At Retail: Looking Good, Buying More

by Laurel Tielis — Author and Professional Speaker, Laurel Tielis & Associates

Oscar Wilde phrased it beautifully in "The Picture of Dorian Gray." He wrote, "It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances." Right or wrong, most…

Imitating your competitor's prices? Here's why that's a bad idea.

by Dale Furtwengler — President, Furtwengler & Associates, P.C.

How do you decide what price to charge? How well is that working?As I sat down to write this post the lyrics of an old Johnny Lee song, "Lookin' for Love,…

Scan This! QR Codes Are History

by Doug Stephens — President, Retail Prophet Consulting

Google recently announced that it is ending both its development and support of QR (Quick Response) codes. QR or 2-D barcodes as they are sometimes called…

Start a Customer Service War

by Doug Fleener — President and Managing Partner, Dynamic Experiences Group, LLC

I'm sure you saw that Walmart just launched a new ad campaign that promises "Low Prices. Every Day. On Everything." No doubt the big box stores are going to be…

How Wet Seal created customer engagement

by Laurel Tielis — Author and Professional Speaker, Laurel Tielis & Associates

Want to engage your customers? One way to do it is with a contest. But how do you create a successful contest, one that pulls customers?

Your merchandise is NOT like fine wine

by Lynn Switanowski — President, Creative Business Consulting Group

Like most retailers, you probably have a consistent strategy in place for pricing products when they come in. But do you have the same consistent strategy in…

How big do you have to be, to not care how your customers are being treated?

by Harry Friedman

I've been wondering lately how big you actually have to be to stop caring about how you treat your customers.

Danger: Strong Economy Ahead

by Dale Furtwengler — President, Furtwengler & Associates, P.C.

Is the recovering economy a blessing, or a potential minefield for retailers?Most business owners are breathing a sigh of relief; they're emerging alive and…

In Canada, loyalty a good aim for Target’s bullseye

by Lisa Biank Fasig — Director, JZMcBride and Associates

It looks like Canada is not only going to bring home the bacon for Target Corp., but chances are it will deliver some loyalty, as well.

Grocery chain requires self-checkout

by Cherryh Cansler — Publisher, FastCasual.com

A grocery chain focused on self-service is expanding throughout California, Arizona and Nevada. Apparently, the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, a…

'Extreme Couponing' should give retailers, brands and tech providers nightmares

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

I'm normally loathe to go anywhere near reality television — and has there ever been a more dishonest or inaccurate label for a genre than that one? — but I…

How to sell luxury products without discounting

by Bob Phibbs — CEO, The Retail Doctor

Do you have a luxury product to sell? I'm not talking a good or better version of something you could find at some dollar store. I'm talking the best.Selling…

Buying customer loyalty: Does it ever work?

by Dale Furtwengler — President, Furtwengler & Associates, P.C.

Can we really buy customer loyalty? If not, what are we really buying?To answer these questions we need to define loyalty. Loyal customers:

Luxury Isn't Social

by Doug Stephens — President, Retail Prophet Consulting

I've read a number of articles recently commenting on the conspicuous lack of social marketing in the luxury sector. While it's also true that participation in…

Charming Shoppers in all Sizes

by Lisa Biank Fasig — Director, JZMcBride and Associates

Lost in the recent news about Charming Shoppes closing 10 percent of its stores is whether this decision will have any bearing on its loyalty…

Could Amazon's Cloud Drive be an iTunes killer?

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

I've been an avid customer of Amazon's MP3 download service ever since it launched a few short years ago, but there's always been one major shortcoming that…

Is it Time to Drop the 'e' from e-Commerce?

by Jason Goldberg — VP Marketing, MTI

Most e-commerce executives are focused on online sales, even though their actual contribution to the organization is far broader. In order to maximize the…

Experiment on customers to get more from your self-service pilot

In our house, spring means two things: Chicago Cubs baseball and the school Science Fair. As I was helping my son sort out whether or not a cheese sandwich…

What great looks like

by Doug Fleener — President and Managing Partner, Dynamic Experiences Group, LLC

Over the last few weeks I've had the opportunity to work with some great retailers. Of course I'm biased, but I also see the very things that make them great.

Discounting in the off season: Good strategy or slippery slope?

by Dale Furtwengler — President, Furtwengler & Associates, P.C.

In one of my earlier blogs I dealt with the folly of discounting during peak selling season. I guess it was inevitable that I was asked, "What about the off…