Easing the pain of shipping: 5 tips to optimize shipping solutions

For many customers, online shopping is exciting (or, at the very least, more enjoyable than leaving the house to visit a store). Actually, receiving the…

Why a customer-centric retail model is key to beating digital competition

Rental car companies can effectively respond to competition by adopting the successful strategies and best practices digital retailers use to engage customers…

Engaging millennials: Value trumps message

Millennials aren't the only ones feeling overwhelmed by the barrage of advertisements. A 2016 HubSpot survey showed 91 percent of respondents feel today's ads…

Sorry Jim Cramer, malls won't ever be ghost towns

by Judy Mottl — Editor, RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com

During his flamboyant declarations about malls and their impending doom, Jim Cramer asks another financial analyst if he's been at a mall lately. The analyst…

Reinventing the in-store customer experience

In-store shopping has fallen on hard times. Many retail categories — such as electronics and music — have largely disappeared, victims to the convenience and…

Accounting for gift cards in the retail setting

While gift cards are popular they are also a very hot area of scrutiny with the IRS. And if retailers aren't calculating the gift card income adjustment, using…

5 key distributor opportunities in an omnichannel world

by Chris Petersen — Owner, IMS

For today's consumers, omnichannel is their "new normal." They now shop and purchase anytime and everywhere. What this means for traditional retailers is that…

Why retail Is the ultimate social platform

The impulse to socialize at the market lives on — witness the late 20th century phenomenon of "hanging out at the mall," or the 21st century rise of farmers…

The art of balancing workplace automation

The buzz about bots is on the rise. No, not the all-knowing Isaac Asimov supercomputers. The 1-800-number variety that never seems to detect any urgency in the…

The future of beacons and digital signage

Beacon technology has not been adopted by merchants as quickly as expected, yet changes to devices and strategy will spur 4.5 million active beacons in the…

Amazon's Treasure Truck banking on retail consumer whimsy

by Judy Mottl — Editor, RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com

While the New York Times describes Amazon's Treasure Truck as another of Amazon's "puzzling retail experiments," it can be viewed as Amazon's continuing effort…