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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Austin grocer pulls back on package-free dream
Austin-based in.gredients, which earned wide press coverage for becoming “the first package-free and zero waste grocery store in the United States,” quietly announced that they will focus on other goals…
Retail’s homeless problem
In the U.K., Tesco recently removed spikes outside one of its stores after being accused of using them to prevent homeless people from sleeping there. In a related circumstance, the…
Marketers measure but consumers aren’t buying social efforts
Marketers are taking to social media in a big way and 80 percent are measuring the effectiveness of those efforts, according to a study conducted for the Association of National…
Walmart to showcase ‘women owned’ labels
In a new partnership with the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, Walmart plans to sell merchandise featuring a unique logo identifying the goods as produced by women-owned businesses. How appealing…
Do loyalty programs need to be more flexible to succeed?
According to a survey of 1,000 shoppers from PwC, shoppers do not want their loyalty programs at grocers to go away. In fact, they want them to evolve to offer…
Higher food prices could hurt grocers and help restaurants
Drought, sick pigs and high demand are just a few of the reasons that food prices have been climbing in recent months and hitting consumers squarely in the wallet. But…
The barcode turns 40. What comes next?
Forty years ago yesterday, a cashier at a Marsh Supermarket in Ohio scanned a pack of gum and the Uniform Product Code (UPC) took its first step to becoming the…
The lure of free shipping
According to a UPS study, four out of five consumers feel that free shipping is an important factor when making a purchase online. Ninety-three percent have taken action — including…
Consumers turn to social media for customer service
Consumers have learned that when you want to resolve an issue with a retailer or brand quickly, the fastest path is often through a social media channel. New research from…
Gap Inc. attracts a better type of job applicant
When Gap Inc. announced last February that it was increasing the minimum wage paid to its entry-level workers, it was widely believed the move would boost the chain’s image among…
Forrester: No such thing as Facebook fatigue among teens
Back in March of 2013, I wrote a column on this site discussing the exodus of teens away from Facebook. But according to new research by the good folks at…
Why do shoppers buy some store brand groceries and not others?
While a new survey from Market Force Information finds that private label groceries overall are growing in popularity, dairy still dominates the purchases. Why do you think it has been…
Net-A-Porter is first to sell Google Glass
Net-A-Porter is looking to bring some style along with sales to Google Glass. Yesterday, the online luxury and fashion merchant began selling a limited number of DVF | Made for…
Doddle takes a new click and collect concept to train stations
Click and collect just keeps getting easier. Train stations in the U.K. are now being transformed into collection points for online purchases, some with changing rooms where customers can try…
3-D printing creates the ‘shelfie’
While “selfies” made with smartphone cameras have been the rage over the last couple of years, 3-D printing technologies have created the “shelfie” — life-like mini-models of people that often…
Retail CEOs underestimate omni-channel supply chain challenges
Over 50 percent of retail CEOs see the supply chain as a strategic differentiator, but many are not making the required transformation to take advantage of the pace of change,…
Retailers dominate worst places to work list
People seem to really like complaining about their jobs in retail and they can apparently cite quite a few reasons for their unhappiness, according to 24/7 Wall St., which has…
Home Depot putting the brakes on NASCAR deal
Home Depot is not going to renew its sponsorship of Joe Gibbs Racing when its contract expires at the end of the NASCAR season, according to a report by SportsBusiness…
Unit pricing heads online
Walmart, Costco and four other retailers reached an agreement with New York’s attorney general to list unit prices on their websites and mobile apps for shoppers nationwide within nine months…
American Apparel CEO to fight firing
Last week when American Apparel’s largest outside shareholder expressed surprise over the firing of the company’s founder and CEO Dov Charney, there were others who wondered why it took so…
Science fiction tech helps Lowe’s customers with remodels
Lowe’s recently introduced The Lowe’s Holoroom, a simulator that applies 3-D and augmented reality technologies to provide homeowners “an intuitive, immersive experience in the room of their dreams.” How appealing…
