 2013, the Hartman Group advised on how convenience stores could overtake restaurants in popularity as food destinations with a formula of easy, quick and accessible meals. Are…
What will it take to win back the storeless generation?
The Millennial is the storeless generation — a generation raised in a chain-store world, one without third spaces, at least in the classic sense. Do you see social media components…
Is it time for e-mailed receipts?
Retailers first began experimenting with e-mailing receipts to customers and foregoing paper in the early part of this decade with Apple starting the trend. About a third of stores now…
McDonald’s auctions limited edition bottle of Big Mac Special Sauce
The list of ingredients which constitute the special sauce unique to McDonald’s Big Macs is not the closely-guarded secret it once was, but there must still be something special about…
RadioShack to sell stores after filing for bankruptcy
The worst kept secret in retailing is no longer a secret. RadioShack has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and plans to sell up to 2,400 stores as part of…
Survey says: Wegmans has best reputation in the nation
The 16th annual Harris Poll Reputation Quotient study has put Wegmans at the top of its list of companies based on corporate reputation. What elements of a company’s reputation are…
What’s next for data security?
According to Boston Retail Partners’ 2015 POS/Customer Engagement Benchmarking Survey, payment security ranked among the top three priorities by retailers for 2015 for the first time in 16 years. How…
