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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Grocer Goes Really Local
Duncan Innes, founder of Sussex and the City, a supermarket located in Brighton, England, has taken the ‘buy local’ mantra to a logical, albeit extreme conclusion. Mr. Sussex and the…
U.S. and China Reach Deal to Safeguard Food Imports
China has signed agreements that promise to safeguard exports from that country including allowing American officials onsite access to Chinese factories so they may inspect food and ingredients destined for…
Chick-fil-A Sticks to Tried and True Plan
The purpose of being in business is to make money. Still, there are companies such as Chick-fil-A, as some would see it, that intentionally walk away from making as much…
Amazon to Customers: ‘We’ll Bill You Later’
Amazon.com announced yesterday that the company was taking a stake in the Bill Me Later payment service and that it would make it available to consumers on its website. As…
Men on Diets
Weight loss and maintenance companies such as NutriSystem and Weight Watchers are finding that there is a sizeable upside market opportunity in targeting males. Are men becoming more aware of…
Safeway in Me-Too Response to Tesco
A new report suggests that Safeway has developed a response to Tesco’s Fresh & Easy entry into northern California and its answer is the development of a small format store…
The Hassle of Receiving
According to an online American Pulse survey by BIGresearch, many Americans would rather give than receive. But, it’s not just because they’re all so generous. Many just want to avoid…
The Ultimate Traffic Driver: The Rest Room
Translations first. What Americans call GPS is called satnav (short for satellite navigation) in the U.K. And what you call rest rooms are referred to as lavs (lavatories). Hence the…
Supply Chain Digest: When Negotiating with Suppliers, Should You Make the First Move?
When conducting negotiations with a supplier or potential business partner, the conventional wisdom has been that it is smart to let the other side make the first move. Why? Because…
GHQ: You’re hired
If you asked today’s teenagers to apply for a job the old-fashioned way, by filling out a paper form, they might not even remember how to work a pen. …
Flexible Spending Accounts: HBC Opportunity?
As health care costs continue to rise, Flexible Spending Accounts are becoming a more common work-related benefit offered to help employees finance out-of-pocket expenditures. However many consumers are unaware that…
Target and Wal-Mart Take Different Paths to Online Success
Target.com and Walmart.com are both doing very well this holiday season and, for all intents and purposes, that’s where the similarities between the two e-tail operations end. A (Minneapolis) Star…
Retailer Uses Internet to Test Potential Overseas
Casual Male Retail is interested in exploring overseas expansion but rather than open stores in the markets it is considering (France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the U.K.), the…
RSR Research: Websites Behaving Badly and the Back-End Fixes They Need
“Ecommerce sites are behaving badly this holiday season – more, actually, than I expected to see.” says BrainTrust Panelist Nikki Baird. “Somehow I thought the industry was well past “eCommerce…
Catalogs Take Place in Multi-Channel Strategy
While many may have thought that the advent of the internet would spell the end of catalogs, an increasing number of retailers are looking to this traditional advertising medium to…
Supply Chain Digest: Supply Chain, the CEO, and Opportunity
If the anecdotes in a recent Harvard Business Review article on supply chain management are any indication, many companies are still very early in the SCM game. The article -…
Massacre Puts Focus on Mall Security Measures
It’s often said by those in retail security that there is very little that can be done if a deranged individual or terrorist decides to walk or drive into a…
Tops CEO Takes a Local Approach to Growth
Now that Morgan Stanley Private Equity has closed its deal to acquire the Tops Markets chain from Ahold, the question becomes, “What’s next?” What do you expect from Tops Markets…
Stores Get Cozy for Holiday Selling
Visual merchandising has taken a turn for the comfortable this holiday season as stores attempt to help put shoppers more at ease and into a state where they’ll be more…
CPGmatters: How are illegal “coupon trains” hurting CPG brands?
More consumers are hopping on the “coupon train,” an increasingly popular way for them to share coupons distributed in different parts of the country. The problem is that such a…
Marketing to Green Buyers
According to study released by Experian Local Market Services, only a small segment of green consumers, known as Behavioral Greens, are likely to spend the extra cash on environmentally-friendly products…
