Is Radio Shack rebranding as 'The Shack'?

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 2, 2009

Founded in 1921, Radio Shack is one of the oldest retailers in the electronics space, beginning its life as seller of high-end amateur radio gear.

How to catch male shoppers: Market to women

The men's grooming market is set to explode, and retailers can reach it more directly by marketing to women.

Coinstar continues '09 march with Kroger deal

August 2, 2009

Despite this year's challenging economic environment, Coinstar Inc. has had a monumental 2009, so far. In the past two months, the company has announced the…

Luxury retailers expanding the reach of their 'secret sales'

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 2, 2009

The New York Times reports on the growing incidence of luxury retailers taking their "secret sales" and making them not-so-secret, in order to actually move…

NCR self-checkout wins IDEA award

July 30, 2009

NCR Corp. announced its SelfServ Checkout solution has won a bronze award in the 2009 International Design Excellence Awards, or IDEA, competition. According…

Hardware retailer seeks to boost profits with digital signage

July 30, 2009

Scandinavia's largest hardware store chain, XL-BYG, has announced the launch of a digital signage network in its stores after a three-month trial revealed…

Private label: The prestige brands of tomorrow?

Retail expert and author Kate Newlin says the only odd thing about private label brands is that they've taken so long to win shoppers over.

Sweden testing mobile phone payments

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

July 28, 2009

There has been much speculation about the mobile phone as the all-in-one payment device of the future, and while adoption of that technology has taken off in…

Tesco accused of misleading ads

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

July 28, 2009

The U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority has a problem with recent ads from mega-retailer Tesco, which claim lower basket prices than competitor Asda.

Opinion: Why customer satisfaction surveys don't work

With 95 percent of our cognitive processing handled by the subconscious, how much value is there in surveys that probe the other five percent?

MarketLive dashboards serve up real-time e-tail data

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

July 27, 2009

MarketLive announced the availability of its MarketLive Intelligent Insights solution, a SaaS business intelligence package that helps retailers "create…

Best Buy's new laptop sales model includes Internet service, steep discounts

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

July 26, 2009

Electronics retailer Best Buy has tried a lot of strategies in recent months to stay ahead of its discount competition, everything from expanded Geek Squad…

New Christopher & Banks prototype celebrates 'women of all sizes'

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

July 26, 2009

Minneapolis-based apparel retailer Christopher & Banks announced it will open a new prototype store in Moosic, Penn., and it will be branded with the…

Netflix CEO: We have no interest in DVD-rental kiosks

July 26, 2009

In the past, Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings has said the company won't be expanding its service to include DVD-rental kiosks, despite increasing…

Opinion: IKEA is the 'least sustainable retailer on the planet'

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

July 26, 2009

Ellen Ruppel Shell, contributing editor to The Atlantic and author of "Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture," has published a scathing indictment of…

Bongo shopping cart demo

Bongo International demonstrates how its integrated application works on a retailer's website.

What the Amazon/Zappos deal means for customers

Amazon has acquired Zappos.com in a deal that exceeds $800 million. From the customer's standpoint, is this a marriage made in retail heaven?

Pop-up shops becoming mainstream

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

July 23, 2009

The Economist has published a brief exploration of the concept of pop-up shops, temporary stores set up by retailers in unexpected locations — from abandoned…

Jeff Bezos apologizes for Kindle/Orwell incident

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

July 23, 2009

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos knows his company raised a lot of eyebrows last week with its remote deletion of Orwell's "1984" and "Animal Farm" from Kindles of users…

Real-time purchases take to the skies

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

A new program allows airlines to conduct catalog sales transactions while in mid-flight. But will travelers want to shop in the air?