Retail Top 100 2012, No. 57: Retail crowdsourcing

July 18, 2012

Ace hammering out smaller stores

July 18, 2012

Following the recent retail trend of smaller stores, Ace Hardware has opened about 400 scaled-down locations that take up only 5,000 square feet or less,…

Researchers to investigate likelihood of fraud with mobile self-checkout

July 18, 2012

Theft and fraud are growing concerns of consumers adopting mobile coupons and contactless payments, and researchers at the University of Arkansas are examining…

Do customers control your pricing?

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

The CEO of a staffing firm asked what I did for a living. When I told him that I help companies get higher prices regardless of what their competitors or the…

Survey: Average US consumer will spend $300 on back-to-school

July 17, 2012

The back-to-school shopping season is already underway with one-third of households reporting that they have begun to shop, according to a special ICSC-Goldman…

Yahoo's Jerry Yang invests in gift card payment company

July 17, 2012

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang has invested in Openbucks, a gift card payment network, that recently announced the closing of a $4.8 million Series A round of…

Shoppers can print custom greeting cards from Kodak kiosks

July 17, 2012

Shoppers looking for the perfect greeting card with no luck can design their own now that Kodak has partnered with California-based Greeting Card Universe.

Retail Top 100 2012, No. 58: Whole Foods

July 17, 2012

Why don't the old customer service ways work anymore?

by Micah Solomon — president, four aces inc

"Why don't the old ways work with customers anymore?" I hear this question frequently when I'm speaking at a business event or starting a new customer service…

Report: Mobile retail commerce rises in second quarter, social shopping drops

July 16, 2012

Mobile shopping rose while social media sales fell, providing an indication of where U.S. retailers may invest in order to capture the attention and loyalty of…

Slate: Amazon's same-day shipping will 'hose brick-and-mortar stores'

July 16, 2012

While Amazon has been beating up on local retailers with its lower prices, brick-and-mortar stores have had the competitive advantage when it comes to shoppers…

Samsung's new store copying Apple?

July 16, 2012

Best Buy made headlines last week with its new store design modeled after Apple stores; this week, it's Samsung, the Korean company that Apple has already…

Meet your new gift registry: Pinterest

I'm planning a party for my younger sister. Usually, I flip through magazines or ask friends for ideas. However, this time I went straight to Pinterest.

Retail purchases fall .5%

July 16, 2012

Retail sales dropped by .5 percent in June in the U.S., making it the third month in a row for decreased sales, according to Bloomberg, which reported that…

Tokyo toy co testing augmented reality kiosks

July 16, 2012

A Tokyo toy company is testing kiosks with augmented reality capabilities to allow shoppers to interact with toys even when they're still in packaging.

Klout: More social influence equals a better customer experience?

by Colin Shaw — Founder & CEO, Beyond Philosophy

I was very interested to see that organizations are starting to provide a better customer experience to people that have more social influence. You may have…

The customer-centric retail pricing zone

Analyzing shopping patterns across multiple stores allows for a more profitable pricing-zone strategy.

Best Buy Canada selects Stibo multichannel platform

July 12, 2012

Stibo Systems has announced that Best Buy Canada has selected its solution to optimize its customer's online and mobile e-commerce experience. Best Buy Canada…

Retail Top 100 2012, No. 59: Williams-Sonoma

July 12, 2012

There's no room for revolutionaries on Wall Street

by Doug Stephens — President, Retail Prophet Consulting

Several months ago, JC Penney CEO Ron Johnson and his newly formed executive team made some significant changes to the pricing and promotional structure for…