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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Sears Brings Back Wish Book
After 14 years on the shelf, Sears is bringing back its Wish Book catalog in a fresh bid to gain new customers and regain old ones. Unlike its 800-page plus…
BrainTrust Query: Why does customer-centric planning fail to reach store level?
Retailers say they are implementing customer-centric strategies, but they aren’t achieving the customer focus they’re looking for when they fail to follow through with execution at store level. Where do…
Study Makes Argument to Legalize It
A new study by Jon B. Gettmen of the Marijuana Policy Institute claims the government coffers in the U.S. are shy $41.8 billion because of laws prohibiting the growing, sale…
Is Nanotechnology a No or Go with Consumers?
A survey conducted by the Woodrow Wilson International Center revealed that manufacturers considering the use of nanotechnology “for improving the nutritional content and impact of foods” as well as in…
GHQ: Brand Builder
When Shelley Broader presided over the ribbon cutting for the new Sweetbay Supermarket in Crystal River, Fla. on Aug. 29, the ceremony was more than another store opening. For the…
Back-To-School Sales Get ‘A’ Marks From Retailers
Major mass market retailers reported solid sales gains for this year’s back- to-school season, even though some of those sales were generated via aggressive pricing to lure shoppers to one…
Pepsi Goes Red In China
Pepsi recently came out with the red can in China in honor of the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics, but some say it too eerily resembles Coca-Cola’s own Olympics-themed cans. The…
RetailWire’s Retail Stock Portfolio Challenge: 4Q07
We threw down the gauntlet before three of our BrainTrust panelists. The challenge: give us a stock portfolio of up to four retail companies with the goal of getting the…
TiVo for the Web Arrives
Described by some as a “TiVo for the Web,” Adblock Plus lets users delete banner ads and disable flash and rich-media messages. The software, which was recently added to and…
Weak Dollar Stymies Luxe Purchasing Power
Buyers at American fashion boutiques aren’t having loads of fun buying European goods in the face of a strengthening euro. Over the last year, the dollar has lost more than…
Research Results Drawn Into Question
It doesn’t make a lot of sense but apparently it happens more frequently than one might expect. The “it” in this case is the decision by marketers to conduct consumer…
Nike Creates Shoes for Native Americans
On Tuesday, Nike unveiled the Air Native N7 – its first shoe specifically designed for Native Americans – with the stated goal of promoting physical fitness among a population with…
Gift Cards Continue to Grow
According to a study from Archstone Consulting, sales of holiday gift cards will surge 25 percent to a record $35 billion this year. The gains are expected to be driven…
Supply Chain Digest: The Two Paths for DC Automation
Very few companies have yet taken the highly automated path, but BrainTrust panelist Dan Gilmore believes the interest in doing so is growing. Distribution centers in Europe are also known…
Halloween Scares Up Some Sales
According to a survey from the NRF, the average person plans to spend $64.82 on Halloween this year, up nearly 10 percent from the $59.06 they spent a year ago…
Prediction Markets Foretell Online Trends
A retail-industry think tank at the University of California, Riverside, has launched a new website that relies on “prediction markets” to foretell online sales and other internet-related trends, such as…
BrainTrust Query: How important is buy online/pick up in-store as a strategy for retail growth?
Giving consumers a choice to buy online and pick up in-store is becoming a major point of competitive differentiation in the retail industry. Or is it? Well-known pioneers Circuit City,…
The Shrinking Center Store
According the Willard Bishop, the arrival of smaller formats emphasizing freshness and the associated lifestyle (e.g. Tesco’s new U.S. chain) will cause the center store to shrink significantly, and force…
Wal-Mart Looks at Suppliers’ Greenhouse Gasses
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Monday announced it is partnering with the climate group, Carbon Disclosure Project, to measure the amount of energy used to create products throughout its supply chain…
MySpace for the Older Crowd
With names such as Eons, Rezoom, Multiply, Maya’s Mom, Boomj, and Boomertown, a host of social networking sites have been launched targeting baby boomers and graying computer users. The good…
A Different Kind of Pharmacy
Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy may be heralding a new way of providing healthcare to customers at retail. The chain clearly differentiates from most conventional pharmacies with a spa-like ambience and a…
