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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
What Effect Has Consolidation Had on Food Safety?
Has consolidation in the food industry and the emphasis of outsourcing resulted in a situation in which consumers face greater health risks? That is the question posed by The Associated…
Junk Mail Tarnishes Direct Mail
According to a second quarter survey conducted by stopthejunkmail.com and Harman Research Inc., 88 percent of the total respondents agreed they received too much unsolicited mail and approximately 49 percent…
Tesco Refuses to Play Chicken with Asda on Price
For at least as long as Asda has been owned by Wal-Mart, there has been an on-going competition between that chain and Tesco over which would be seen by U.K…
BrainTrust Query: Will Web 2.0 Replace Search Engines?
I am sure we have all done it – entered a term in a search engine and gotten results about everything but the topic we’re interested in researching. Some of…
PLBuyer: Ingredients for a Debate
Foods that are 95 percent organic can carry the “USDA organic” seal if the remaining five percent of the ingredients cannot be found in organic form and have USDA approval…
Americans Losing Battle of the Bulge
Recent studies have painted a troubling picture regarding what many professionals consider the single biggest challenge to health in America – obesity. Unfortunately, for many consumers, the concern expressed in…
Can Korean Retailer Speak American Teens’ Language?
Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister and others are about to find new competition in the form of Who.A.U., a South Korean fashion retailer catering to teens and young adults that plans…
Sharing the Benefits
Named by readers of Which? Magazine as Britain’s favorite retailer, the John Lewis Partnership is probably the best-known successful employee-owned company in the country. All employees at John Lewis are…
Ace Hardware Thinking of Leaving Coop Behind
Ace Hardware appears to have come up with a novel approach to make it more competitive against the likes of Home Depot and Lowe’s. The company is considering making a…
Restaurant Serves Customers Jetson-Style
Good wait help is, it seems, hard to find in Germany. So hard, in fact, that at ‘s Baggers in Nuremberg, patrons place orders on touch screens at their table…
Target Builds Buzz Overseas
Targets plans to launch a pop-up store inside Selfridge’s in London is all about “building buzz,” says retail consultant Stan Pohmer. The question some are considering is if the buzz…
Cashless Society Cometh
An overwhelming majority of both Baby Boomers and Echo Boomers believe that U.S. society will one day operate without cash and checks and will conduct all payment transactions electronically, according…
Dunkin’ Healthier Donuts
As of Oct. 15, items on the menus at each of Dunkin’ Donuts 5,400 locations will qualify under federal guidelines to be labeled as containing zero grams of fat. The…
Wii Will Rock You
The first video game console system to truly encourage consumers to get up off the couch has led to a phenomenon where people are coming together in groups to party…
CSD: Are You Leaving Money on the Table?
Every year, thousands of employers fail to claim their fair share of the billions of dollars in government tax credits and incentive programs designed to encourage employers to hire members…
Wal-Mart’s New Formats May Come Through Acquisition
Reports that Wal-Mart is looking at developing new formats in the U.S. has finally been confirmed by the company and now the question is whether it makes more sense to…
Metro Goes to Full-Scale RFID Deployment
The Metro Group is taking its radio frequency identification (RFID) program past the test stage to full deployment at 200 locations. The company has made its seriousness known by mandating…
Back-To-School Gets Mixed Grades
So far this summer, retailers don’t know what marks to give back-to-school sales. Several chains are reporting flat or down sales for July and into mid-August. Some retailers think that…
Social Networks Challenging for Mass Brands
Several widely-distributed brands have been challenged in coming up with online community hubs to tap into the popularity of MySpace, YouTube and Facebook. According to Brandweek, successful corporate virtual sites…
CPGmatters: Makers of General Merchandise Need to Gain CM Expertise
Which CPG manufacturers offer retailers the most expertise in category management? Hint: None are makers of general merchandise. In fact, those companies are considered far behind food and beverage firms…
BrainTrust Query: Is in-store digital media for branding, sales lift…or both?
As in-store marketing strategies are heating up, sides are lining up to debate the primary purpose of the increasingly popular digital screens appearing within retail stores. On the one side…
