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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Alzheimer’s Should Scare Business Owners
We often joke that we initially noticed our memory going right after receiving our first membership solicitation for AARP. There was no joke, however, in the revelation from The Washington…
Concept Shows Toys and Babies Go Together
Apparently, Toys “R” Us has been relatively successful in getting consumers to bypass competitors and shop in its superstores. The chain just opened its newest 60,000 square-foot combination store in…
BrainTrust Query: Why or Why Not Open a Retail Store Now
Maybe you’ve always wanted to be your own boss. You’ve always enjoyed shopping and think opening your own store will be fun. But make no mistake: succeeding in retail is…
Home Depot, Target Chase Online Opportunities
We’re operating in a multi-channel world, and for many traditional retailers that means trying to bring their expertise in clicks up to the levels of the brick side of the…
Walmart Brings Local (Curry) Flavor to U.K. Stores
It’s a common to walk into a big box store and find a large foodservice banner with space inside. What’s not common is to find local restaurants cooking up dishes…
BrainTrust Query: The Income Gap – The Growing Chasm Between Server and Served
Over the past 30 years, the economic distance between the lowest paid Americans (many of whom are front line retail workers) and the highest paid, has been widening at an…
CPGmatters: Kraft Foods Develops ‘Emotional Profiling’ to Help Guide Marketing Efforts
If a shopper strolls down the cookie aisle and then stops to ponder a purchase, what finally makes her decide for one product over the other? Kraft Foods has been…
Safeway Tells Signature Takers to Scoot
Professional signature gatherers last week demonstrated at Safeway’s headquarters in Pleasanton, CA to protest what they say are the company’s unconstitutional policies targeting the collection of signatures for ballot measures…
Walgreens Expects Nice! Results from New Private Label
Walgreens is serious about becoming a player in the grocery business. The drugstore chain announced this week that it was rolling out a new line of products under the Nice!…
Customer Service Impacts Brand Loyalty and ‘Word-Of-Mouse’
It’s understood that good customer service practices impact brand loyalty, word of mouth, and — with tech-savvy Millennial customers — coveted “word of mouse” online ratings shared through social media…
Retailers Have a Pricing Problem
Today’s consumers are well aware of the fluctuation in prices. Retailers, while trying various ways to keep a lid on increases, could at least point to rising commodities costs to…
FD Buyer: Feds Want to Change How You Market
Make no mistake about it, the food industry is under attack. And it’s not just food makers that are at risk. Recent efforts to limit food marketing to children would…
Abercrombie & Fitch Wants No Part of Jersey Shore Crowd
The Jersey Shore cast is not feeling the love these days. This week, Abercrombie & Fitch, a chain that just last year was selling “The Fitchuation” t-shirts, has offered Mike…
Robots to the Rescue at Toys ‘R’ Us
Toys “R” Us is looking for back-end and front of store help from robots. According to Bloomberg News, the toy store chain opened a new distribution center last month near…
RSR Research: Retail Feast and Famine
Described as an “IKEA-pocalypse,” IKEA opened to great fanfare in Denver last month. So for its second weekend open, RetailWire BrainTrust panelist Nikki Baird decided to see what all the…
Starbucks CEO: Forget Politics, Hire Workers
Howard Schultz wants other companies to join his and stop giving money to politicians and use those funds to put people back to work. Do you agree with Howard Schultz…
Whole Foods Wellness Club Focuses on Consumer Education
What does $739 get you at Whole Foods? It gets you a one-year membership ($199 one-time processing fee plus $45 a month) in the natural grocery store chain’s new Wellness…
Retail Customer Experience: Technology Should Create Better Customer Interaction
A panel at the Retail Customer Experience Executive Summit in Minneapolis exploring how technology can help empower sales associates agreed that technology should never replace human interaction. In fact, it…
Google Going Mobile with Motorola Deal
Google’s deal to acquire Motorola Mobility is being described as a means to advance its Android operating system in its battle against Apple and to protect it against patent suits…
Nordstrom Opening Different Kind of Store in NYC
New Yorkers waiting for Nordstrom to open its first flagship store in the Big Apple will still have to wait. But the company is opening a new store under a…
BrainTrust Query: Wholesale-to-Retail Heading Hyper-local
For a growing number of wholesalers, owned retail has become the ultimate learning lab, a chance to wrest control of distribution and display destinies away from retailers and gain insight…
