Holiday retail revenue up for the fourth consecutive year

January 8, 2014

Despite the shortened holiday season and extreme weather in many areas of the country in the weeks leading up to Christmas, retailers finished the 2013 holiday…

How real-life customer needs drive innovation

Customer experience innovation is all about looking for examples of what's working and what your customer really wants next.

Tablets and smartphones surge on shopping websites

January 7, 2014

Tablets and smartphones are gaining in popularity as a means for visiting shopping websites, accounting for a quarter of total visits, according to the…

Report says mobile retail purchases will exceed $700B annually by 2018

January 7, 2014

A new report from Juniper Research says that annual retail payments on mobile handsets and tablets are expected to reach $707 billion by 2018, representing 3…

Retail trends in customer experience for 2014

In 2014, the push for truly remarkable customer experiences will become even more intense.

Ten trends to watch for in 2014

by Doug Stephens — President, Retail Prophet Consulting

2013 was another year of incredible change in the retail industry. From economics and demographics to media and technology, disruption came at retailers from…

Report: Affluent adults are heavy Amazon users

January 3, 2014

New research from The Shullman Luxury and Affluence Monthly Pulse says that more than two-thirds of Americans making more than $250,000 per year have shopped…

Five predictions for customer experience in 2014

by Mike Wittenstein — Customer Experience and Service Designer, Storyminers

Happy near year! Here are five things that I believe will impact customer experience in the coming months:

The problem with 'Priced to sell'

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

Priced to Sell, an article that appeared in Bdaily Business News, touts the use of auctions to "achieve maximum value" from sales. According to the author…

Shorter shopping season cuts into online sales, comScore says

December 27, 2013

E-commerce spending from desktop computers is up 10 percent over a year ago, according to comScore. Shoppers spent $42.8 million during the first 52 days of…

Retailers hope day-after sales drive post-Christmas surge

December 26, 2013

You might wonder who has any energy left to go shopping. Retailers will find out today.

Three ways to improve local customer experiences during the post-holiday rush

For many retailers, the post-holiday rush can be just as challenging as the holiday shopping season.

Report says Millennials find holiday promotional 'games' deceitful and manipulative

December 20, 2013

It's an opportunity for progressive retailers to connect in a more relevant manner to a new generation of shopper. Consumer attitudes about holiday retail are…

Study says shopper satisfaction up 23 percent since 2008

December 20, 2013

Motorola Solutions has unveiled the results of its seventh annual Holiday Shopping Study which found that overall in-store satisfaction has grown 23 percent in…

Report suggests that private label, national brands must work together

December 18, 2013

About one year ago, Information Resources Inc. predicted that private label in the United States had hit a proverbial glass ceiling. This prediction has proven…

Eight in 10 retailers to end standard shipping deadlines before Dec. 20

December 18, 2013

It's the final stretch for holiday shoppers, and retailers are preparing for the ultimate shipping rush that's very likely to occur in the coming days.

Marketing budgets focused on increased customer engagement in 2014

December 18, 2013

New research from StrongView shows that marketers plan to increase their budgets on activities that increase customer engagement in 2014. However, according to…

Saying no, thank you, to bad customer relations

by Lisa Biank Fasig — Director, JZMcBride and Associates

Consumers today are accustomed to earning points for their purchases, but coins for being courteous? How Nice.

Declaring that you are omni-channel does not make it so

by Chris Petersen — Owner, IMS

You have to be living under a rock if you haven't seen the seismic shift in consumer shopping patterns. While US retailer stores did OK on Black Friday…

Kohl's, JCPenney, Nordstrom top Google's 2013 most-searched apparel brands and retailers list

December 17, 2013

Google's Zeitgeist feature, which lets users browse dozens of different interactive lists that detail online activity, offers up this year-end list of the…