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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Target Says Yes to Manhattan
Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott may have given up on ever opening a store in Manhattan, but the same doesn’t hold true for Target. According to a report by Women’s Wear…
Part II: Tesco’s Leahy ID’s Global Opportunities
The former Speaker of the House of Representatives Thomas “Tip” O’Neill is widely remembered for his observation that “all politics is local.” As it turns out, the CEO of Tesco,…
Drink Light, Read Light
Just last year, Australia’s On Product Publishing International (OPP) won awards for Best Label and Best Overall Concept at the Bottled Water Design Awards in Bergamo, Italy. Among those who…
Models Need to Make Weight to Work
Weightless waifs need no longer look for modeling work in Spain and India, now that both countries have banned seriously underweight models from strutting their emaciated stuff up and down…
Part I: Tesco’s Leahy ID’s Global Opportunities
Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco, told attendees at the first World Retail Congress in Barcelona last week that there are seven trends he believes will have a swift…
RFID and Retailers: Will It Ever Be Perfect Together?
Most of the nation’s major retailers agree RFID is paramount for their futures, especially as a method to put pilferage in check, streamline the process of getting items to the…
Encryption Didn’t Stop TJX Breach
There are many lessons to be learned from the TJX breach but perhaps most important is that encryption is no guarantee that files are safe from hackers. What security lessons…
Sports and the Workplace
Between office pools, fantasy leagues and general “fanaticism,” sports may be contributing to a decline in worker productivity. The Chicago outplacement consulting firm Challenger Gray & Christmas (CGC) recently estimated…
A&F Takes On London
If there’s one lesson companies aiming to operate multi-nationally claim they have learned, it is that they must understand the cultural differences between countries. Take the new London flagship Abercrombie…
Will Online Ad Spending in U.S. Follow U.K. Lead?
For the first time ever in the U.K., share of advertising sales was greater among online sites than newspapers. According to the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), television ad dollars were…
Go Organic! Gains Momentum
Now in its third year, the Go Organic! for Earth Day promotional campaign seems intent on joining the ranks of National Frozen Food Month and Dairy Month as one of…
Circuit City Gives Best Paid the Boot
Roughly 3,400 of the most highly paid workers in Circuit City stores have received a rude surprise as the company announced it was sacking those employees and replacing them with…
Material Girl Gives Fashion a Whirl
Joining a parade of celebrities with their own fashion lines, Madonna last week launched her highly anticipated “M by Madonna” collection at fast-fashion Swedish retailer, H&M. What do you…
Consumers Marketing to Themselves
Where America leads, the world sometimes follows. Certainly in terms of consumption and finding ways to increase it, this is true. Countless surveys can be cited to emphasize that people…
Can Wal-Mart Get Into Sainsbury Bidding?
It hasn’t been for a lack of trying that Wal-Mart has been unable to unseat Tesco at the top of the U.K. retailing heap. It is because of its…
Netflix CEO Talks About Growth Opportunities
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings knows that the business of renting movies through the mail is not long for this world. He’s not sure how long that will be, perhaps 20…
BrainTrust Query: Should manufacturer-dictated pricing be allowed in the internet age?
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court was scheduled to hear oral arguments on the appeal of a historical precedent set in 1911 that automatically outlawed manufacturer-dictated pricing. Manufacturer-dictated pricing has…
Home Depot Going to Extremes for Customers
Home Depot is looking to build stores to suit its customers and that means it is constructing locations that are bigger and smaller than any units the home improvement chain…
Giant Tells Customers to DIY
Customers may want departments such as floral and service seafood but not all stores can support the labor overhead associated with delivering that level of service. Giant Food has found…
Bloomie’s Seeks Success Where Others Failed
Despite the problems faced by others, Bloomingdale’s is also looking to decipher the code that will enable it to capture a greater share of the fashion dollars spent by women…
Publix Pays for Performance
Publix is all about performance and that’s why customers love it. Most of the company’s store-level employees are also quite happy as they were rewarded with raises last month for…
