The year seems to be ending as the year began: with retailers wading (intentionally or unintentionally) into the political fray. Earlier in the year, Nordstrom incurred the administration’s ire by dropping Ivanka Trump’s shoe line, leading the president to weigh in, “My daughter Ivanka has been…
The holiday season has kicked into high gear this week, and retailers are looking for Santa to deliver some much-needed relief following a tumultuous year. Their holiday wish? That surging consumer confidence and low unemployment will translate into a historically strong shopping season. Despite retailers’…
Children of the 80s and 90s will remember Sharper Image as that decade’s cutting-edge leader of gadgets. They may remember testing out high-end massage chairs in one of the 200 or so Sharper Image stores sprinkled at malls across America or owning one of the…
A few weeks back, I wrote about a significant retrenching of the eatsa business, which involved the closing of their New York restaurants and retrenching back to their San Francisco units. At the same time, the company announced that technology would begin to appear as…
On Friday, Apple opened “the first in a new generation of Apple’s most significant worldwide retail locations” (Angela Ahrendts) on Chicago’s Riverwalk. Designed by London-based Foster & Partners, the exterior features a thin Macbook inspired roof, and floor-to-ceiling glass walls that blur the line between…
As part of my job as a retail strategy consultant, I travel the country and the world preaching the need for innovation in an industry that is being overrun by the growth of e-commerce on the one hand and the generally poor experience at brick…
Jet announced the return of JetCash two weeks ago, and the normal noise that accompanies a Wal-Mart / Amazon announcement was… muted. It shouldn’t be. Amazon has proven that a company can create a shopping holiday. Prime Day generated nearly $1 Billion dollars in…
Amazon’s newest brick and mortar location in Chicago opened this week – a Campus Pick-Up point in the heart of the DePaul-Lincoln Park neighborhood. In a neighborhood with several Amazon Lockers nearby, and a Whole Foods just up the street and Prime Now same day…
According to German trade press, Lidl announced a management change that will lead to new supervision in Germany of the U.S. market. Though local U.S. management disputes aspects of the store which pointed to “frighteningly weak” performance at some of the current 37 stores, it…
The meal kit market is going through a rapid and fascinating period of growth, retrenchment and repositioning. The latest development: Albertsons is buying Plated for an undisclosed price, marking the first purchase of a prepared meals company by a supermarket chain. As the lukewarm reception of Blue Apron…
