The future of retail: Thinking small

Leading retailers are beginning to make sweeping changes to keep up with consumer demands. In the past six months retailers like Amazon, Target and Kroger have…

Humanizing the retail experience: Experiential shopping lives offline

These are the days of sharing, group think and the herd mentality… who knew the 90s-era mall rats, a generation of teens known for simply hanging out in…

4 ways to retain infrequent retail customers

As most business owners know, the cost of acquiring a new customer is much higher than retaining a current buyer. It's why companies put a lot of effort into…

Loyalty marketing in a Trumpian world

Brands associating and disassociating with a polarizing President are going to tap into at least some of that emotion. So as a brand leader, it’s imperative…

Forget just selling products: Customer experience is king

In a world where anyone can whip up an e-commerce site and begin selling in a matter of hours, merely taking products to market just isn't good enough anymore.

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

by Judy Mottl — Editor: RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com, Connect Media

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…

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…

Amazon's Treasure Truck banking on retail consumer whimsy

by Judy Mottl — Editor: RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com, Connect Media

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…

Donald Trump, Nordstrom, Ivanka Trump: How politics now play into the retail customer experience

by Judy Mottl — Editor: RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com, Connect Media

In simple terms, social media and the internet have given consumers the loudest and biggest mouthpiece to project their views and feelings and actions. But it…

The 1 thing forgotten at the world’s largest retail event

There is no doubt, that in the current age, information is critical. When everything online is connected to a cloud and data is accessible in real time…

7 under-the-radar retail trends for 2017

by Bryan Pearson — President, LoyaltyOne

Will men and artificial intelligence define retail in 2017? Possibly. Considering the activities in retail today, several experts shared what unexpected trends…

2017 & beyond: Prognostications for retail technology

Shopper behavior and expectations have clearly changed and become more sophisticated. Retail stores need to evolve to meet consumer demands, and the influence…

Customer success is the key to business growth

Typically the responsibility for customer service is split amongst various in-house teams and there is no overarching coordinated system to manage it. A…

5 key success factors for 'omnichannel as the new normal'

by Chris Petersen — Owner, IMS

Chris H. Petersen explains why assorting the hottest products is not enough to win today's consumers.

Convenience for retail consumers will demand innovation in 2017

2016 was an interesting year in retail. Many established brands died a bricks and mortar death. While many thought this signaled the demise of the physical…

How Macy's, Target tap devices for the holidays

by Bryan Pearson — President, LoyaltyOne

Here's a reason for retailers to be "appy" this holiday season: Purchases made on mobile apps more than doubled in 2015, to nearly $50 billion. We look at…

Horseshoes, hand grenades and location data?

Gil Larsen, VP of the Americas at Blis, says retailers either win or don't - unless you're playing horse shoes or chucking hand grenades, neither of which many…

With omnichannel the devil is in the data

Retailers (and their suppliers) must leverage the omnichannel network to stay relevant and harness these rich cross-channel opportunities.

Black Friday: Gimmick, gone or more relevant than ever?

by Judy Mottl — Editor: RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com, Connect Media

Is Black Friday relevant, needed, necessary, or even a valuable marketing opportunity, or has it become a gimmick in the retailer's quest to grab consumers…