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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
We’re Not Playin’ – Amazon’s the Low Price Leader
When it comes to video games, consumers will not find the lowest price at Wal-Mart or even Target. No, those retailers and Best Buy, Circuit City and Toys R Us…
Loyalty on the Job and in the Market Basket
In his Cubicle Culture column earlier in the week, Jared Sandberg of The Wall Street Journal looked at the problems that can arise in the homes and workplaces of people…
Home Depot Supplies Everything for Job Sites
If you’re going to work on a construction job in the Nashville, Tenn. area, Home Depot has everything you need — tools, lumber, paint, lighting, gasoline and beer. Beer? The…
The Reality of Consumer Perception
Manufacturers and retailers know, while sometimes frustrating, consumer perception is the reality of their business. The results of a new study conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates for General…
Consumers Losing Confidence in Online Security
An increase in phishing attacks and breaches of security of online sites has made consumers increasingly wary about conducting personal business online. According to the results of a survey conducted…
Instant Companies
The Business 2.0 guide to The New Instant Companies describes how a product idea can be taken from conception through production and into promotion in three quick steps. This allows…
Consumers Consider the Alternative…Formats
A report from Retail Forward, Food Channel Industry Outlook, says “alternative formats” will capture most of the increase in consumer spending on food-at-home sales in the years ahead, and that…
A&P Gets Out of Self-Distribution Model
A&P has reached a deal to turn over distribution in the U.S. to C&S Wholesale Grocers. Last month, A&P announced plans to focus on its retail business in the Northeast…
Are Hispanics Raising the “Customer Service” Bar?
In a conference presentation this month, IPSOS, a marketing services company “confirmed” that, compared to non-Hispanics, customers of Hispanic descent are more avid and passionate in their relationships with brands…
Drive-Offs Increase With Gas Prices
One of the unfortunate effects of higher prices at the pump is that a growing number of people who stop at gas stations to fill up their tanks are driving…
Getting the Most from Your Data Warehouse
Many retailers have spent considerable time and effort installing Data Warehouses, but it is hard to avoid “getting lost in the trees.” There’s so much detail about each item sold,…
Dealers Say Sears Looking to Put Them Out of Business
Dealers who operate independent Sears stores around the country say that when they signed on with the retail chain, it promised “it would keep them in business for life.” That…
Competition and Consolidation Reduce Grocery Jobs
There are fewer grocery store jobs to go around in the Carolinas. That is the conclusion of an article in The Charlotte Observer. In North Carolina, the number of employees…
Mad Cow Mess
The Wall Street Journal reports that an error in diagnosis by government scientists caused a seven-month delay in notifying consumers about the latest case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or…
Not loyal? But they shop here every week.
N. Ramasubraman (Ram), writing in the DM Direct Newsletter, makes the claim that just because you measure high customer retention rates, you may not have high levels of loyalty. Instead…
Packaging Innovations: Part I
Packaging sells. Everyone in product development, marketing and retailing knows it. RetailWire asked BrainTrust member, Michael Richmond, principal, Packaging & Technology Integrated Solutions, to highlight some of the top line…
Legality of Price Checks Questioned
A grocer in Oklahoma, Super H, filed a suit in Osage County District Court alleging Wal-Mart workers were illegally scanning bar codes of items on its shelves. The bar…
The Other Side of Chinese Trade
China’s growing economic might is a prevalent topic in the news with many in the political, labor and even business communities expressing concern about the communist nation’s influence on American…
China’s Largest Oil Company Makes Bid for Unocal
China’s largest offshore oil and gas producer, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Ltd, has offered $67 in cash per each share of Unocal Corporation in a takeover bid to…
Americans Love to Love or Hate Wal-Mart
In the red state/blue state reality of a polarized America, Wal-Mart was ranked in a survey of 1,133 adults commissioned by Ad Age for being the second most and least…
Twenty-Eight Percent Living Paycheck to Paycheck
No surprise, but many Americans are just making ends meet. According to a recent Online Consumer Confidence Study by ACNielsen (a sponsor of RetailWire), 28 percent of Americans have no…
