The payments industry is ripe for disruption
After attending two conferences in Miami Beach related to payments and currency, BrainTrust panelist Paula Rosenblum came away with a strong and profound feelin...
Which Technologies Will Drive E-Commerce?
When responding to many of this year's RSR 2013 e-commerce benchmark survey questions, the smallest and largest retailers have very similar concerns and thought...
Curing the ‘Magic Bullet Syndrome’
There's some good news in RSR's annual merchandising benchmark report, but it's not all sunshine and birds. Though they believe virtually all modern tools and t...
RSR Research: Cross-channel, Omni-channel, Any-channel – Maybe It’s Time to Let Them Go
The consumer expects consistency, not a science project, when she goes shopping. So for this discussion, we're retiring terms like cross-channel, omni-channel, ...
RSR Research: Why Are Retailers Flunking the Omni-Channel Test?
RSR's annual Cross Channel Benchmark re-confirmed that delivering a consistent cross-channel shopping experience has become table stakes for successful retailin...
RSR Research: Who Says the Store is Dead?
A recent visit to the new Whole Foods Market in North Miami assures that the store is alive and well. You just have to make it ... interesting. What should othe...
RSR Research: The CEO as Rock Star
With the news surrounding some of the most famous retail CEOs and their rise and fall, are CEOs more or less important to retailing success today than in recent...
RSR Research: Why Women Retailers of All Ages Should Read ‘Lean In’
Women made some gains in the workforce in the '70s and '80s, but those gains have stalled. In her book "Lean In," Sheryl Sandberg neither asks women to "try ha...
RSR Research: ‘I Did Not See That Coming’ – Getting Nimble for the Next Big Thing
In an internet radio show where the topic was, "Precision Retail: What've You Done for Your Customer Lately?" the punch line came at the end: "I did not see tha...
RSR Research: Does Price Trump Assortment?
An early look at a consumer benchmark commissioned by FMI, Daymon Worldwide and the Hartman Group, highlights how differently Americans are buying, preparing an...
RSR Research: Empathy and Design Thinking
Hearing the word "empathy" in the context of application development and delivery at SAP's Tech Ed event in Madrid may be confusing, but becomes clearer when yo...
RSR Research: What’s So Big About Big Data?
Today, the term "big data" is getting tossed around like a football, used to describe everything from video analytics to merchandise planning. What's your techn...
RSR Research: The Future of Merchandise Planning – Incorporating Customer Segments
BrainTrust panelist Paula Rosenblum was among the first IT execs in the U.S. to successfully implement a merchandise planning system. At that time it was pretty...
RSR Research: The Retail IT Brain Drain
There's a significant lack of IT talent available to retailers. It causes project delays, higher costs in general (as those with specific skills become contract...
RSR Research: Facebook Open Graph and Graphite
There's one area where Facebook has been less than a roaring success — in helping retailers actually sell stuff. The "like" button just didn't do the job. Fac...
RSR Research: What is Catalog’s Place in an Omni-Channel World?
There was a time, between 2002 and 2006 or so, when the web seemed to be killing off catalogs. Fast forward to 2012: It sure seems like business is booming for ...
RSR Research: Pricing Benchmark – Competitive Pressures
With continued uncertain economic conditions and increasing consumer price sensitivity, retailers seem far more apt to ignore customer data and look instead to ...
FD Buyer: Costco Makes SKU Rationalization a Fine Art
Beyond low margins, limited assortment also plays an important role in Costco's success. While all the leading club chains expanded their assortments during the...
RSR Research: An Enterprise-wide BI Strategy – Why it Matters
Even though 85 percent of respondents to RSR's Business Intelligence (BI) benchmark survey in 2011 reported some activity in developing an enterprise-wide BI st...
RSR Research: The New Disciplines of Market Leaders
In the early 2000s, the book "The Discipline of Market Leaders" by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema was often quoted, with its model showing three potential are...