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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Informercial Star Passes Away
Billy Mays, who took his exuberant, in-your-face style to the small screen to sell a whole host of products in infomercials, has passed away. What did Billy Mays mean to…
Redbox Threatens Netflix
As a DVD rental destination, Redbox may not be as convenient as Netflix. Of course, with rental kiosks popping up almost everywhere, it is getting more so. Will DVD kiosks…
Nike Won’t Green It
While the Nike Inc. is about being fast, excelling and persevering as well as being the coolest kid on the block, it’s not about being green. Do you think green…
Are In-Store Shops a Problem for Department Stores?
Part of the problem with department stores, according to Lee Peterson, EVP of brand & creative services at WD Partners and RetailWire BrainTrust panelist, has been the arrival of in-store…
The Changing Shape of Breakfast Cereal
Britain’s tabloids are up in arms about a new breakfast trend. Plans are afoot from retailers and manufacturers to ditch cereal boxes and offer one of the world’s favorite morning…
Retail TouchPoints: 6 New Strategies for Mobile Commerce Aim to Drive Sales, Loyalty and Intelligence
While mobile commerce has become an area of interest, Mobile Marketer has reported on how several different retailers and brands are leveraging the mobile phone. What’s being learned about what…
Stores Popping Up All Over the Place
Now is a pretty good time for temporary stores as many retailers are reluctant to commit to a permanent space in high rent urban areas while landlords are anxious to…
IBM: Consumers Question Whether Food is Safe
Fewer than 20 percent of consumers trust food companies to produce and sell products that are safe and healthy for them to eat, according to a new study by IBM…
CSD: Taking Convenience to a New Level
The milkman is making his rounds in Mountain Top, Pa. Good2Go is enhancing its convenience offering by providing residents the option of having fresh, all-natural and organic products delivered directly…
Groceries Target-Style
“Expect More. Pay Less.” That’s the Target tagline and now the company appears intent on getting consumers used to the idea of expecting to buy groceries at prices well below…
Guys Join the ‘Get Out of Shopping’ Club
Many guys put shopping for clothes on their list of things to avoid. So where does the shopping adverse and fashion-challenged male go for help? The answer is Trunk Club,…
CPGmatters: Organic Products Change Perception of Store Brands
The introduction of high quality, store-brand organic products has changed consumer perceptions of private label grocery brands, according to results of a J.D. Power and Associates’ Private Label Industry Report…
Consumers Say One Thing, Eat Something Different
It certainly won’t come as a surprise to anyone connected to the food industry that what consumers say they want and what they actually buy are usually very different. What…
Compete Blog: Target vs. Wal-Mart – Online Conversion Battle Heats Up
Last month, Wal-Mart attracted 32.1 million visitors to its website versus 27.2 million online visitors for Target. However, Target had a higher shopping cart interaction rate and conversion rate. Why…
‘Alice’ Goes Online to Sell Toilet Paper, Other Household Items
Online retailers have not aggressively gone after the household products business and that has opened an opportunity for a new website, Alice.com, to offer a service that allows manufacturers to…
Talbots CEO Paid $1.2 Million to Offset Pension Hit
Some eyebrows have been raised after a decision by the Talbots Inc. board to pay chief executive Trudy Sullivan $1.2 million to compensate her for a cut in retirement benefits…
Kroger Succeeds By Keeping Track of Customers
Kroger is keeping close tabs on its customers and that more than anything may explain how the grocer has managed to achieve significantly higher same-store gains than rivals Safeway and…
PL Buyer: Twitter – Where’s the Bottom?
What once was a nifty novelty is becoming a chore of sifting through too much information of little or no value. Are social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter…
Lee Scott’s Regret: Not Promoting Retail Jobs
Lee Scott, the former chief executive officer of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., admits to one regret about his nine-year helm of the world’s largest retailer: not doing enough to promote retail…
Scientist Questions Influence of Influencers
Duncan Watts, research scientist with Yahoo and former Columbia University professor, believes brand campaigns targeting “influencers” would do just as well targeting a random group of consumers. Are too many…
SCDigest: Can – and Should – Western Manufacturing be Saved?
There is no question that in the U.S. and most of Europe, manufacturing continues to shrink as a percentage of the overall economy – and that this has been occurring…
