RECENT discussions
Discussions
Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Retail TouchPoints: Forrester Research Highlights Impact of Location-Based Marketing
A recent Forrester Research survey indicated that 114 million U.S. smartphone users employ check-in services. Forrester predicts that number will grow to 159 million by 2015. What type of offers,…
Verizon and Redbox Go Online to Battle Netflix
Up until now, Verizon has distributed television and movie content on a local basis, while Redbox has offered DVDs nationally to consumers through its kiosks. Now the companies have combined…
Super Bowl Ads Come Up Short in Crunch Time
Yesterday’s Super Bowl was one of the most exciting in the history of the event. If only the same could have been said for the commercials, which fell short of…
Ten Years of Lessons: The Irony of It All
It’s been 10 years this week since we introduced RetailWire to the retailing community. As we look back, we wondered if much has changed compared to February of 2002. But…
BrainTrust Query: Consumers Trust Strangers Over Store Associates
A survey late last year by Cisco Systems asked 1,000 U.S. consumers to rank their top three influencers in the buying process and who helped them buy. Sixty-eight percent said…
Super Bowl Ads Played Out By Game Time
The commercials used to be a big deal at the Super Bowl. In recent years, however, some of the magic seems to have gone out of the Super Bowl commercial…
BrainTrust Query: Updating the Referral Bonus
We all know that finding and retaining great people is a vital element for any experience-based store or company. Most retailers have some type of current employee referral program, but…
Food Deserts Are Part Mirage
There’s a perception that many urban communities in the U.S. are devoid of places to buy groceries. According to research, however, the issue isn’t about quantity, it’s about quality. How…
BrainTrust Query: Is the (Daily) Deal Finally Done?
One short year ago, the hype around daily deals was electric. In the analyst community, you could barely get through a day without hearing something about players growing at a…
Retail TouchPoints: Ralph Lauren Looks to Stay Relevant Amid Shifts
After more than 44 years in the retail industry, Ralph Lauren sought new strategies to reinvent itself to stay relevant with the next generation of consumers. To reaffirm its stance…
Should ‘Addictive’ Sugar Be Treated Like Alcohol and Tobacco?
A commentary in the journal Nature, posits that sugar is addictive, can be tied to a wide range of health issues facing individuals across the globe, and needs to be…
New Genius Hired to Run Apple Store
Speculation, almost from the moment Ron Johnson said he was leaving Apple to become CEO of J.C. Penney, was that the company would go outside the U.S. to hire its…
BrainTrust Query: So What’s With Smartphones?
We are constantly being pointed to any of a number of other new technologies as both the wave of the future and the demise of retail as we know it…
Tesco’s Big Green Plans Labeled a Failure
Back in January 2007, Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy pledged to develop a program that would place carbon labels on the more than 50,000 products the retailer sold. In May…
Walmart Greeters Get New Assignment
A lot of changes have taken place at Walmart over the years since Sam Walton’s passing, but the latest may have him flipping over in his grave. Walmart will be…
Not Everyone Going Smaller Box Route
It’s not news that many big box operators are opening smaller formats. While not getting as much attention, some retailers are going the opposite route and opening bigger box stores…
Moms, Pops and Chains Tackle Medical Insurance Increases
Recent stories, one from Massachusetts and another from Texas, point out some ways that independents and chains are looking to promote the health and wellness of employees without any ill…
Super Bowl: Food Sellers Look to Run Up the Score
Catching up to Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July and Memorial Day, Super Bowl Sunday has become yet another day when Americans take a break from the call for healthy eating…
Mickey Drexler Takes on Shopping Centers
At Financo’s 22nd annual Retail & Consumer Industry Seminar and CEO Event held on the first night of the recent NRF Convention, Mickey Drexler, the legendary apparel merchant, urged shopping…
RSR Research: NRF 2012 Gets Down to Earth
With the combination of anytime, anywhere information and smart mobile devices, the next generation of Winners will likely be the companies who understand the opportunities and integrate the concepts and…
Social Networking From Within
There’s much discussion about social networking and how companies can use it to strengthen customer loyalty, but not so much about companies using it within their own organizations to increase…
