Top 100: 90. Dollar General

After raising $444 million in an IPO taking the discount retailer public in 2009, private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. promptly paid down $73…

Five ways retail kiosks can extend a brand

Kiosks can make it next-to-impossible for consumers to forget a brand.

Council takes wait-and-see approach to mobile payments

PCI SSC announced it would not approve or list any mobile-payment applications as compliant for the time being.

Top 100: 93. Michaels Stores

Founded in 1984, Michaels Stores anticipated the modern arts and crafts boom by providing nascent painters, scrapbookers, knitters, florists and cake…

Top 100: 92. JCPenney

While other retailers closed stores or laid off workers in response to the downturn, JCPenney continued investing, most notably opening its first Manhattan…

Top 100: 91. Family Dollar

Yet another "dollar store" (see Nos. 82 and 90) has reported a sharp increase in profit thanks to wary consumers in a struggling economy. Family Dollar’s…

In Every Sale

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

Someone is training...

Top 100: 94. Old Navy

Old Navy hoped to leverage consumers' renewed frugality last year when the company recommitted to its original focus and began redesigning more than a thousand…

Favorite Marketing Moments of 2010

by Jim Joseph — President, Lippe Taylor

Apology to BOA

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

...and to you.

Top 100: 95. Ross Stores

Even though off-price discount retailers have generally been top performers in recent years, Ross Stores has distinguished itself against its closest…

Top 100: 96. Sears

With Sears Holdings Corp.'s total revenues falling $93 million to $10.5 billion for the second quarter of 2010, the retailer began revamping its Web strategy.

Top 100: 97. Staples

The top U.S. office supplier recently announced a new corporate sustainability strategy, and challenged its suppliers to join in. "Race to the Top" calls on…

Unbendable Customer Experience Rule #3

by Mike Wittenstein — Customer Experience and Service Designer, Storyminers

Never let your business processes dictate your customer's experience.  More>>

2011 -- The Year of Retail Redesign

by Mike Wittenstein — Customer Experience and Service Designer, Storyminers

2011 will be the year of retail redesign. There are three reasons why this is true. The winners will be the stores that focus on value creation and do so by…

Top 100: 98. TJ Maxx

The fashionomics (as TJ Maxx terms it) of off-price retail is simple: selling clothing and accessories from major-label brands at low prices. By forging solid…

Why Your Incentive Plan Might Be Killing Sales

by Doug Stephens — President, Retail Prophet Consulting

New research into human motivation may hold some surprises for companies who have long held to the "carrot and stick" approach to incentives.  The truth is…

Top 100: 99. Toys "R" Us

In an effort to position itself as being more convenient for customers, Toys "R" Us launched some 600 Express pop-up stores in malls and shopping centers…

Item-level RFID comes to 150 European stores

December 20, 2010

Technology company Trimble Navigation Limited announced today that its ThingMagic M5e and M5e-Compact RFID reader modules are being used as part of an…

Five things customers hate about holiday retail

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

Repetitive music, crowded aisles are on the list of things that can send shoppers screaming from your store.