Thomas Pink, Warehouse merge channels with BT

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 12, 2009

British luxury shirt maker Thomas Pink and high-street retailer Warehouse have implemented the BT Expedite multi-channel solution to link their online and…

Thinking beyond traditional retail packaging

How retailers are mixing packaging with interactive technology to connect with consumers.

Hilo Hattie goes live with MICROS-Retail POS/merchandising solution

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 12, 2009

Hilo Hattie Fashion Centers, a Hawaiian retailer of apparel and merchandise, announced that it has completed roll-out of an end-to-end POS and merchandising…

Cisco Digital Signage Video Data Sheet

Cisco Digital Signage provides scalable, centralized management and publishing of high-quality content to networked, on-premise digital signage displays.

Deloitte reports consumer spending up for second straight month

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 11, 2009

A year or two ago it would have seemed meager, but today it feels like reason for celebration: Consumer spending went up in July, the second straight month of…

Walmart emphasizing 'endcaps on steroids'

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 11, 2009

Retailers are reclaiming their endcaps, traditionally used by brands to merchandise their products in thematic fashion. Recent months have seen a greater…

Coca-Cola vending machine marries self-service and digital signage

Anthony Phillips, global marketing manager for Coca-Cola, demonstrates the company's new vending machine technology. Video is courtesy Lions Daily News.

Taming the loyalty card beast

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

New tools — both high-tech and low-tech — aim to liberate loyalty cards from the key chain.

Research: Most consumers will pay more for a good experience

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 9, 2009

Research firm Strativity Group has released the findings of its "2009 Customer Experience Consumer Study."

Microsoft unveils retail store logo

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 9, 2009

Late last month, Microsoft filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to protect the image you see at the right. The class status for the…

Why good customer service is like billiards

Retail Doc Bob Phibbs explains why customer service staff need to scatter around the customer, like pool balls reacting to the cue.

Breaking down Arbitron's Out-of-Home Digital Video Display Study 2009

August 6, 2009

Yesterday, Arbitron released the 2009 version of its Out-of-Home Digital Video Display Study to the industry, with much attention coming from the finding that…

Best Buy turns Sunday circulars into interactive 3D demos

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 6, 2009

Electronics retailer Best Buy has quietly unveiled a new interactive domain, www.BestBuyin3D.com, which turns the company's Sunday circulars into impressive…

Home Depot channel VP: 'We're going to come into the 90s'

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 5, 2009

Getting retail channels integrated is not easy, and that's precisely why so many retailers haven't fully done it yet. Home Depot's specialty channel VP Michael…

Zytronic bringing interactive retail deployment to Asia

August 5, 2009

U.K.-based Zytronic, a display technology manufacturer, has announced its selection by digital media company Yeahpoint for an interactive project with…

Redbox responds to Fox pulling its new releases

August 5, 2009

According to an article in the L.A. Times, 20th Century Fox has joined Universal Studios in the fight against redbox. The studio has instructed its DVD…

Luxury brands extend their names to non-luxury items — and consumers buy it

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 4, 2009

An article in the latest issue of Time magazine is fodder for retail skeptics everywhere. It rehashes the results of an upcoming study in the Journal of…

Study: Customers want simpler, easier-to-understand food labeling

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 4, 2009

Progressive Grocer reports on a new survey from Guiding Stars Licensing Co., which suggests that grocery shoppers are getting fed up with arcane, hard-to-read…

Intelligent online marketing boosts purchases by 25 percent

Marketers must employ direct digital marketing strategies that demonstrate an understanding of how consumers use technology to make purchases.

Three reasons customer service is so bad

August 3, 2009

New York Times blogger Jay Goltz says in his blog that even though people usually blame poor customer service on a particular generation, it really is caused…