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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Saks Bucks Store Brand Trend
Many retailers are putting greater emphasis on store and/or proprietary brands as a means to differentiate themselves from competitors. Management at Saks Inc., however, has taken the position that to…
Get Thee Behind Me, Big Box
For many in Christian products retailing, their business is not so much about profits and losses as it is about carrying on the work of Jesus and his disciples. Increasingly,…
Slackers Unite
A survey conducted by America Online and Salary.com says the average worker in the U.S. is a slacker. Results from about 10,000 respondents to the survey found the typical employee…
IKEA Gets Into Food in an Organic Way
Others are selling furniture in addition to other products and now IKEA is going to be selling its own brand of food items, including its Swedish meatballs, in its U.K…
The High Cost of Celebrity Endorsements
Kobe Bryant, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bill Cosby…the list goes on of celebrity endorsers who have been involved in personal scandals or controversies and, in the process, drawn unflattering attention to…
Grocery Sites Say Compare and Save
Joann Gage, vice president for advertising and marketing at struggling Winn-Dixie, doesn’t expect that new comparison-shopping sites for groceries will have much of an impact on the day-to-day business of…
Court’s Eminent Domain Ruling Settles Nothing
With all due respect to the majority of justices on the Supreme Court of the United States, who recently ruled that local governments could take private property using eminent domain…
Target Creates Buzz with Vertical Marketing Program
The retail fashion business is largely about creating buzz and, when it comes to getting people talking, few, if any, do a better job than Target. According to a USA…
Wings of Loyalty
Who is Cigarman and why is Larry Kellner, the CEO of Continental Airlines, having dinner with him? It turns out that Cigarman’s real name is Dean Burri of Flyertalk.com, a…
Sunny Forecast for Retail
With many retailers posting better than expected numbers for June and others predicting a strong July, the weather is being given credit for getting customers into the stores to shop…
It’s Only Business, Nothing Personal, in Chicago Pharmacy Battle
The plot line reads like some crime family drama taken from Chicago in the 1920s. The story is not one about Murder Incorporated or a battle of Mafioso families. It…
GHQ Cover Story 07/05: Food safety’s quiet revolution
Busch’s has found that, when it comes to food safety, going beyond what is required by the government is a point of difference that consumers tell the grocer they appreciate…
Yes Men/Women Play Role in Scandals
Pretty much everyone knows the story about the emperor who walked around naked because his court and subjects were too afraid to tell him his new clothes were no clothes…
Employee Discount Fever
General Motors’ “employee discount for everyone” campaign has worked well enough (sales up 41 percent in June) that Ford and Chrysler are starting similar programs of their own. This development,…
Trader Joe’s and Creating the Ultimate Branding Model
The business has been abuzz over Trader Joe’s for some time, but it is only by chance that Bill Bittner had the opportunity to visit one as he was driving…
McD’s Wants Uniform Image
McDonald’s believes changes it has made to its menu, restaurants and advertising has helped it move up on the public perception hip meter. Now, reports Ad Age, the company is…
The Hispanic Television Wars
A ceasefire was announced last month to a war that is being fought on American soil…a war about Nielsen’s deployment of a new technology for measuring television viewership — Local…
Taking the Super Out of Kmart
The decision by management to close three Super Kmarts in the Memphis, Tenn. market has increased speculation that the chain and its Sears Holdings parent intends to get out of…
HEB, Sysco Drive Eco-Friendly Initiative
H.E. Butt and Sysco are looking to make breathing a little easier for residents of Houston. The Texas city’s air quality standards fall below those set by the EPA so…
Labor Schism Widens
A fight is taking place over the future direction of national organized labor. At the heart of the matter is a fractious disagreement over how to reverse the decline in…
Boom, Boom, Goes the Retail Business
The retail business, as they say, is booming. Retailers across the nation are expected to post monthly and quarterly sales results this week, and some analysts are looking for better…
