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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Should retailers respond to every consumer review?
Retailers closely monitor reviews posted by consumers online, but should they respond to them? According to a recently completed survey of U.S. consumers, the overwhelming response to that question was,…
Has wine in a can moved from fad to trend?
Sales of canned wine grew 43 percent in the U.S. from June 2017 to June 2018, according to BW 166, and a new university study has concluded that what was…
Did Amazon wrap up Christmas in July?
Many have come to bemoan the Christmas creep phenomena as retailers put out ornaments and fake trees on store floors in October, but the truth is that a lot of…
Will organic food sales soar on the latest cancer research?
A new scientific research study says that consumers who consistently eat conventional food and eschew organics may be paying a price they are unaware of with higher rates of some…
Black Friday is too late
For one segment of shoppers, the holiday season starts early and they’ll be spending more than people who wait for Black Friday to start buying their gifts. What do retailers…
Can an Instagram-born luggage brand have staying power?
Founded in February 2016, Away has sold more than 500,000 suitcases to date, achieved profitability within two years and raised $81 million in two funding rounds. The luggage brand’s quick…
Don’t shutter that store! Bricks impact clicks
A new International Council of Shopping Centers report echoes earlier studies showing how retailers get a boost in web traffic from having physical stores. But a much larger payback was…
Did Target just become the easiest place to shop for Christmas?
With the holiday season coming up fast, Target announced that it will offer free two-day shipping on hundreds of thousands of items bought online with no minimum purchase required between…
Should Old Navy and others offer better deals online than in stores?
Customers still spend the most in physical stores, so why is Old Navy offering lower prices online than in their brick and mortars? That was the question for retail anthropologist…
Why haven’t CPG giants figured out what makes small brands so popular?
Titans of the consumer packaged goods industry may be in trouble as they continue to face significant competition from smaller counterparts. In fact, small CPGs are now leading the industry’s…
Will free two-day shipping from third-parties give Walmart an edge for the holidays?
Walmart announced that it will expand free two-day delivery to millions of items sold by third-party sellers on its marketplace. Will the addition of free two-day shipping from third-party sellers…
Brands are simply guests on Amazon’s platform and that’s okay
Amazon.com’s rapid private label expansion is making many branded manufacturers uncomfortable. According to Scrapehero, Amazon’s private label offerings now encompasses 6,825 products across 100 distinct labels. Of these, nearly 70…
Stores rarely ID customers before they check out
According to BRP’s “2018 Customer Experience/Unified Commerce Survey,” only 23 percent of retailers are able to identify customers inside stores before they check out. How can retailers improve their ability…
How should retail employers prepare for Gen Z workers?
Gen Z is set to reshape America’s workforce as the oldest of them have started graduating from college. How will Gen Z workers be different from Millennials as they reach…
Can fashion bloggers become brands?
Nordstrom this year has come out with three standalone collections completely tied to star social influencers. Do you see retail collaborations with lifestyle bloggers on curated collections as more of…
Is apparel manufacturing coming back to America?
In a new report, McKinsey & Co. predicts that nearshoring — sourcing in the U.S. and countries close to it — will accelerate in the apparel industry in the years…
Why is Burger King offering nightmares to go with its new sandwich?
Burger King wants you to know that if you eat its new limited-edition sandwich, you are very likely to have a nightmare when you go to sleep. What do you…
Do retailers need more social media?
Social media is big part of people’s everyday lives in the U.S., with 86 percent using it daily and 72 percent using it multiple times over the course of a…
Will rising costs throw a wrench in e-commerce operations?
Last week, e-commerce providers were hit by a double whammy of negative news. Will retailers be able to offset, or will they have to absorb, higher costs related to postal…
Where are market research and analytics falling short?
90 percent of sales of the large research houses fail to check off two or more items on this checklist. That is why they have little organic growth. Where do…
LabCorp deal brings blood testing to Walgreens’ pharmacies
Walgreens announced that it will be opening medical testing facilities in 600 of its stores in conjunction with LabCorp, according to Bloomberg. Is improving in-store healthcare services the right move…
