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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Retailers Get Ready for Back-to-School
Classes have yet to let out for the summer but quite a few people in and around retailing are already looking toward the back-to-school season as the next test of…
JTPP: Perfect Order Index Becoming Major Component of Vendor Scorecards
According to a survey conducted by the Vendor Compliance Federation’s Perfect Order Index Community of Practice, vendors said nearly half of their retail customers use all four components of the…
Store Brands Stall
It’s only a four-week sample, but according to numbers from The Nielsen Company, sales of private label goods in food, drug and mass lost share year-over-year for the period ending…
Saturn to Become Different Kind of Car Company
Saturn was billed as not being like other car companies. That may have been true, at least in some respects. Now that a deal has been reached for Roger Penske…
Retail Experience a Plus for Manufacturers
Brands that operate their own retail outlets often have a deeper understanding of consumer behavior than those that don’t and that leads to a competitive advantage, according to a speaker…
CPGmatters: Will Insufficient Retail Readiness Postpone Next Phase for GS1 DataBar
The GS1 DataBar may not be ready for prime time. The next phase for bringing the revolutionary new barcode on coupons into the marketplace is in danger of being postponed…
Tips for Avoiding Product Failure
Writing in Fast Company’s newsletter, Mark Dzeirsk, VP design at Brandimage-Desgrippes & Laga, listed six ideas for avoiding product failure. What do you think of his suggestions for avoiding product…
Optimizing Cash Flow with SKU-Level Forecasting
Several supply chain specialists at the recent IE Group CPG Forecasting and Planning Summit in Chicago offered top-level peeks into their demand forecasting methods. What advantages do you see in…
The Loyalty Card Conundrum
So here’s the thing about loyalty – it’s whatever the individual shopper/consumer wants it to be, not a marketer’s program. Speaker after speaker at last week’s Loyalty Expo advised marketers…
DQ Tests RFID-Powered Loyalty Program
A Dairy Queen in the Indianapolis area is testing a loyalty program that uses stickers to attach radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to phone handsets delivering savings coupons to consumers…
Some Prefer to Keep Trips to Wal-Mart a Secret
Times have been tough and many consumers that wouldn’t have stepped foot in a Wal-Mart a few years ago are doing it today. The problem is, some of these same…
Platt Retail Institute: Reaching Generation Y through Digital Networks
Online video usage has exploded over the last few years. In communicating with Generation Ys, video content should be carefully considered in retail digital signage environments. How would you rate…
P&G Looks to Perfect the Art of Shaving
Procter & Gamble is clearly set on finding new ways to sell its products and part of that is taking the company’s brands directly to consumers. The company just acquired…
Plus-Size Women Need to Go Online to Buy Clothes
Fact: The average woman in the U.S. weighs 164 pounds and wears a size 14 dress…. Fact: The average woman is pretty much out of luck in many shops in…
New Liaisons Not Necessarily Dangerous
According to a report in The Times, U.K. manufacturers and retailers are looking at creative ways to use what they have – or what someone else has – to mutual…
Good CEOs are Hard to Find
Sears Holdings has been searching for a permanent chief executive officer since September 2007. Barneys New York has now been hunting for over a year for a new CEO. So,…
Retail Customer Experience: Witron system aims to fully automate shelf replenishment
An empty shelf, or tripping over the employee who is trying to fill that shelf; both headaches would become distant memories if the German logistics company Witron is successful with…
How to Forecast When History is No Longer Relevant
During the first day of IE Group’s Consumer Packaged Goods Forecasting and Planning Summit last week, almost every speaker reiterated that historical trends and year-over-year comparisons do not carry the…
Is Winn-Dixie on the Block?
There are those who believe, especially outside of Winn-Dixie’s headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida, that the grocery chain cannot continue to take competition such as Publix and Wal-Mart Stores head-on and…
Apple Looks for Bigger Slice of the Retail Market
Tweaking its already wildly successful format, Apple plans to remodel 100 stores this year to create space for customer training and displaying products. It’s also overhauling its one-on-one instruction programs…
Are Shoppers Ready to Shop?
There’s an old expression about money burning a hole in your pocket. For free spending Americans, there may be a little of that going around…. Do you see evidence that…
