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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Sustainability Continues as Focus of Packaging Industry
Despite the economic downturn, or perhaps because of it, sustainability was once again the buzzword of this week’s PackExpo conference in Chicago. Retailers and manufacturers discussed the topic in several…
Retailers Feeling Our Pain
Recently, retailers have been going out of their way to let their shoppers know that they understand how tough it is out there. Most, by now, have offered various forms…
BrainTrust Query: How important is localization of assortment to customer centricity?
Many retailers talk about customer-centric initiatives, but are they actually practicing them? It could be argued, for example, that a retailer who bases assortments on enterprise averages can never truly…
Survey Touts Effectiveness of Promotional Giveaways
Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a study conducted for the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) found that promotional giveaways do a better job of grabbing the attention of…
Cards to Be Top Gift for the Holidays
A new study by GfK Roper Consulting predicts that gift cards will become the most popular gift this holiday, bumping clothing from the top spot. What challenges will a high…
CPGmatters: ConAgra Boosts ROI through Better Measurement, Forecasting
ConAgra Foods instituted best practices in coupon measurement and forecasting four years ago to improve ROI on this part of its marketing spend, and has since posted strong increases. Now…
Retailers Not Prepared for Bad to Worse Turn
Retailers had cut back significantly on inventories heading into the fall season knowing ahead of time that while the weather might get brisk, business was going to be anything but…
Best Buy Giving Up Control for Greater Reach
Best Buy is no longer counting on consumers to come to their own website to see product information and deals. The company is using application programming interface (API) technology that…
R&FF Retailer: Don’t Be a Turkey This Year!
As Bubba once said, we feel your pain. Every year, you buy a gazillion turkeys, price ’em low and stack ’em high in the display cases. You pray they’re all…
Apple’s $25 Billion Conundrum
While everybody else seems to be scrambling to find credit, Apple had $24.5 billion in cash at the end of its fourth quarter – up nearly 60 percent from last…
The Entrepreneur Opportunity in Downturns
Theories abound that economic downturns are conversely ripe times for entrepreneurs, partly because so many venerable companies are born during tough times. The reasons range from having fewer competitors in…
PLBuyer: Trader Joe’s Remarkable Journey
Trader Joe’s success rests on the strength of its private label products. It’s the products that bear the Trader Joe’s brand that are responsible for the cult following the retailer…
Wegmans Cutting Prices
The general impression one gets of consumers who visit Wegmans is that they are there for the shopping experience and less concerned about price. While that view may have been…
Celebrity Bashing at Retail
Often described as trashy, mean-spirited and packed with lies, supermarket tabloids remain fairly easy to find at grocers, pharmacies, c-stores and big discounters across retail. Should retailers stop selling some…
Circuit City and Tweeter’s Pain is Best Buy’s Gain
Circuit City is closing 20 percent of its stores. Tweeter is closing all of its stores. That leaves up to $2 billion in consumer electronics purchases up for grabs according…
Walmart is Right About RFID
An article on the RFID Journal website claims Walmart has it right when it comes to its radio frequency identification technology program and all those who have questioned its implementation…
Obama’s Victory Offers Lessons to Marketers
According to the marketing strategist and bestselling author Al Ries, Nov. 4, 2008 will go down “as the biggest day ever in the history of marketing.” What lessons do you…
RSR Research: Following the Pricing Learning Curve – One Retailer’s Experience
Last year, Retalix announced a new solution and partnership around pricing – designed especially to help mid-size retailers get a pricing strategy off the ground. A year later at…
Retailers Head Straight to Liquidation
What happened to the restructuring process? A storm of retailers, including Meryvns, Levitz, and Value City, are choosing to liquidate rather than reorganize under Chapter 11 protection. Is there something…
Wealthy Commit to Saving Money and the Planet
Back in 1986 Huey Lewis was telling Americans that it was Hip to be Square. Today, Kelli Donley wants everyone to know “it’s cool to be cheap.” America’s new frugal…
BrainTrust Query: How should supermarkets manage the ‘long tail’ of in-store media?
Supermarkets typically have 30,000 to 40,000 distinct items on their shelves, of which less than five percent contribute more than half the store’s sales. These frequently purchased items constitute the…
