No more pennies at Vermont retailer

September 17, 2012

Power Play Sports, a sporting goods shop in Morrisville, Vt., has banned customer usage of the penny, according to an article on abcNEWS.com. 

Body scans could improve online shopping

September 17, 2012

Annoying airport body scanners may hold the key to accurate online shopping, according to an article in the Financial Times.

Retail Top 100 2012, No. 46: CVS/Caremark

September 17, 2012

iPhone 5 features Passbook loyalty app, but no NFC

by James Wester — Editor 1, Mobile Payments Today

Apple unveils a new design for its flagship phone but doesn't include near field communications.

Ignorance is expensive

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

A construction company complained that while revenues were up over 40%, their profits hadn't grown much at all. When asked who their ideal customer is, they…

'Future of Retail' event to discuss RFID and NFC

September 17, 2012

Retail self-checkout with RFID and NFC will be discussed at next week's "Future of Retail" event.

Mobile retail lags behind Web-based in customer experience, index shows

September 14, 2012

Customer experience analytics provider ForeSee released yesterday the ForeSee Mobile Satisfaction Index: Retail Edition, which creates a benchmark for customer…

Back-to-school shoppers boost August sales, slightly

September 14, 2012

According to recent calculations from the National Retail Federation, August retail sales had a boost from back-to-school shoppers.

Retail Doctor Bob Phibbs talks customer service training

The Retail Doctor Bob Phibbs recaps some highlights from his customer service training session at the 2012 Retail Customer Experience Executive Summit.

Pre-orders for iPhone 5 available down under

September 13, 2012

Australian retailer Kogan is already taking pre-orders for unlocked versions of the newly unveiled iPhone 5, according to an article on cnet.com.

New loyalty app lets customers 'walk-in to check-in'

September 13, 2012

LoyalBlocks, the first automated, mobile-based "walk-in to check-in" app for brick and mortar retailers and their customers, announced today the completion of…

Retail Top 100 2012, No. 47: Victoria's Secret

September 13, 2012

ShopKeep POS intros system integration for mobile payments

September 12, 2012

ShopKeep POS announced this week the company's plans to incorporate Dwolla and LevelUp mobile payments into its iPad POS solution. Dwolla and LevelUp will…

Splunk offers PCI compliance tool for retailers

September 12, 2012

Software maker Splunk Inc. is going after retailers with a new version of its PCI reporting and analysis application for businesses that want to accept credit…

Showrooming data not yet sufficient, article claims

September 12, 2012

An article in The Sydney Morning Herald regarding the growing discussion of retail showrooming cites the problems with junk research in analyzing the trend.

The ten commandments of networking

by Harvey Mackay — Author, Mackay Mitchell

1. I will not assume that the person with the credentials is the person with the power.

New customer experience mapping software announced

September 12, 2012

Touchpoint Dashboard LLC announced yesterday the release of its customer journey mapping software that gives companies insight as to how customers interact and…

Retail Top 100 2012, No. 48: Publix

September 12, 2012

Self-service kiosks could be financial savior for Michigan city

September 12, 2012

Grand Rapids, Mich., joins the growing list of local governments utilizing self-service kiosks to provide easier and more cost-effective access to certain…

Why Costco discounts postage stamps ... and why it matters

by Micah Solomon — president, four aces inc

A good equation for value is as follows: Value = Personal Benefit minus Cost and Inconvenience. But the "personal benefit" variable can easily override the…