A love song to Mr. Sears and Mr. Roebuck

Sears Holdings just announced its plans to close its flagship Loop location in Chicago this April.

Microsoft Connected Fitting Room at NRF 2014

The fitting room is the crucial place where a customer decides whether to make a purchase. But most of the time, the customer is alone behind a curtain when…

Five customer service tactics to increase sales

by Shep Hyken — CAO, Shepard Presentations

As you read this, you may think this article could fall under the heading of sales tactics. I respectfully disagree. This is all about customer service, as it…

Infinite Peripherals, Mercury partner for mobile payments

January 22, 2014

The mPOS system provider Infinite Peripherals has formed a partnership with Mercury Payment Systems, a payment service provider for small to mid-sized…

NRF 2014: The show floor, in tweets and vines

Attendees made good use of social media at this year's BIG Show.

New solution aims to give digital signage a voice

January 22, 2014

Audio solutions provider Barix today announced it will bring to Integrated Systems Europe 2014 and the 2014 Digital Signage Expo a new retail solution designed…

Meijer giving shoppers free Wi-Fi

January 22, 2014

Digital coupon use is at an all-time high at Meijer, with more than 2 million Meijer shoppers now subscribed to its free mPerks program — and now the retailer…

Cobalt, Edmunds announce partnership to study online car-shopping behaviors

January 22, 2014

Cobalt, a business unit of ADP Dealer Services Inc., and Edmunds.com, an online car shopping destination, today announced a strategic partnership to bring…

NRF urges transition to more secure and advanced credit, debit cards (Updated)

January 22, 2014

This week, The National Retail Federation sent a letter to congressional leaders outlining the retail industry's commitment to protecting sensitive consumer…

Tapping big data to improve the customer experience

We will have 40 trillion gigabytes of data by 2020. What are we going to do with it?

Source Metrics says it can track in-store conversions from Facebook ads

January 22, 2014

Social media marketing analytics firm Source Metrics has announced the launch of its Facebook In-store Ad Tracker, which it says provides retailers with access…

How do your CX efforts stack up?

by Mike Wittenstein — Customer Experience and Service Designer, Storyminers

Comparing your track record to others in the world of customer experience is a great way to find areas for improvement and see where you are doing well.

NBA's Sacramento Kings accepting Bitcoin

January 21, 2014

The Sacramento Kings, a U.S. professional basketball team, said it has become the first professional sports franchise to accept Bitcoin. Fans will be able to…

Sleep Train implements cloud-based analytics tool

January 21, 2014

Software provider Manthan Systems announced today that Sleep Train Inc. has gone live with ARC Merchandise Analytics, its cloud-based advanced analytics…

Tata Consultancy Services launches digital business unit

January 21, 2014

Tata Consultancy Services, an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, today announced the launch of its Digital Software & Solutions…

Misallocated ad dollars cost brands 28 percent in lost sales

January 21, 2014

Major brands may be losing out on more than 25 percent in additional marketing-driven sales by not optimizing their media budgets and misallocating their…

ChaChing! Using value pricing to grow sales and profits, part 3

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

In part 1 of this series, we dismissed the argument that value is vague by demonstrating that there are only three things that any buyer buys — image…

Viewpoints announces new review service for online retailers

January 20, 2014

Viewpoints, a consumer reviews platform, has announced the launch of Viewpoints Pulse, a new service that it says provides product manufacturers and service…

Super Bowl to drive most TV purchases in 2014

January 20, 2014

Online deal site FatWallet.com has announced results from its 2014 TV Buyer Survey. Of those surveyed online, 30 percent said they will purchase a new TV this…

New Year's resolution: Stop negative reviews from ruining your customer experience

Here are three ways brands can get a handle on negative comments and address them productively.