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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Surveys Say: Online Shopping Improves During Holidays
According to a new survey, a quarter of U.K. consumers feel that their online shopping experience is “significantly better” or “slightly better” during the holiday shopping period. Why do you…
Study Finds Values Drive Purchasing Choices
While value-driven consumers have been receiving a lot of attention in recent years, Amazon Advertising, part of Publicis Worldwide, has defined a new group of progressive consumers driven by their…
Penney Hurting For Cash, Readies Stock Sale
The reports have been flying in recent days that J.C. Penney is running low on cash reserves and needs to find ways to get some. Now the chain has announced…
Americans Share ‘Funny’ Not ‘Important’ Content on Social Media
Why do social media users share content? That was the question posed to consumers around the world in a recent survey by Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange (OTX). Is humor even…
BK Offers More ‘Satisfrying’ Experience
Burger King has just introduced a second fry option. Customers now have a choice of BK’s traditional fries or its new Satisfries, a new crinkle cut menu item with 40…
Has Amazon Finally Built an iPad Killer?
Amazon.com first showed that it can use price to attract consumers to buy an e-reader, and then to buy a tablet device. Now, it is looking to demonstrate that it…
Attention Amazon Moms: Target.com Wants You
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Amazon.com should have felt very flattered yesterday. Target.com announced the launch of a subscription service that allows parents of infants and toddlers…
Are Chains Better Than Mom & Pop’s at Community Outreach?
New research not so surprisingly finds that that as much as 40 percent of retailers’ consumer support comes from community-building factors. The surprise was that larger retailers had more readily…
What Will It Take to Create a Better Checkout Experience?
Thanks to bar code scanners, self-checkout, pay-at-the-pump and smarter, faster POS systems, it’s likely we are spending less time in lines than we did decades ago. So why is there…
Bogus Reviewers Do The Crime, Pay the Fine
New York’s Attorney General office recently sued 19 firms for more than $350,000 in fines for posting phony reviews that violated that state’s laws against false advertising. Do you expect…
Is America Ready for Smart Homes? Staples Says Yes
Staples is looking to become America’s go-to place for home automation with a new concept called Staples Connect that will make it possible for people to network and control a…
Walmart Goes On a Hiring Spree
It’s not a huge surprise that Walmart is planning to hire 55,000 seasonal workers, up 10 percent from last year. What is surprising is the company plans to move some…
Team Building: A Lesson From Trader Joe’s
Regular readers of RetailWire know that George Anderson spent time working “over cover” at Trader Joe’s a number of years ago, with the goal to find out just what there…
Will Consumers Pre-Pay for Groceries?
For grocery consumers, the list items bought week in and week out is remarkably consistent. On the grocer’s side, of all the items they stock, a very small percentage drive…
Is Black Friday History?
Black Friday is no longer a day or a week but a state of mind. As retailers extend the shopping season around major consumer shopping staples, we’re likely to see…
Dillon to Retire: What’s Next for Kroger?
Dave Dillon, who has adeptly run Kroger Co. for the last decade, last week announced plans to retire at the close of the year, replaced by COO Rodney McMullen. Mr…
How Valuable is ‘Free!’?
According to a new university study, giving away a free product as part of a purchase actually boosts the perceived value of the freebie. Do you agree with research that…
Are Retailers Wasting Social Media Efforts On Idiots?
As I wrote last December, social media can provide a valuable customer service function when call centers or stores do not meet their obligations of service. But for all the…
Retail TouchPoints: Associates Duck Consumers Seeking Product Information
Nearly 50 percent of consumers believe their personal mobile devices are more efficient than store associates in helping them make buying decisions, according to Motorola’s 2012 Holiday Shopper Study. A…
Starbucks Stuck in Middle of Gun Argument
What do you do when you’re a retailer and you’re faced with a customer more interested in making political points than buying products? If you’re Starbucks, you try to find…
Will Bloomie’s Tags Put an End to Wardrobing?
Buying a dress for a special event and then returning it the next day may make for some laughs on sit-coms but, in the real world, wardrobing, as it is…
