Why a customer-centric retail model is key to beating digital competition

Rental car companies can effectively respond to competition by adopting the successful strategies and best practices digital retailers use to engage customers…

Engaging millennials: Value trumps message

Millennials aren't the only ones feeling overwhelmed by the barrage of advertisements. A 2016 HubSpot survey showed 91 percent of respondents feel today's ads…

Sorry Jim Cramer, malls won't ever be ghost towns

by Judy Mottl — Editor: RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com, Connect Media

During his flamboyant declarations about malls and their impending doom, Jim Cramer asks another financial analyst if he's been at a mall lately. The analyst…

Reinventing the in-store customer experience

In-store shopping has fallen on hard times. Many retail categories — such as electronics and music — have largely disappeared, victims to the convenience and…

Accounting for gift cards in the retail setting

While gift cards are popular they are also a very hot area of scrutiny with the IRS. And if retailers aren't calculating the gift card income adjustment, using…

5 key distributor opportunities in an omnichannel world

by Chris Petersen — Owner, IMS

For today's consumers, omnichannel is their "new normal." They now shop and purchase anytime and everywhere. What this means for traditional retailers is that…

Why retail Is the ultimate social platform

The impulse to socialize at the market lives on — witness the late 20th century phenomenon of "hanging out at the mall," or the 21st century rise of farmers…

The art of balancing workplace automation

The buzz about bots is on the rise. No, not the all-knowing Isaac Asimov supercomputers. The 1-800-number variety that never seems to detect any urgency in the…

The future of beacons and digital signage

Beacon technology has not been adopted by merchants as quickly as expected, yet changes to devices and strategy will spur 4.5 million active beacons in the…

Amazon's Treasure Truck banking on retail consumer whimsy

by Judy Mottl — Editor: RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com, Connect Media

While the New York Times describes Amazon's Treasure Truck as another of Amazon's "puzzling retail experiments," it can be viewed as Amazon's continuing effort…

FastCasual's parent company launching FoodTruckOperator.com

by Cherryh Cansler — Publisher, FastCasual.com

Networld Media Group will launch FoodTruckOperator.com on April 1. It will cover industry trends and news, profile business owners and explore the technologies…

Donald Trump, Nordstrom, Ivanka Trump: How politics now play into the retail customer experience

by Judy Mottl — Editor: RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com, Connect Media

In simple terms, social media and the internet have given consumers the loudest and biggest mouthpiece to project their views and feelings and actions. But it…

The 1 thing forgotten at the world’s largest retail event

There is no doubt, that in the current age, information is critical. When everything online is connected to a cloud and data is accessible in real time…

Amazon Go's impact on payments, self-checkout

The Amazon Go store has no cash register or payment kiosk. Instead, shoppers scan themselves into the store using the free Amazon Go app, shop as normal…

7 under-the-radar retail trends for 2017

by Bryan Pearson — President, LoyaltyOne

Will men and artificial intelligence define retail in 2017? Possibly. Considering the activities in retail today, several experts shared what unexpected trends…

Harnessing mobility in retail: 5 challenges to overcome

Retailers have a number of digital sales channels and a plethora of mobile marketing technologies to choose from. That said, when building a mobile marketing…

2017 & beyond: Prognostications for retail technology

Shopper behavior and expectations have clearly changed and become more sophisticated. Retail stores need to evolve to meet consumer demands, and the influence…

Customer success is the key to business growth

Typically the responsibility for customer service is split amongst various in-house teams and there is no overarching coordinated system to manage it. A…

UX university: 4 retailers getting the user experience right

Customer loyalty requires more than offering a customer a free coffee every time they buy 10. There’s no middle ground any longer as user experience is key for…

Staging an experiential marketing encore, the Bloomingdale's, Brooks Brothers way

by Bryan Pearson — President, LoyaltyOne

There's no business like show business, and retailers are vying to get in on the act. More merchants are turning to Broadway in their ongoing play for…