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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Gap Looks to See if Shoe Fits Online
Gap Inc. knows that some consumers simply cannot have too many shoes and it is counting on this buying behavior along with heavy traffic to its online sites to launch…
Eminent Domain Controversies Continue
When the Supreme Court ruled by a five to four margin last year that local governments had the right to invoke eminent domain for the purpose of clearing space for…
Japanese Tea Shop Looks for Green in U.S. Market
Kootz Green Tea Shop is hoping to do for green tea what Starbucks has done for coffee. According to a Seattle Times report, the Japanese retailer’s shops with bamboo-like table…
Nordstrom Getting More from Less
Nordstrom company officials, reports Women’s Wear Daily (WWD), are “getting more sales out of less inventory’ in large part because the company has invested in technology systems designed to help…
RetailWire Webinar: RFID Drives Promotional ROI
Trade promotion is a critical part of manufacturers’ budgets for driving sales at retail. Last Thursday’s RetailWire Webinar, ROI from RFID: Promotion Execution, explored some of the reasons that…
Gun Makers Want to Make Womens’ Day
For years, female firearms enthusiasts have found that even so-called women’s models have often been too long or heavy for them to be easily used. In response, gun manufacturers have…
Circuit City Sees $20 Billion Service Opportunity
Circuit City said it was going to move further into the service business following the upcoming winter holiday season to begin offering consumers personal computer services along the lines of…
Food Retailers in Massive Shift of Roles
The theme was “What’s Next in Marketing, Consumer research and Technology?” as the ACNielsen Company and its VNU sister company Spectra hosted some 1,100 retailers, brand marketers and retail technologists…
Suburban Hip-Hop
It’s not unusual for entertainment and cultural trends to start in inner city neighborhoods and then expand to suburbia. So, the fact that everything hip-hop, from the music to clothing…
Girls Day Out
Rita Greeley said what she is doing with her business is just a new approach to an activity that has been going on a very long time. That activity, says…
It’s Back… Inflation Threatens Economic Growth
The most obvious and immediate sign that goods and services were getting more expensive came at the gas pump. But now consumers are finding a whole host of items carrying…
ShopatHome TV Cancelled
Consumers are evidently willing to accept hundreds of cable channels on their televisions, but four home shopping channels is at least one too many. E.W. Scripps Co. announced that the…
Hispanic Segmentation Made Simpler
One of the first considerations when creating a Hispanic brand strategy is to understand how a product or service is purchased. Unless a product is country specific or purchasing behavior…
Bankers and Consumers Chill Together
Now banks are starting to turn branches into destination points for things other than financial services. Union National Community Bank in Lancaster, Penn, for example, has rebranded all its new…
Starbucks, Whole Foods Are Incomparable
When most companies in retail discuss their employee wage and benefit programs, they talk in terms of offering packages that are comparable to what others in the industry are doing…
Gay Ads with Gay Content on the Rise
Companies are spending more on the gay and lesbian market and ads are more gay-specific in content than ever before, according to the results of the twelfth annual Gay Press…
Retail Workers Trade in Old Jobs for New Ones
Most retail store employees do not make a lot of money. That’s exactly what Asbury Automotive Group is hoping to use as an employment sales pitch as it attempts to…
Avoiding the Next Big Thing
Publishers print them as fast as writers can write them. “Them” is the latest and greatest technique for answering every question or dilemma faced by modern managers. While many of…
Stereotyping in Ads Causes Disconnect with Young Women
An article on the BusinessWeek web site, says that marketers have gotten it wrong. Creating ads that portray young women with all the negative qualities associated with the weaker species…
New Magazine to Help Consumers ShopSmart
Consumer Reports plans to launch the publication, ShopSmart, this summer. It will be written and designed to provide readers (primarily younger women) with a quick assessment of popular products -…
Publix Goes Slow and Steady with Pix Concept
With the announcement that Publix plans to open its seventh Pix convenience store in Seminole, Fla., the regional powerhouse would appear to have hit on a concept that bears further…
