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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
McD’s looks for answers down under
New commercials may indicate McDonald’s is looking to increase the effectiveness of its “I’m Lovin’ It” ad campaign, but the chain and its investors are certainly not enamored with recent…
Penney has a merry Christmas
While J.C. Penney probably has not won over all its critics, yesterday’s announcement that the company achieved a same-store sales gain of 3.7 percent during November and December was enough…
Is the bathroom Amazon’s next frontier?
Identifying and capitalizing on previously unexplored consumer behaviors seems to be a go-to strategy for Amazon these days, and now appears to be going where few other businesses have ventured…
Is Amazon facing pricing issues?
According to The Answers Experience Index (AXI), Amazon suffered a sharp drop-off in customer satisfaction over the holiday season, partly attributed to customers’ assessments of the retailer’s price competitiveness. Does…
Who are retail’s biggest disruptors?
The NRF Foundation has released a “List of People Shaping Retail’s Future” ahead of its inaugural gala this weekend in New York. The list of 25 individuals is broken out…
Haggen to get big in a hurry
One of the biggest retail stories to come out of the past holiday season was the announcement that Haggen, an 18-unit grocery chain with stores in Oregon and Washington, planned…
Retailers fulfill more holiday deliveries promises
Apparently with little help from Rudolph, last-minute Christmas packages arrived largely on time this year. According to a survey, only seven percent of packages ordered online did not arrive by…
Will couponing continue to be a mainstay of retailing?
Bernice Hurst grew up in New York City but has lived in England for the past forty years. Her return trips often trigger trains of thought on the changes in…
In-store pickup only saves 96 seconds
According to a study by StellaService on BOPIS, online pickup takes an average of 5.4 minutes between entering the store and checking out while standard in-store shopping takes 7 minutes…
The RetailWire Christmas Commercial Challenge: The Final Vote
After eight weeks of one-on-one competition, the time has come for the RetailWire community to vote for the one commercial that stood above the rest for 2014 holiday selling season…
Are stand-alone loyalty approaches anachronistic?
Well over 20 years ago, the first “electronic” card-based loyalty programs arrived to help retailers promote more effectively. With limited technology and inherent expense, retailers quickly gave up on targeted…
Walmart pilots gift card trade-in service
As a holiday present, the gift card is a double-edged sword — either freedom to buy at a given retailer, or getting stuck with credit at retailers where one would…
Dining and lodging the big holiday gifts in 2014
While many traditional Christmas categories sold well this year, the biggest gains came from casual dining and lodging, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse’s initial report on holiday selling. Do you see…
Playing ‘Flip It’ with returns and exchanges
One of the keys to being successful in the last week of December is your staff’s ability to “flip” customers who come in for a refund or exchange into making…
Is subscription selling good for books?
Mimicking Spotify in the music space and Netflix for TV shows and films, a number of subscription-based models have arrived that provide access to unlimited e-books and audiobooks for a…
Is ship-from-store a proven omnichannel benefit?
Many retailers are now using their stores as fulfillment centers to ship a small portion to upwards of 20 percent of the product they sell online. But there are challenges…
Do retail employees get enough respect?
A recent Harvard Business Review study found that bosses who want to get commitment and engagement from employees they need to do one thing: Show respect. Unfortunately, over half of…
The RetailWire Christmas Commercial Challenge: GameStop vs. PetSmart
This week’s matchup is between “Deer Crossing” from GameStop, a commercial featuring Santa’s helpers up to some naughty, grand theft activity, and “Thanks” from PetSmart, which offers appreciation for four-legged…
Is Cuba in U.S. retail’s future?
While considering the lofty expectations and numerous hurdles, last week’s surprising move by the U.S. government to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba, there may be opportunities for U.S. retailing and…
Retail technology for 2015
In the interest of avoiding the word “prediction” because that involves a little more precision than space allows, here are five big trends we think will dominate the retail technology…
Is the digital holiday shopper different?
According to a study commissioned by Argos, the U.K. retailer, 59 percent of U.K. shoppers agreed they “morph” their retail purchasing behavior at Christmas in order to “compete,” with a…
