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…

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…

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…

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…

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.

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…

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.

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…