It’s no secret that retailers have been working in partnership with charitable organizations for years while looking for the best way to reach consumers who are always on the go. Whether it’s the local Safeway around the corner collecting donations for a breast cancer research center or big-box retailers like Target teaming up with FEED [...]
It’s always helpful to have a roadmap. Just 20 years ago we relied on big paper maps to get around cities and winding country rounds. For today’s travels we use websites, smartphones and in-car navigation to get us where we need to go. In retail, knowing which turn to take in the technology world starts [...]
“Walk the EXPO Hall.” That was BJ’s Wholesale Club President and CEO Laura Sen’s response to a student question about how to maximize her learning experience at Retail’s BIG Show. I’d add to Laura’s advice: bring some comfortable shoes. With 500 exhibitors spread across 162,000 square feet within two expansive halls, the EXPO lives up to [...]
A group of merchants, including Lowe’s, Gap, Wal-Mart, Wawa and Dunkin Brands, have partnered to create a merchant-owned mobile application: MCX. This afternoon at Retail’s BIG Show, some of the stakeholders in this initiative offered a look at the thought process behind the development of this jointly owned mobile payment company and some of the [...]
Coming off the heels of the International Reception held last night, Retail’s BIG Show kicked off this morning with a very heavily attended breakout session focusing on what all retailers around the world are focusing on – the rise of the middle class in emerging countries and the corresponding rise in disposable income that comes [...]
ARTS may only be 19 years young, but Richard Mader has been around for it all. Mader served as its chairman on a voluntary basis for more than five years before accepting the challenge of making it the preeminent retail standards association as part of NRF. As a retail technology veteran in his past professional [...]
The nuances for retailers to go mobile can be daunting; the opportunities, seemingly endless. When it comes to integrating apps or tablets into an in-store selling strategy, the prospect of mobile optimization can empower associates to enhance customer service and interaction. But on the road to implementation, utilizing solution provider expertise to map infrastructure idiosyncrasies, [...]
The only story greater than a company’s success during tough economic times is the steps they take to revamp their presence in the industry. In the story of Pier 1, the home and furniture retailer’s e-commerce presence needed a makeover. The solution, SVP and CIO Andrew Laudato said, started with ARTS. This was the background [...]
John Sileo is one of the nation’s top experts on identity theft, but his expertise didn’t come easy. Sileo experienced the impact of identity theft first-hand, making him uniquely qualified to help others avoid similar experiences. Sileo is now president of The Sileo Group, which helps organizations minimize the risk of corporate data theft, and [...]
Fashion is an art, but it’s the data that drives ModCloth. The retail fashion scene is more competitive than ever, but ModCloth stands out from the pack by being community-centric. Today at NRFtech ’12, Eric Koger, CEO and Co-Founder of ModCloth, explained that the brand’s community concept wins on three fronts. It helps differentiate the [...]