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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
COLLOQUY: The Positive Power of Negative Word-of-Mouth
A July report by our company, LoyaltyOne, and researchers at Northwestern University shows that negative word of mouth may actually indicate brand passion and lead to increased sales. What do…
Staples, RadioShack End Tests on Amazon’s Lockers
The idea behind the Amazon.com locker test was pretty simple, and was seen as a potential win for all. Now that both Staples and RadioShack have pulled out of the…
Does In-Store Technology Really Deliver a Better Customer Experience?
We’ve all heard the claims that in-store technology will enable retailers to offer consumers a variety of ways to enhance their brick and mortar shopping experience. Of course, as with…
Is T-Commerce Better Than F-Commerce?
While the big business story last week was Twitter revealing it has filed for an initial public offering, the 140-character social network also recently showed it was ready to double-down…
Will You Have a Cocktail With Those Jeans?
Conventional thinking would suggest that if you operate a store that caters to younger consumers it wouldn’t make sense to seek permission to sell alcohol. Of course, if you’re Urban…
Saks Turns to Harrods For New Leadership
Harrods, it could be argued, is the industry’s most iconic department store, attracting visitors from all over the globe. Yesterday, it was announced that Marigay McKee, Harrods’ chief merchant, would…
Will Return to TV Rock Gap’s Sales?
The Gap is back on television. The retailer’s newest spots seem intended to bridge the gap between older consumers who may have discovered the chain somewhere back in the seventies…
Finding New Customers in Your Best Customers
In practice, customer acquisition strategies involving segmentation often draw artful conclusions that lack real-world application. In these situations, companies can benefit by taking a different approach to customer segmentation and…
Trader Joe’s Dropping Health Coverage for PT Workers
Frequently praised for extending healthcare coverage to many of its part-time employees at a reasonable price, Trader Joe’s last week told workers who log less than 30 hours a week…
All Press Isn’t Good Press For Some Brands
A little controversy can indeed help generate some word-of-mouth buzz for a brand, but too much controversy turns people off, according to a study from Georgia Institute of Technology and…
Non-Verbal Cues Key to Retail Sales Results
In an effort to determine “how retail environments, as exemplified by the retail salespeople they contain, can satisfy customers more effectively,” research from the Said School of Business, Oxford University,…
Do Retailer CEOs Need to Get Out More?
It’s a strongly held belief within retailing that if you want to be a successful leader of a brick & mortar retail chain, you need to get out of the…
Can Kids Help Improve Walmart’s Toy Sales?
Kmart commercials for its layaway program are not the only signs of Christmas Creep. Yesterday, Walmart released its annual list of hot toys for the season with one notable difference…
The eTail Blog: Three Retail Tips on Using Facebook
At eTail East, Nicholas Franchet, head of global e-commerce for Facebook, noted that global e-commerce sales are expected to surpass $1.2 billion in 2013. Which of the suggestions offered by…
Will Small Stores Deliver Big Returns For Walmart?
Walmart has used its large supercenter format to climb to the top of American retailing, but the chain is looking to its small box concepts to help it reach even…
Want to Raise Prices? Customer Segmentation Provides an Answer
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal suggests that companies will be forced to raise prices in coming years, as costs of goods and transportation have risen steadily while…
Will Kmart’s Early Jump on Christmas Work?
For several years, retailers have sought to get an earlier and earlier jump on the competition with ads and promotions for the Christmas holiday selling season. Kmart has pushed the…
Yucaipa Buys Fresh & Easy. What’s Next?
Tesco’s American nightmare is at an end. Yesterday, Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Companies announced it was purchasing 150 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores along with the company’s distribution and production…
Why Does Target Love Showrooming?
Back in January 2012, Target sent a letter to suppliers asking them to work with the retailer to create exclusive items that couldn’t be directly compared by price. This past…
CPGmatters: From Shelf to Storefront: Brand-Building via Retail
Consumer product manufacturers have historically focused on just one type of “real estate,” shelf space where their brands jockey for attention in the store. But lately, a few manufacturers have…
What Happens to Big Data If the Small Data Is Wrong?
Big data proponents may have a bigger problem on their hands than the privacy concerns of consumers. Last week, the data broker Acxiom launched a website, AboutTheData.com, to give individuals…
