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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Canadian Convenience King Buying Into US Market
Alimentation Couche-Tard, Canada’s largest convenience store operator, plans to purchase more than 200 stores in the US before the end of the year, reports Reuters. What impact will Couche-Tard have…
Chicken Chains Losing Sales to Burger Joints
Consumers are eating more chicken than ever. They just aren’t necessarily getting it at chains such as KFC, Popeye’s and Church’s, reports Reuters. Can the chicken chains recapture share of…
Do Not Call Registry Put On Hold
The United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma has ruled the Federal Trade Commission had overstepped its authority in establishing the national do-not-call registry. What will be…
Growing Against All Odds
A new study by Bain & Company, Brand Growth: Beating the Odds, contends there are no tired brands, just tired brand managers. According to the study covering 524 brands in…
Upcoming Holiday Season Looks Dimly Brighter
Although most economists are warming up their forecasts for the long hoped-for economic revival, the upcoming holiday retail selling season will likely bring somewhat mixed results, according to management consulting…
Yahoo Merges Shopping with Searching
Yahoo launched an upgrade to its online shopping service yesterday that incorporates side-by-side comparison tools to aid shoppers in their journey through the millions of products offered by over 17,000…
The Death of TV Advertising and Other Ideas, Part 2
In the second part of a provocative presentation on the future of marketing and advertising at the recent GMA MSM Conference, Dr. Peter Sealey discussed “simplicity marketing”. What to do?…
Donut Chain Courts Espresso Love
Dunkin’ Donuts is rolling out espresso in its stores for a very good reason says its chief executive officer, Jon Luther. Its customers asked for it. What are your thoughts…
Amazon Sells Sporting Goods
A Bloomberg News report says Amazon.com has signed up 95 retailers to offer an extensive selection of sporting goods online. Among those involved in the venture are Foot Locker, Sports…
Sears Sells National Tire & Battery
Sears has reached an agreement to sell National Tire & Battery (NTB) to TBC Corp., the largest independent tire retailer in the country, for $260 million. In the process, the…
The Death of TV Advertising and Other Ideas, Part 1
In a presentation at the GMA Merchandising, Sales and Marketing Conference, Peter Sealey, PhD, predicted the imminent death of TV ads as we know them today.
Doctor Sealey argues that…
State Wants to Buy Canadian Drugs
Govenor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois wants the federal government to allow states to import cheaper prescription medications from Canada to deal with rising prices, reports Reuters. He urged the U.S…
Columnist: Bogos are Bogus
Margaret Webb Pressler of the Washington Post doesn’t have a lot of closet space in her kitchen and she doesn’t like buy-one-get-one-free (Bogo) promotions because of it. Turns out she’s…
Party America Online
The party and holiday goods retailer, Party America, was cautious when it came to doing business on the Internet. Party America chose to test the waters by setting up shop…
Grand Opening for Sears
Sears opened the first of its Grand concept stores in West Jordan, Utah over the weekend, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. The new format is the first Sears to offer…
State Wants to Stop Paying Grocers for Food Stamps
The Iowa Department of Human Services wants to stop paying grocers for accepting food-stamp purchases made with an electronic debit card. Currently, Iowa grocers receive seven cents from the state…
Burger King Hopes Healthy Items Cure Chain’s Ills
Burger King is hoping its newest menu addition can make a healthy contribution to the ailing chain’s bottom line, reports Reuters. What will it take for Burger King to reverse…
Store Brands Growing Every Which Way
Between 1997 and 2002, sales of private label items across all channels grew 38 percent compared to 19 percent for brands. At the same time, private label entered into 88…
USDA: Food Safety Improves
The US Agricultural Department is saying that its safety inspectors are finding a much lower incidence of ground beef with E.coli than last year. The department’s figures show it ordered…
UFCW Agrees to Four-Year Deal in St. Louis
The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union’s Local 655 has reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract with the St. Louis area’s largest supermarket chains including Schnuck Markets,…
Ahold Compensations Saga Continues
Ahold’s chief executive is taking a pay cut and its chairman is leaving the company in response to shareholder’s outrage over executive compensation and accounting scandals that have rocked the…
