How should retailers best on-board seasonal staff?
With summer just around the corner, many retailers are in full-force seasonal hiring mode. Yet beyond finding solid candidates to work your selling floor, shoul...
BBQ Guys and Lowe’s discuss best practices for implementing AI tech
Fine-tuning data science solutions to optimize results has been the easy part. Taking advantage of the new insights is the more complicated task, said IT execs ...
Growing demand for local products leads to out-of-stocks
Localization has been embraced to protect market share and profitability. Yet, localization just might hasten the death of certain banners. What suggestions wou...
What can we learn from the Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play recall?
In mid-April, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Fisher-Price issued a voluntary recall of a product linked to the deaths of 32 infants sinc...
H&M will cease printing its catalog after 39 years
H&M has announced plans to discontinue its catalog business. What factors, in your mind, argue for or against dumping retail print catalogs?...
Who is winning the shopping search race — Amazon or Google?
Google is most often the first destination for shoppers looking for inspiration or starting a purchase journey with a specific product in mind, according to rec...
AI-powered, voice-capable chatbot helps shoppers make the right choice in stores
While in-home voice tech is becoming more commonplace, BevMo!, a leading wine and liquor chain on the west coast, is piloting an AI-powered, voice-capable whisk...
What’s really driving disruption? (Hint: it’s not technology)
The emergence of a new technology is often cited as what drives the disruption of an industry or business. But that’s not true in most cases, according to a H...
Should retailers promote brand backstories?
For manufacturers of even the biggest brands, sharing the story behind the products offers the transparency, intimacy and respect today’s consumers crave. Are...
Will America’s love for paper coupons ever die?
Despite a slight rise in the preference for paperless discounts, more adults still prefer paper coupons, according to the latest annual survey of coupon use fro...
Why consumers are breaking bonds with their favorite brands
A number of legacy retailers and classic consumer packaged goods brands are struggling — some exiting the marketplace — despite the pull of nostalgia that m...
Can subscription retail solve its retention problem?
With churn rates seen as high as 40 percent, subscription retail has a serious retention problem. And there’s no simple one-time solution, either. Are high ch...
Kellogg pilots virtual reality merchandising solution
The Kellogg Co. last November partnered to pilot a solution that embeds eye-tracking technology in a mobile virtual reality headset to reinvent how brands and r...
Is there anything special about specialty retail?
While the department store channel garners much of the negative retail press these days, specialty stores generally earned poor marks in our annual consumer stu...
Do furniture retailers need a new approach in the digital age?
Home goods retailers have adapted as retail has become more digitally focused, but it’s still a category in which many consumers need convincing to make a pur...
Will 5G bring the tech benefits that consumers and marketers expect?
According to a survey of 295 advertisers, about half believe one of the benefits of 5G will be a better customer experience, while close to half likewise view i...
Does new retail need a new prototype?
When planning a new store concept and/or DTC growth strategy, some dynamic and tectonic shifts must be weighed that lie beyond the old prototype model’s reach...
Where are grocers failing on in-store experience?
RFG’s annual “Supermarket Experience Study” found four areas where supermarkets are generally falling short of delivering compelling experiences in the st...
Brands see voice ordering as more opportunity than threat
Brands are viewing consumers’ increased comfort with voice assistants as less of a threat than an opportunity, per a survey of more than 500 U.S. brands from ...
What will it take to transform BOPIS ops from just okay to great?
A WD Partners study from almost six years ago found BOPIS to be the number one ranked technology consumers wanted. What continue to be major pain points for BOP...