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This might be the best Christmas commercial ever
The RetailWire Christmas Commercial Challenge is a domestic affair by intent. That doesn’t mean, however, that great work isn’t being done outside the borders of the U.S. What is your…
Retailers cope with ‘I want what I want when I want it’ syndrome
What’s the difference between a customer who must always be deemed right and a petulant child? Instant gratification, or “I want what I want when I want it” is apparently…
Consumer demand is changing the role of secondary packaging
The traditional role of secondary packaging has been to protect the primary package as it travels through the supply chain. But the recent trend of having secondary packaging play a…
Walmart considers online price-match guarantee
Potentially joining Target and Best Buy, Walmart is testing the matching of online prices of competitors such as Amazon. What do you see as the pros and cons of Walmart…
Amazon hails taxis to make deliveries
It may just be that Amazon.com is pursuing an “all of the above” strategy when it comes to making speedier deliveries to customers. According to The Wall Street Journal, Amazon…
Overstock.com brings the farmers market online
The online grocery market has a new player and it’s Overstock.com. Yesterday, the off-price e-tailer announced the launch of Farmers Market on its site. Do you agree with Patrick Byrne…
Amazon extends Prime membership bennies to fashion retailer
Yesterday, Amazon announced that AllSaints, a British fashion retailer, would offer Prime members free, next day shipping on purchases made, not on Amazon’s marketplace, but on AllSaints.com. What is your…
Search drives in-store visits
Three in four consumers who find local information in search results to be helpful report being more likely to visit stores. That’s according to a recent Google, Ipsos MediaCT and…
Overstock declares book price war with Amazon
There was once a time when Amazon.com played the role of David going up against the goliath Barnes & Noble. Now, a smaller rival is using low prices, a key…
The RetailWire Christmas Commercial Challenge: Target vs. Walmart
In the RetailWire Christmas Commercial Challenge we will offer up two commercials for you to critique throughout the season. Up today are commercials from rivals Target and Walmart. Which is…
Will customer satisfaction monitors inspire or irritate staffs?
Coming off a painful customer experience at New York’s JFK Airport even for airport standards, the people checking passports, scanning luggage on the conveyor belt at Heathrow Airport seemed bizarrely…
Starbucks delivers
When you’re Starbucks, a one percent increase in traffic and a five percent gain in same-store sales is not enough. The latest effort from the coffee chain in its perpetual…
Does P&G need retailers anymore?
Procter & Gamble’s $89 million distribution center near Dayton brings jobs to the region, but as part of a supply-chain overhaul, it also represents the inevitable — and potentially dramatic…
Black Friday creeps back towards Halloween
While many are fretting about Black Friday slipping into Thanksgiving Day, a few major chains are drawing it back toward Halloween. What do you think of retailers promoting Black Friday-type…
Polaroid Fotobar brings digital to physical
Launched in 2012 and currently operating traditional stores in South Florida and Las Vegas, Polaroid Fotobar offers customers the ability to instantly turn pictures that only currently live on digital…
Retargeting gone wrong
According to the survey of 1,600 people in the UK between the ages of 20 and 60, only 10 percent are more likely to buy something after seeing the same…
Apple CEO comes out in support of empathy
Apple CEO Tim Cook’s public admission that he is gay was noteworthy, not just for its social implications, but because of the message that organizations such as Apple that embrace…
Mondelez teams up with Google to sell cookies and gum
Mondelez has formed a vast strategic partnership with Google and its YouTube unit that will result in 10 percent of the total Mondelez advertising budget going to online video this…
CurrentC hit by hackers
In a blog post yesterday, Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), the consortium of retailers developing the CurrentC mobile payment system, revealed that unauthorized third parties were able to gain access to…
Lowe’s new sales help seems a little robotic
A sales floor stacked with lumber and other old-fashioned home improvement necessities might not be the first place you would expect to see bleeding-edge technology at work. But the latest…
Do retail boards need to be overhauled?
According to a survey from Women’s Wear Daily and the executive research firm, Berglass+Associates, only 22 percent of retail execs believe their board of directors today are very effective. Do…
