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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Best Buy Testing Used Games Market
In stores in Georgia and Texas, Best Buy is testing the use of kiosks to allow customers to trade in used video games in exchange for store credit. What do…
BrainTrust Query: How Will Localized Assortments Affect Distribution Methods?
The modern supermarket is a vast bazaar of products, seemingly targeted to no one and aiming to please everyone. But concern over waste and slow moving inventory has prompted retailers…
Employees Seek Days Off in Lieu of Bonuses
According to a recent survey, about 37 percent of employees said they would favor extra time off to keep them motivated if a year-end cash bonus wasn’t an option. What…
Mobile Price Checkers Arrive
According to an Associated Press article, at least a few tech-savvy shoppers are scanning barcodes with their cell phone cameras while standing in store aisles. How serious a challenge to…
BrainTrust Query: Be Small, Think Big and Get Ready
We truly are entering the golden age of small business. And while the editor-in-chief of Wired magazine says “It might not feel that way to a lot of small businesses,”…
Tiger Woods and the Risks of Celebrity Endorsements
After news of his infidelity and his decision to quit golf, Accenture became the first firm to end its marketing relationship with Tiger Woods. Has the proliferation of internet and…
Retail Customer Experience: Five Signs a Retail Store Needs a Makeover
When a store first opens, everything is fresh.. However, many years later, the store may be still chugging along, but that once shiny layer of paint is now faded, the…
BrainTrust Query: Don’t Fall Behind Waiting for the Rebound
In a RIS News webinar, BrainTrust panelist David Dorf advised that retailers need to continue innovating, regardless of the economy to be better positioned when the “retail rebound” occurs. Of…
Survey: Only Nine Percent of Consumers Dislike Grocery Shopping
A survey from The Nielsen Co. found that only nine percent of primary shoppers in U.S. households “dislike” or “hate” grocery shopping. Indeed, more than half indicated they “really enjoy”…
Whole Foods Goes Mobile
Whole Foods Market last week launched a website optimized for web-enabled mobile devices. The site basically provides customers with the features of wholefoodsmarkets.com while on the go. What do you…
FD Buyer: Want To Sell Me Your Product?
In this article, Betty Buyer, a fictional store buyer based on interviews with a group of retailers, offers advice to Sammy the Seller…. What should take priority in vendor sales…
Star Author and Amazon Deal Directly
Book publishers have worried with the advent of electronic publishing and the rise of high-volume outlets that popular authors might cut them out and sign deals directly with the likes…
BrainTrust Query: Canada’s Second Unofficial Currency Gets a New Addition
Canadian Tire Money is probably one of the most successful retail loyalty programs out there. The company created the program in response to gas stations offering toasters and dishes as…
Sol Price, Warehouse Club Pioneer, Passes Away
Sol Price, one of the earliest pioneers of the warehouse club channel, who opened Price Club in San Diego in 1976, died Monday at the age of 93. What do…
Kids Living With Parents Longer, Changing Shopping Patterns
Retailers beware. There is a new threat to your livelihoods from young people who are living longer with their parents and not exercising their rights to consume. What does young…
BrainTrust Query: Numbers and Stories
Despite the wealth of information available today, far too many bad business decisions are being made in the absence of good information, either because the executives have not bothered to…
Lululemon Avoids the Markdown Bug
Lululemon Athletica appears to be one of the few retailers to navigate this recession without resorting to pervasive markdowns. What do you think of the many ways Lululemon added value…
Making Sense of Sears’ Strategy
Communication is not Sears Holdings’ strong suit, according to William Dreher, an analyst at Deutsche Bank AG. The problem with Sears’ secrecy is that no one seems to have a…
Future of Fashion Shows May Be Online
The expense of putting on the lavish shows and accompanying parties associated around events has designers wondering if there isn’t a better way to introduce new lines. What do you…
BrainTrust Query: Managed Scarcity
Retailers of all shapes and sizes have been struggling with the question of how to get customers to pay full price again. Last month, The New York Times noted how…
Consumers Say Service Stinks at Retail
According to The SALT & Pepper Group, which did the survey, poor service is more about what retail store employees don’t do than what they actually do. What areas do…
