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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Is Gay Marriage Good for Business?
Hundreds of U.S. businesses are coming out in support of same-sex marriages in friend-of-the-court briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court, which will hear arguments in two separate cases dealing…
Retail Customer Experience: An Amazing Customer Experience From TSA?
Last month, Doug Fleener was in line for security at Logan Airport. The line not only went quickly, but you could hear laughter. The lone TSA agent was fast, engaging…
Who Knew? Amazon Shoppers Are Walmart Moms
New research from the locations analytics firm Placed shows that the brick and mortar store where the greatest percentage of Amazon.com customers shop is Walmart. Why do you think there…
Nobody Knows Retailers When They’re Down and Out
It seems over time that successful retailers that go on losing streaks have a lot in common with the blues classic “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out,” with…
Don’t Fire Me, I’m The Piano Player
In its 112-year history, Nordstrom has become well known for its piano players performing from a prominent position on the main floor. The pianos, however, are slowly being phased out…
Will Former Trader Joe’s Prez Succeed Selling Food Past Date?
The former president of Trader Joe’s, is looking to bring more nutritious foods to low-income consumers in Boston, but there’s a catch; the foods will have passed their sell-by dates…
Safeway’s Loyalty Program Makes Print Ads Obsolete
Safeway could be ready to stop running print ads as early as the end of this year, according to the company’s chairman and CEO Steve Burd. Do you see many…
Will Chicago Gofer Sears’ Same-Day In-Store Pickup Service?
Sears Holdings is testing a new version of its MyGofer store pickup service aimed at busy urban professionals. After ordering online, customers pick up their purchases the same day at…
Will Target Canada Beat Walmart With Shorter Checkout Lines?
According to a Financial Post report, Target began airing its first commercials in Canada during Sunday’s Oscar telecast, telling consumers what they can expect from shopping in its stores including…
Will Walgreens U. Push Chain to Top of Drugstore Class?
Representing a doubling of its annual spending on employee training and development, Walgreens last week cut the ribbon on Walgreens University, a facility dedicated to providing classroom and online programming…
RSR Research: Mobile – When Words and Actions Don’t Line Up
When retailers were recently asked to rate what role mobile plays in the retail experience, their top-rated response was that mobile’s primary ability is to enhance the overall value of…
Are Brands Connecting Emotionally With Consumers?
In a recently published Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, emotional engagement proved the most important factor in purchasing decisions and brand loyalty, and showed promotions and discounting reaching “saturation levels.” How…
Will Google Glass Make Smartphones History?
The advent of the smartphone meant that some technologies went from important to rarely seen or used. Now there are predictions that Google Glass will somehow make smartphones less relevant,…
Retweet If You’re a Wegmaniac
Shopping at Wegmans can be a very social experience. It is one of the few stores where multiple people in our household volunteer to go along when plans to go…
Is Buying a Competitor’s Products Disloyal?
To eBay’s CEO John Donahoe, employee loyalty means actually using your employer’s products. “You should be using our products and using PayPal products wherever you see them.” Should or can…
Walmart’s E-Mail: Is Economic Collapse Imminent?
An e-mail sent by Walmart’s vice president of finance and logistics has many questioning whether the national economy is getting ready to go all Great Recession Part II on us…
Is the Time Right for Digital Shelf Tags?
Are the costs that come with implementing digital shelf tag technology justified when weighed against the expense associated with changing current labels every time prices change? Are digital shelf tags…
Is Twitter Safe for Retailers and Brands?
It used to be that the biggest thing retailers and brands needed to worry about on Twitter were snarky comments. Now there are even bigger issues with hackers hijacking Twitter…
When Will Big Data’s Reality Meet Its Vision?
Everywhere you go in the retailing and CPG industries today, it’s about personalization, big data and having the right product for the right person, every time. Yet, for many consumers,…
Do Mobile Consumers Care About Social Responsibility?
Promising to be the first corporate accountability app, recently launched BizVizz is designed “to make corporate behavior transparent.” Do mobile shoppers having access to such data raise the stakes on…
Who Wins After OfficeMax and Office Depot Merge?
The announced deal to merge OfficeMax and Office Depot should, theoretically, give the new company a better shot competing with Staples, the top-ranked chain in the category. Who wins in…
