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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
BrainTrust Query: Brand Messaging Focused Only on Women Is Stuck in the Past
It’s the conventional wisdom touted daily via a thousand PowerPoint slides in a thousand new business and campaign pitches: Women drive 80 percent of consumer purchases. And it’s simply not…
Should Penney Go Private or Make a Real Estate Play?
J.C. Penney is in trouble on Wall Street and pretty much any street where it does business, leading to recent suggestions that the company buy some time by either being…
Meijer Looks to Make It Even Bigger in Michigan
Meijer has found that going local is good for its business. So good, in fact, the Grand Rapids-based chain is expanding its ‘Made in Michigan’ initiative to add 55 new…
FRBuyer: Five Tips On Making Mergers Work
Based on experience over the years in the supermarket industry, consolidation can be good and bad. On the plus side, you get more buying power. On the minus side, lots…
Is Amazon Facing a Mutiny?
Amazon.com has a pretty good business going with third party sellers. While the deal between the parties has benefits for all involved, there appears to be some resentment by retailers…
Lululemon Gets Pantsed
Lululemon Athletica, the trendy yoga apparel chain, is having growing pains. The chain now finds itself, quite literally, without pants as a the result of a manufacturing mistake. What would…
What Will Drive the Next E-Commerce Growth Wave?
Forrester expects e-commerce in the U.S. will see another string of double-digit gains over the next five years. The underlying drivers, however, will be somewhat different than online’s earlier days…
How Can Retailers Gain the Loyalty of Millennials?
Pop quiz: What’s the largest American generation of all time? (Hint: It’s not the Baby Boomers.) Retailers are scrambling to secure the loyalty of this tech-savvy and fast-paced crowd, which…
Retail’s Big Catch: Seafood Thrives as Shoppers Go Healthy
The International Boston Seafood Show featured the latest and greatest developments in the fresh and frozen fish industry, with almost entirely good news for the record-breaking number of attendees. What…
BrainTrust Query: What to Do With the Boss From Hell?
Any manager can fall into any one of a number of traps. But when they become a habit, or too many happen at once, there’s a negative impact the staff…
Are Shoppers Entitled to Privacy While They Shop?
Despite Scott McNealy’s assertion, “You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it.” to the contrary, many people believe that a right to privacy comes with being American. Do you agree…
Has Facebook Lost Its Cool?
A number of years ago, George Anderson attended a presentation given by Paco Underhill, in which he warned companies that things that are cool eventually become uncool and, when that…
BrainTrust Query: Will 3D Printing Bring Boon or Bust to Retailers?
Though we’re already making progress toward affordable same-day or next-day delivery, what if there were a way to skip the delivery process altogether? What do you think of the potential…
It’s Vendors Awards Time!
While not matching the glitz of the Oscars, many major retailers and regionals often take the early months of the year to honor their top suppliers. Are you a fan…
Bonobos Showrooms Itself
At the same time that notable online retailers are testing same-day delivery, men’s apparel e-tailer Bonobos is building earth-based “Guideshops” that take the bet that shoppers will tolerate a longer…
No Room for Indies at Target
Target Corp. is shuttering its “The Shops at Target” experiment, which showcased exclusive goods from select independent boutique retailers within in-store shops. Why do you think Target pulled the plug…
RSR Research: ‘I Did Not See That Coming’ – Getting Nimble for the Next Big Thing
In an internet radio show where the topic was, “Precision Retail: What’ve You Done for Your Customer Lately?” the punch line came at the end: “I did not see that…
Yabbly Ups the Online Review Game with ‘Two-Way Karma’
“Our team can solve this problem because we helped create it,” Yabbly founder Tom Leung told Mashable. The problem of which Mr. Leung speaks is the “useless”-ness of online reviews…
Retail Customer Experience: The Shifting Self-Service Paradigm
Recent surveys conducted by Nuance Communications and Corporate Board Executive revealed that consumers are not looking for service at all, at least not in the traditional form. They simply want…
Will Monthly Sales Reporting Be Missed?
With the new retail calendar year, a slew of retailers have joined others in moving to stop reporting monthly sales. Will the retail community ultimately regret the shift away from…
What Can Retailers Learn From the Martha Stewart Flap?
The recent Macy’s/J.C. Penney’s flap over Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO) is reminiscent of The Celebrity Apprentice — it may be wild, embarrassingly funny, and hugely entertaining (for awhile), but…
