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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
BrainTrust Query: Call Center Caution – It Can Rocket Loyalty or Kill It
The call center can either be the gem in a loyal customer relationship or the Achilles heel that kills it. It is the most personal of touch points, but too…
College Grads Settling for Retail Jobs
The good news: seemingly more college grads are working retail these days. The bad news: they don’t want to be there. Can retail improve on the way it’s working as…
FDBuyer: Sam’s Rules
Perhaps the most famous part of Sam Walton’s autobiography, “Made in America,” is in Chapter 17, “Running a Successful Company: Ten Rules that Worked for Me.” How relevant are…
PayPal Teams with Discover to Expand Offline Presence
PayPal is expanding its brick-and-mortar payment services to more than 7 million stores across the U.S. in a partnership with Discover Financial Services. To what degree will its new partnership…
An Uncertain Future for the Office Superstore Format
When is the last time you circulated a paper memo around the office? No, we’re not totally paperless but just imagine what digital communication is doing to the demand for…
Is Customized Pricing Legit?
Several grocers are rolling out customized pricing based on shoppers’ buying habits. A recent article in the New York Times explored whether the practice of charging different prices for the…
BrainTrust Query: Mystery Shops – Retail’s Service Checkup
Business owners say is, “I just need more customers,” when what they really need is more returning customers. They can burn through a neighborhood with bad word-of-mouth and, without mystery…
Express Goes Social, But Not for the ROI
Everybody in the retailing industry presumably knows by now that social media is a big deal, and so does the CMO of Express, Lisa Gavales, but she doesn’t expect it…
Retail TouchPoints: Retail Executives Share Challenges With Solution Provider Partners
At the RetailNOW conference held in Vegas in July, one of the highlights was the customer panel discussion, designed to allow end-user retail and hospitality customers to let their solution…
Best Buy Turns to Hospitality Industry for New CEO
Best Buy Co Inc. named Hubert Joly, the former head of hospitality company Carlson, as its new CEO. The 53-year old Frenchman has never worked in retail, but has significant…
Walmart Beefs Up Layaway Program
Wal-Mart Stores announced it was upgrading its holiday layaway program by starting it earlier, including more products, and stretching the payback period. How much of a competitive advantage will Wal-Mart…
BrainTrust Query: The Surprising Math of Advertising Waste
How much wasted advertising can a marketer afford and still have a successful campaign? It turns out that, for a campaign to pay out, less than one percent of impressions…
Could Apple Suffer From Living Up to Its Own Reputation?
The Apple Store organization is a paragon of customer service. But living up to that image is tough when making operational decisions. Controversy was triggered by news that Apple SVP…
Gourmet Retailers Facing Competition on All Fronts
According to Gourmet Retailer’s annual reader survey, smaller food and kitchenware stores are feeling more optimistic about business conditions than a year ago. However, they remain wary of their larger…
RSR Research: Over-Promoted
There has been a flurry of news stories on pricing and promotions lately of which two stand out. One is about J.C. Penney’s return to “sale” terminology vs “best price.”…
Rite Aid Loading Rewards to Members’ Cards
Beginning next month, members of Rite Aid’s wellness+ rewards card will get something that customers at other chain drug stores cannot — special offers based on purchases automatically loaded onto…
Under-Age Checking – And Spending – Get Easier
The first-of-its-kind chip and pin-secured card has just been introduced in the U.K. for youngsters over the age of 12, which will control their spending, and prevent purchases of items…
MCX: The Future of Mobile Payments
A group of major retail chains have joined together to form Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), a new company focused on developing a mobile payment experience that also allows merchants to…
FDBuyer: Reviving Frozen Sales
Although most retailers have seen an increase in frozen food dollar sales, nearly all of these increases can be attributed to inflation — not to increased consumer demand. What…
BrainTrust Query: The Fifth P – Planning
To succeed at breaking through the fog or haze of what is currently standard operating practice in the industry, there needs to be a migration from the current “4P’s” communication…
PL Buyer: Accenture Lays Out Playbook to Beat Private Label
In a report based on its 2012 Store Brand Survey, Accenture detailed the ways that consumer packaged goods companies can win their battles against private label products. What do you…
