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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Toys R US and Amazon Split Appears Certain
Toys R Us, which previously won the right to end its agreement with Amazon because of the online giant’s failure to provide the exclusivity spelled out in the 10-year deal…
Show Loyalty Through Selection
Author and professor Barry Schwartz shared his thoughts on variety with the Annual Conference for Catalog, Internet and Multichannel Merchants in Chicago recently. Professor Schwartz opined that offering shoppers a…
Nike and Apple to Take Flight Together
Forget about being like Mike. Soon consumers will be able to be like Steve Jobs. (Steve Jobs?) Apple Computer and Nike Inc. announced yesterday that the two companies were teaming…
Home Depot: Mum’s the Word on Same-Store Sales
Industry analysts and others are questioning Home Depot’s recent announcement that it would no longer report same-store sales performance. Many wonder if the move signals a significant weakening in…
Dell to Test Retail Stores
Slowing sales at its consumer direct business along with success selling through 160 free-standing kiosks in malls has encouraged Dell to take the next step. The computer and electronics company…
If Only Seasonal Workers Came Already Trained
A survey conducted by StorePerform Technologies found that nearly half of all retailers plan on hiring summer help. That’s the easy part. It’s training them that causes the most headaches…
Gap Looks to See if Shoe Fits Online
Gap Inc. knows that some consumers simply cannot have too many shoes and it is counting on this buying behavior along with heavy traffic to its online sites to launch…
Eminent Domain Controversies Continue
When the Supreme Court ruled by a five to four margin last year that local governments had the right to invoke eminent domain for the purpose of clearing space for…
Japanese Tea Shop Looks for Green in U.S. Market
Kootz Green Tea Shop is hoping to do for green tea what Starbucks has done for coffee. According to a Seattle Times report, the Japanese retailer’s shops with bamboo-like table…
Nordstrom Getting More from Less
Nordstrom company officials, reports Women’s Wear Daily (WWD), are “getting more sales out of less inventory’ in large part because the company has invested in technology systems designed to help…
RetailWire Webinar: RFID Drives Promotional ROI
Trade promotion is a critical part of manufacturers’ budgets for driving sales at retail. Last Thursday’s RetailWire Webinar, ROI from RFID: Promotion Execution, explored some of the reasons that…
Gun Makers Want to Make Womens’ Day
For years, female firearms enthusiasts have found that even so-called women’s models have often been too long or heavy for them to be easily used. In response, gun manufacturers have…
Circuit City Sees $20 Billion Service Opportunity
Circuit City said it was going to move further into the service business following the upcoming winter holiday season to begin offering consumers personal computer services along the lines of…
Food Retailers in Massive Shift of Roles
The theme was “What’s Next in Marketing, Consumer research and Technology?” as the ACNielsen Company and its VNU sister company Spectra hosted some 1,100 retailers, brand marketers and retail technologists…
Suburban Hip-Hop
It’s not unusual for entertainment and cultural trends to start in inner city neighborhoods and then expand to suburbia. So, the fact that everything hip-hop, from the music to clothing…
Girls Day Out
Rita Greeley said what she is doing with her business is just a new approach to an activity that has been going on a very long time. That activity, says…
It’s Back… Inflation Threatens Economic Growth
The most obvious and immediate sign that goods and services were getting more expensive came at the gas pump. But now consumers are finding a whole host of items carrying…
ShopatHome TV Cancelled
Consumers are evidently willing to accept hundreds of cable channels on their televisions, but four home shopping channels is at least one too many. E.W. Scripps Co. announced that the…
Hispanic Segmentation Made Simpler
One of the first considerations when creating a Hispanic brand strategy is to understand how a product or service is purchased. Unless a product is country specific or purchasing behavior…
Bankers and Consumers Chill Together
Now banks are starting to turn branches into destination points for things other than financial services. Union National Community Bank in Lancaster, Penn, for example, has rebranded all its new…
Starbucks, Whole Foods Are Incomparable
When most companies in retail discuss their employee wage and benefit programs, they talk in terms of offering packages that are comparable to what others in the industry are doing…
