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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
No Softer Side to Sears Pilot Stores
Sears is looking for ways to hold off competitors such as Lowe’s and Home Depot who have been eating into the department store’s share of home appliance sales. The company…
Rebates: Mailing It In
Consumers have long had a love-hate relationship with rebates. Although they love the deals, they hate the paperwork, the wait, and all the hoops required to actually get the promised…
Dash’s Marches to its Own Beat
Joe Dash, president of Dash’s Market in upstate NY, knows what it takes to be successful as an independent grocer. The first requirement is an independent streak. Mr. Dash told…
Rentals Bring Some Into Luxury Clothing Market
Many looking to dress to impress these days are faced with a fairly sizable obstacle: to look like a million, you’re likely going to have to spend thousands on clothing…
Online Retailing Goes Mainstream, Clothes Rule
A new study from Shop.org and Forrester Research, The State of Retailing Online 2007, reports clothing has overtaken computer hardware and software to become the top-selling consumer product category (excluding…
Chain Store Age: Online Loyalty
As shoppers rely on the web to research merchandise and make purchases, they are also demanding that the medium support store-level services, including loyalty programs. But traditional point-based, or clipless…
New Products Set the Pace in HBC/GM
A host of innovative, high quality products were rolled out to meet specific consumer needs in HBC and GM categories last year. According to IRI’s 2006 New Product Pacesetters report,…
Macy’s to Newspapers: Shape Up
Last week, Anne McDonald, Macy’s chief marketing officer, delivered a blunt and critical analysis as to why her company is moving ad dollars away from newspapers. The inability of newspapers…
Functional Foods Get Real Personal
From the fortified white bread on the market way back in the 50s to practically everything in the supermarket today, selling food on the basis of what supplements it contains…
Walgreens Goes On Alert to Protect Customers
Walgreens is teaming up with American Medical Alert Corp. (AMAC) to offer a national service to help support caregivers and protect aging Americans from falls around the home. According to…
Amazon Focuses on Delivering What Customers Need
Customer centricity is what Amazon is all about and the retailer knows a significant aspect of what its shoppers want is getting their products when they want them, in some…
CPGMatters: P&G, Ahold USA Call for Readiness for New Barcode
Are you ready for the new barcode on coupons? Two executives from Procter & Gamble and Ahold USA have called for CPG manufacturers and retailers to prepare to issue and…
GHQ: The softer side of GM
It doesn’t take a turnaround specialist to tell grocers they’re facing some extreme odds when it comes to preserving or even earning back their share of the general merchandise (GM)…
General Mills Partners with Curves
General Mills has partnered with women’s-only fitness chain Curves International Inc. to launch a line of granola bars and cereal under the Curves name. This marks the first time the…
A New Model for Individuated Consumption
According to James Maxmin, who addressed a largely IT-oriented crowd at the FMI Show on Tuesday, the digital revolution isn’t working and our system of business is just plain broken…
Congress Looks at One Agency to Protect Food Supply
Rep. Rose DeLauro (D-CT), the chairperson of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), believes Americans are at…
FMI Assesses State of the Grocery Industry
The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) released its Food Retailing Industry Speaks: Annual State of the Industry Review 2007 and the news was the best it has been in years as…
Blinded by Science
While retailers recognize that merchandising has become a blend between art and science, they’re still struggling with the science part. According to a survey of retailers by RSAG (Retail Systems…
Penney Seeks Growth Beyond the Mall
J.C. Penney has an aggressive growth strategy in place and much of that involves off-mall locations as either standalone stores or as part of “lifestyle centers” popping up all over…
Judge Sentences Thieves to Public Humiliation
A judge in Attalla City, Alabama, gave a woman two unpleasant options after she was convicted of attempting to shoplift at a local Wal-Mart Supercenter. She could go to jail…
Giant Eagle Opens First Express Store
Giant Eagle has a “neighborhood grocery store” of its own and the supermarket chain opened its very first one last week in Harmar, Penn. The new Giant Eagle Express is…
