RECENT discussions
Discussions
Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Wal-Mart Sets Another Record
Wal-Mart has set another in a long line of records. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., it has received more comments than ever before from Wal-Mart’s application to…
Shoppers Hate Being Rushed into the Holidays
We know that the holiday rush can fray nerves. But that’s not the only thing that makes consumers cranky. According to a new study, shoppers resent the feeling they are…
Retailers Don’t Want to Follow Dinosaurs and Dodos
To avoid ending up on the scrap heap of history, retailers and manufacturers, need to do a better job of listening to consumer needs and then providing meaningful answers. Paul…
Online Retailers Ranked By How They Treat Customers
According to The Customer Respect Group’s (TCRG) Third Quarter 2005 Online Customer Respect Study of Retailers, online retailers have a long way to go to demonstrate the proper amount of…
Out-of-Stock – Out-of-Chances
Among the things that really burn customers up are walking into a store to buy something only to find it is out-of-stock. The vast majority of customers can understand this…
TJX Nixes Online Business, Makes Other Changes
In an era when many brick and mortar retailers are moving to multi-channel models, TJX Cos. has made the decision to get out the e-commerce business. Last week in a…
No Joy in Toyland
It’s tough in the toy business. After two consecutive years of sales declines, the industry may be headed for a third as a combination of economic factors has many Americans…
Even Seasonal Workers Offered Benefits at REI
To be eligible for health benefits from REI, workers need to be employed by the company for 30 days. That’s it. Beginning in January, the retailer will begin offering health…
High Gas Prices No Problem for Etailers
Well, whether there is a white Christmas or not this year, the one thing online retailers are probably hoping they don’t see coming down this holiday season are gas prices…
Forty Percent of Asda Workers Shopping at Competitors
Turns out that Sears Holdings isn’t the only retailer that appears to have a problem with its employees going to competitors to buy products for their everyday needs. According to…
The Do’s and Don’ts of Baby Boomer Retailing
Everyone knows that Baby Boomers are a huge consumer market but that’s about as far as most retailers’ understanding of this group goes, according to Patrick Conroy and Bruce Westbrook…
Teens’ Choice: Jeans, Sneakers and Downloads
The average teenager spends about $3,400 a year, so marketers are very interested in what kids are thinking and what they are planning to buy. The results of a survey…
Driving Traffic with Gas Promotions
With the price for a gallon of gas continuing to go up, consumers are looking for ways to conserve the fuel they burn and spend less when they have to…
E-Loan Founded on Loyalty
E-Loan has tried to distinguish itself from other firms in the online-financial-services sector. In every public proclamation, the company notes its refusal to add lender’s fees, its non-rate-based commissions, its…
New Edict at Sears: Employees to Get in Touch with Softer Side
First, Aylwin Lewis sent a memo telling employees not to advertise when they buy products from competitive companies by bringing their bags onto Sears Holdings’ property. Now, a new edict…
Don’t Mess with Marcus
A number of years back, the Texas Department of Transportation came up with an anti-littering campaign for the state’s highways that used the slogan: “Don’t Mess with Texas.” Now that…
Wal-Mart’s Stylin’
Wal-Mart’s got an image problem and it has nothing to do with how it treats its employees or labor unions. This particular image problem is the one where consumers can…
Storch Out at Target
The man who said “the stupid era of the Internet is over now,” described Wal-Mart as “vicious predators” and was widely viewed as the CEO-in-waiting at Target has left the…
RFID Evangelists Rejoice
Praise be, praise be… The day that proponents of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology have been waiting, if not praying for, appears to be close at hand – widespread adoption…
Gas Prices May Be Super for Food Markets
An editorial in Supermarket News says the high price of putting gas in cars may just be what supermarkets need to gain some traction for their businesses. Editor-in-chief David Orgel…
Is it Time for the ‘Whole-Broker’?
Is it time to merge the roles of wholesaler and broker into one? Wholesalers provide the efficiency necessary to distribute products of small manufacturers who are unable to own their…
