Jan18
Mobile and customer-centricity are the buzzwords on everyone’s lips these days, and it’s easy to get carried away in the excitement of so much new technology. But the rational minds who work in retailers’ IT and loss prevention departments have a few thoughts and concerns before you purchase all of your in-store staff iPads and [...]
Jan17
Mitch Joel, true to form, delivered a thought-provoking Shop.org First Look session at NRF’s BIG Show, discussing the paradigm shift going on in retail right now. The retail world no longer needs to ask itself if consumers want mobile or social or apps – consumers want all of those things. The question is, how should [...]
Jan16
As a loyal Shop.org Summit attendee, I was excited to attend Sucharita Mulpuru‘s “A Look Back…and Forward…at Retail eCommerce Trends, 2011-2012″ session today at Retail’s BIG Show, especially on the heels of such a successful digital shopping season. The session offered a positive overview of how the holidays played out for retailers and a look [...]
Posted in: eCommerce | Events | Retail Trends Tagged Amazon, Annual 2012, Apple, email, Facebook, free shipping, Google, mobile, search, social commerce, Sucharita Mulpuru |
Jan16
Being an independent retailer in a sea of big-box stores can be daunting, but there’s an upside: the ability to be creative. The first session at Retail’s BIG Show‘s Independents’ Day featured two retailers who know a thing or two about creativity. Linda Hundt of Sweetie-licious and Dave Ratner of Dave’s Soda and Pet City [...]
Jan15
My first stop this morning at NRF’s BIG Show was a double session called New Merchandising Strategies for Retail Growth, which featured executives from Rite Aid, GlaxoSmithKline and ModCloth. It was a great way to kick start my experience at Retail’s BIG Show 2012 because the joint session addressed some of the hottest topics in [...]
Jan12
Is e-mail dead? That was the question asked at one of the Retail’s BIG Show breakout sessions Tuesday afternoon, and ForeSee Results’ Kevin Ertell summed the answer up succintly: we’re not at a funeral. Promotional e-mails are still a greater driver of traffic to websites than any factor other than familiarity with the brand. And [...]
Jan11
For Saks Fifth Avenue, nothing is more important than having the right product at the right time in the right quantity for the right customers. The company, which operates 47 Saks Fifth Avenue locations, 58 Off 5th locations and Saks.com, was finding that locations were experiencing high rates of out-of-stocks and making forecasting errors. So [...]
Posted in: Education | Events | Retail Companies Tagged Annual 2011, buying process, demand chain management, hold and flow, inventory efficiency, Molly Shaw, Phil Sleboda, profiling method, Retail's Big Show, Saks Fifth Avenue, sales forecasting |
Jan10
Who drives Chinese consumers? How do they interact with brands and retailers? What should global retailers know before trying to expand into China? The answer, according to Jay Li of the Jay Li-Ning Company and Jeremy Kay of Ziba Design, is complicated. The youth generation is overwhelmingly optimistic, calling themselves the “Sunshine Generation,” and this [...]
Posted in: Events | Retail Trends Tagged Annual 2011, China, Chinese consumers, consumer habits, Customer Experience, global brand, global expansion, Jay Li, Jay Li-Ning Company, Jeremy Kay, one-child policy, Retail's Big Show, Sunshine Generation, Western brand, youth generation, Ziba Design |
Jan09
The retail industry spends a lot of time trying to figure out the next big trend – e-commerce, m-commerce, mobile marketing, shopping-comparison apps, etc. – and sometimes it’s easy to get caught in the marketing hype and forget that not all retail technology is consumer-facing. My first session of NRF’s BIG Show 2011, “The Future [...]
Posted in: Events | Retail Companies | Retail Trends | Technology Tagged Annual 2011, Bloomingdale's, Cindy DiPietrantonio, inventory management, Jones Apparel, Macy's, Peter Longo, retail supply chain, Retail's Big Show, RFID, State of Retailing online, Technology |
Mar04
The final session at this year’s Retail Innovation & Marketing Conference was well worth the wait. For two days (three if you include the Mobile Boot Camp!), we’ve been hearing about mobile retail. Is it here or isn’t it? Do consumers want it now or are consumers scared of it? Do retailers want it now [...]
