Amazon.com has been tip-toeing into the world of brick and mortar retailing for some time now. There have been small outposts at colleges and a few beautifully designed bookstores have been popping up in cities with rumors for several hundred more. As I have said…
It may be hard to believe that the last time the Chicago Cubs won the world series, this Presidential election hadn’t started yet. What may be even more unbelievable, is that despite how it may seem, this election cycle hasn’t been anywhere close to 108…
In the new world of retail, customers are not only deciding retailers’ success, they are becoming part of it. Not only do they want to be served well, they want to be in the driver’s seat and be part of the creation of the product….
Until last year, retailer priorities over the Thanksgiving holiday was to squeeze out every penny out of the holiday shopper, leaving sales associates and other retail employees to cut short their holiday time to open doors and cater to early bargain hunters. From a pragmatic business…
The recent sale of Aeropostale assets to General Growth Properties and Simon Property Group has created a lot of head scratching. Some have suggested this is the start of a new trend. We think not. This was a unique set of circumstances involving the top…
How Cartwheel Works Cartwheel is Target’s 3-year-old mobile app that offers shoppers hundreds of savings on products and categories of their choosing. Participating Cartwheel shoppers—of whom there are 27 million—can select from a list of offers they’d like to add to their shopper profile. When…
Recent shakeups in the men’s shaving landscape point to the changing behavior and expectations of today’s more style-focused male consumers Men’s Subscription Shaving Models Gain Ground On the heels of Unilever’s announcement that it would acquire the subscription-based men’s shaving service Dollar Shave Club for…
In an effort to refocus resources on high-performing stores and improve its online shoppingexperience, Macy’s announced recently that it will close 100 stores, thus reducing the retailer’s total brick-and-mortar footprint by about 15 percent. The company will shutter these stores—whose specific locations they have yet…
Innovation continues to see its way into new concepts and formats across the globe. There has been significant evolution within the eyewear industry that has caught our eye, pressuring us to ask the question, what will be next? Warby Parker has been the purveyor in…
For many retailers and brands, projects on the docket for the coming year are focused on tactics to support an omni-channel shopping experience. Often overlooked in this flurry of activity are big picture opportunities to leverage the direct to consumer channel as a platform for…
