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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Sears Getting Back Into Toy Biz
Sears is getting back into toy retailing after its last experiment in the category, “KB Toys at Sears,” folded along with that company’s business. What do you think about Sears…
1-800-Flowers First to Sell From Facebook Page
Most retailers use social media sites as a means to entice and direct consumers to another site to make a purchase. Now 1-800-Flowers.com is foregoing that extra step. Will many…
CPGmatters: Who Do You Trust? Retailers Look to ConAgra
In 2006, ConAgra Foods was a novice at shopper insights. Today, it is leveraging those insights to develop in-store marketing programs with key customers and to activate sales. What benefits…
Retail TouchPoints: Six Strategies Retailers Are Using to Expand Their Facebook Networks
Providing the ability to reach some 250 million users, the Facebook platform has been established as a pot of gold for retailers. What do you think should be the primary…
New York Not Playing Around with Toy Gun Law
Getting shot by mistake while holding toy guns has been a big issue in New York since 1994 when a 13-year-old boy was shot when a police officer mistook the…
Wireless Waiters Ensure Speedy Service
According to an independent survey from Motorola, 53 percent of decision makers in the hospitality space believe wireless ordering and reservations will provide the greatest technological impact for their organization…
Cash for Clunkers Gives Car Sales a Jump-Start
The new Cash Allowance Rebate System program wasn’t expected to be a permanent fix for what’s ailing car dealerships. The hope was that consumers would turn in older vehicles for…
Private Label Buyer: New Value Brands – Are They a Diversion?
What Tom Stevens was really looking for while roaming the shelves in the Idea Supermarket at PLMA’s World of Private Label in Amsterdam was new discount brands. How should retailers’…
Kmart (Maybe) Makes a Comeback
An early version of an Advertising Age article online yesterday offered a surprise for Kmart fans. According to the initial draft that went online, Kmart saw its sales dip only…
Chocolate to Lose Its Devilishness?
Internationally renowned Swiss chocolate manufacturer Barry Callebaut has announced a new product, “developed in a laboratory under top-secret conditions by an international team of food engineers….” What do you think…
Loblaw Buys Asian Supermarket
Loblaw Companies Ltd., Canada’s largest food distributor, last week acquired T&T Supermarket Inc., the country’s largest Asian food retailer, in a deal worth $225 million. What do you think…
BrainTrust Query: Ten reasons you should care about the shopper
For consumer insights teams, shopper insights research feels foreign; it requires a different set of approaches and a totally different mindset. What are some obvious and less obvious reasons studying…
Look Ma! No Wires
Americans are going wireless. That’s according to a new study from the Pew Research Center that shows 56 percent of those going online do so wirelessly using either a laptop…
PetSmart Considers In-Home Services
PetSmart Inc.is probing an expansion into in-home services, including dog walking, backyard clean-up and aquarium set-up, in an effort to help differentiate itself from mass retailers. What do you think…
BrainTrust Query: Twelpforce
Best Buy recently launched a new service called Twelpforce that is aimed at using store and GeekSquad staff to answer product and technology questions via Twitter. What do you think…
Nordstrom Looking to Rack Up Sales in NYC
It was just a matter of time before Nordstrom decided to take its act to Manhattan. As something of a surprise, the first Nordstrom in the city won’t be a…
Mall Wars: Microsoft Goes After Apple
Microsoft is going head-to-head with Apple yet again. In high-end malls across America, Microsoft plans to not only open stores in close proximity to its rival, but in some cases…
Amazon Buys Zappos
Two darlings of the internet are joining together. Amazon.com announced yesterday that is has reached an agreement to buy Zappos.com. 1. What will the Zappos’ acquisition mean for Amazon.com? 2…
CSD: Developing a Late Night Menu
While late night has grown into an identifiable daypart on its own, too many retailers either haven’t yet recognized it as such or simply don’t have the traffic to warrant…
Community-Owned Store Fills Space Vacated by Big Box
Back in 2005, Duckwall-Alco Stores closed its store in rural Clark, S.D. While the move may have made bottom line sense, area residents were losing the only store in town…
Barnes & Noble Gives Amazon E-Book Competition
When Barnes & Noble acquired e-book retailer Fictionwise, many wondered what position the company would take in the battle for e-book reader sales. Now, the company announced it was…
