US vs. EU: Inventory Localization
I wrote recently about a couple of trips to Europe that I took that underscored some of the differences that I see between the evolution in omni-channel in the US vs. the evolution in Europe.read more
View ArticleDeath of a Store Owner?
I received a call Sunday night from a friend of mine. She owns a retail store in a small mountain town in Colorado. She calls to pick my brain from time to time.read more
View ArticleObservations of Australia's Retail Scene
I had the privilege of spending the last week in Sydney, Australia, attending the Online Retailer conference and expo.read more
View ArticleThrough the Looking Glass, Australia Retailing
In the first of this two part series, I shared my first-hand experience of Australian retail, having visited the country for the first time. Within that piece, I pondered what Amazon’s looming...
View ArticleOver-Promoted
There has been a flurry of news stories in the last couple of months about pricing and promotions, of which two stand out very strongly in my mind. One is JCPenney’s report that they are returning to...
View ArticleBeyond CRM 2.0 in Retail
Talking about CRM in retail has been problematic for me for a very long time.read more
View ArticleMobile Phones and Store Shelves
Next week I'm presenting at the Mobile Marketing and Commerce Forum (MMCF), put on by Internet Retailer, on the specific topic of how web-only retailers can use mobile to compete at store shelves. I...
View ArticleWhat I Learned at the Mobile Marketing & Commerce Forum
Last week I attended the MMCF – Internet Retailer’s Mobile Marketing & Commerce Forum. I could attempt to organize everything I learned into some kind of story or structure and say that it all...
View ArticleWhy Technology Has Made Black Friday Irrelevant
I have fond memories of Black Friday from back in the days before ridiculous doorbusters at ridiculous hours meant risking life and limb.read more
View ArticleFuture of Payments Is Red Hot
Omni-channel retailing and customer centricity have been sweeping their way through the customer-facing side of the retail industry for at least the last five years. But one area that has languished...
View Article2013, The Year of Measured Retail
PBS ran a documentary in the late 1990′s entitled “The First Measured Century”, where it described the phenomenal effort the United States undertook in the early 1900′s to begin measuring all kinds of...
View ArticleBeing Context-Aware Is New Bar for Customer Service
I have to start this article with a couple of caveats. I’m about to share with you a customer service fail that happened to me in the week following the NRF Big Show.read more
View ArticleWhen Shopper Convenience Is Second, Retailers and Manufacturers Lose
Last week, RetailWire ran a post on a new study by a professor at the University of Illinois. The gist of the study is that, in cases where “fit” is not a competitive factor in consumer...
View ArticleSAS' Retail Opportunity
It’s no secret that I’ve long held that SAS’ relative strengths in both merchandising and customer intelligence uniquely position the company to both navigate and enable the customer-centric...
View ArticleWalmart Blames Q1 Sales Slump on New Consumer Technology
Walmart’s woes continue as more leaked emails reveal a growing concern among company executives over a new consumer technology that promises to completely disrupt the mass merchant’s business...
View ArticleEMV, NFC & Mobile: Opportunities or Disasters for US Retailers?
Last week I attended the CARTES North America conference. It is an event focused more directly on credit card issuers and the technologies that support them. So what was I doing there?read more
View ArticleFour Big Cross Channel Questions
Last week I fielded an inquiry about the biggest questions retailers are asking in cross-channel right now, and I figured the answer was worth sharing.read more
View ArticleSupply Chain is Kicking, Taking Aim at Merchandising
Before the Memorial Day weekend, I had the pleasure of spending the week with Manhattan Associates and its customers at Manhattan Momentum in Las Vegas. I have two major take-aways from the event.read...
View ArticleSigns of a Consumer Promotions Backlash?
Last week, I caught this segment on the Today Show, talking about two class action lawsuits against two retailers (JCPenney and Kohl’s) for allegedly setting “misleading” prices.read more
View ArticleBefore the Future Store Comes Strategic Discussion
I have a theory. It goes like this: retailers’ willingness to share about their challenges and strategies to address those challenges is inversely proportional to how obvious or public those strategies...
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