RECENT discussions
Discussions
Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Online is a Retailing Bright Spot
While many brick and mortar retailers were finding solace yesterday in posting less severe losses than analysts expected, a report by Forrester Research and Shop.org says online dollar sales were…
Compete Blog: Smartphone Intelligence – The iPhone at the mall and on the road
Almost everywhere we turn, there’s an iPhone: at work, on the soccer field, on the street. Clearly these devices appeal to a lot of people, and we’ve heard the iPhone…
BrainTrust Query: How should retailers and manufacturers step up their attack of the global food safety challenge?
Peanut butter. Milk. Baby food. Spinach. These are just some of the higher-profile recalls we’ve seen in the past year. Consumers increasingly demand to know more about the food they…
Office Workers Find Ads Right Under Their Noses
According to FreePaperCups, a company that distributes free paper cups with ad messages to businesses around the U.S., more than 52 million Americans drink office Joe every day. Does the…
Nordstrom Doing More With Less
Nordstrom is all about inventory reduction. Okay, maybe not all, but as a Bloomberg report points out, the company has made a concentrated effort going back to 2000 to reduce…
CPGmatters: Frito-Lay’s Plan – Attract Female Shoppers With New Products in Redesigned Snack Aisle
New shopper insights have told Frito-Lay that women really want their own desires for nutritionally-oriented products to be addressed in the supermarket salty-snack aisle, but typically don’t find that to…
Chains: Shorter Hours Improve Customer Service
Fifty-eight percent of those participating in a RetailWire poll in February said retailers would benefit somewhat or a great deal from the move by mall managers to reduce hours of…
Wanted (or not): Social Media Marketers
Social media is pretty far down the to-do list of most marketers these days but a few companies including Dell, Ford, Pepsi and Toyota have created positions to communicate with…
In-Store News: Visual Merchandising – VM in a cold climate
Visual merchandising can be the make or break between drawing idle passers by into the store. The challenge facing retailers is how to continue producing impressive displays with a diminishing…
Sears Offers More Than Discounts
Retailers are battling it out to see who can be perceived as offering the biggest bargains, but Sears has decided that while it needs to talk value, it simply isn’t…
Impulse Buying Alive and Well at Retail
It may be that consumers are clipping coupons and making shopping lists that they stick to more closely than ever before. But, new research claims, it is also true that…
TOP Food & Drug Tests Enriched Rewards Card
TOP Food & Drug, a banner operated by Haggen out of Bellingham, WA, has been testing a new loyalty card program employing RFID technology that it hopes provides more than…
An Extra Something For the Long Drive Home
The principle isn’t new but the player is. British supermarket, Waitrose, has decided to hit the highway by opening two convenience stores at Welcome Break, the U.K.’s second largest motorway…
Lessons from the IRI Retail-CPG Summit
There were lots of speakers at the recent IRI Summit, with various thoughts on how to navigate the challenging economy, connect better with consumers, etc. Here are some of the…
R&FF Retailer: What are some ways to avoid pantry loading and cannibalization?
Jon Hauptman, partner, Willard Bishop, notes that pantry loading in today’s increasingly competitive market isn’t necessarily bad…. What are some ways to avoid pantry loading and cannibalization? Is pantry loading…
Media Follows Consumers Outside the Home
Most advertisers and agencies today have accepted the notion of targeting messages to specific audiences as the means to most effectively generate the type of response desired. Do you see…
Helping the Lunch Box Pass Inspection
According to the Daily Mail, teachers in a British elementary school have started inspection schemes, removing items they consider to be unhealthy. What’s the likelihood that there will be increased…
Retail Customer Experience: The Retail Power of Suggestion
Just down the road from my house is a great, locally owned, independent comic book shop. The owner does something that I didn’t notice at first, a powerful little trick…
Linens ‘n Things Makes Comeback Online
It was just a few weeks ago that Linens ‘n Things was closing its stores and liquidating all its merchandise. Now the company has been reborn online at www.lnt.com. Do…
Consumers Clicking for Coupons
New research from Information Resources and Platform-A shows fewer consumers clipping coupons from free standing inserts (FSIs) in their Sunday newspapers while greater numbers are clicking on downloadable coupons on…
SCDigest: Out of Stocks – and Suppliers – Short Circuited Circuit City
Circuit City was unable to fix its out-of-stocks because they were unintentionally “shorted” by their own suppliers. Though it tracked fill rate performance, Circuit City did not charge suppliers for…
