What We Can Learn from Bankers

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

An Inconvenient Truth About Bad Customer Service

by Doug Stephens — President, Retail Prophet Consulting

What if you could get the least engaged staff member to actually care about your customers?  What kind of difference would that make to your business? In this…

Fifty cents could have been really special

by Sharon Goldman — Senior Director, COLLOQUY

One of the trickiest parts of building loyalty is making sure that your front-line employees are empowered to make customers feel special. After all, you…

Abercrombie & Fitch: Sex Obviously Doesn't Sell

by Bob Phibbs — CEO, The Retail Doctor

If “sex sells” then why have they lost so many of their customers? Sure their Manhattan store sells $100 million a year to gawker tourists, but how about the…

Pricing and Policy Decisions

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

Retail loyalty’s big leap

by Sharon Goldman — Senior Director, COLLOQUY

My former DMNews colleague, Nathan Golia, wrote a great piece about the growth of retail loyalty programs in a past issue — which I must say, if I can toot…

Are You Driving Your Customers Away?

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

One of my favorite vendors... ...is pushing me away. I’ve had my cellphone with the same provider for close to six years.  Yes, I was late in adopting the…

The Art of Waiting

by Mike Wittenstein — Customer Experience and Service Designer, Storyminers

When Apple Computer announced the Apple Store, more than one industry pundit predicted the project’s demise. "Apple is a technology company," they said. "They…

Does Starbucks’ new free Wi-Fi offer really raise the loyalty bar?

by Sharon Goldman — Senior Director, COLLOQUY

No one who loves Starbucks doesn’t love the fact that they’re now offering free Wi-Fi in its over 6500 locations, right?  My question is: How much will this…

Why Your Best Managers Have To Drink

by Bob Phibbs — CEO, The Retail Doctor

Driver personalities are the natural leaders.  When they are second-guessed, their motives and methods questioned and they are not allowed to shine, or made to…

Flying Blind

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

How FTD lost a customer for life

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

My heart sank yesterday morning when I went to check my Facebook feed and saw this message from a friend:

The Mayor of Starbucks, or just your average coffee addict

by Sharon Goldman — Senior Director, COLLOQUY

Drink a lot of Starbucks? Now you can become the “Mayor” of Starbucks in your town, thanks to the popular Foursquare application — and as a loyal customer…

Dollars and Sentiments. The Real R.O.I. on Social Marketing

by Doug Stephens — President, Retail Prophet Consulting

With the rush to social marketing, some companies are falling prey to a few common pitfalls that are ultimately derailing their success.  In this article…

Discounting During Peak Season

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

Curves: Lessons in Creating a Community

by Annamaria Turano — Executive Director, MCAworks

One summer, not too long ago, I joined a 2nd gym as I was out of town most weekends.  A charming low-frills outpost of Curves. 

June Quote

by Mike Wittenstein — Customer Experience and Service Designer, Storyminers

Behind every great customer experience is a great employee experience.

The Value of Employee Experience

by Mike Wittenstein — Customer Experience and Service Designer, Storyminers

Now is the time to focus on all aspects of your employee experience. 

Fuel perks plus retail equals savvy loyalty play

by Sharon Goldman — Senior Director, COLLOQUY

With an economy that is recovering slowly and still keeping millions of Americans unemployed and in a recession-based, purse-strings-tightening mode, it’s…

Want to Increase Demand?

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