A little consumer play time could help brands boost engagement

January 9, 2013

With traditional forms of advertising losing effectiveness, improving customer engagement has become the target strategy for many retailers. According to an…

Blog lists 6 tips for store layout design

January 4, 2013

The layout of a retail store can have significant impact on sales and customer experience, a fact well-known to retailers (take Apple's recent application to…

The Retail Revival has begun!

by Doug Stephens — President, Retail Prophet Consulting

In retail, size matters

January 2, 2013

It may seem like there is nothing small about big-box retailer Costco, but a recent article on forbesindia.com pointed out a psychological paradox that could…

Time lists top holiday retail trends

December 28, 2012

Time.com compiled a list of the top 10 retail trends from the 2012 holiday shopping season, giving a glimpse at the current state of shoppers. Here is a sample…

How Wegmans, Apple Store and Ritz-Carlton empower employees to offer best-in-class service

One simple secret behind their success is so simple, so basic, that most brands and businesses fail to grasp its importance.

Report: Online holiday shopping sales up 15.2 percent

December 27, 2012

2012 marked another strong season for e-commerce retail, according to the Chase Holiday Pulse, which aggregates payment processing data from 50 of Chase…

Lowest-price e-commerce hurts shopper loyalty

December 21, 2012

The rise of e-commerce and the hunt for the lowest prices is causing once-loyal shoppers to abandon allegiance to certain stores, according to an article on…

More Americans self-gifting while holiday shopping

December 20, 2012

According to an article on washingtonpost.com, Americans are doing more and more holiday shopping for themselves, as data over the last decade show, even as…

Study shows the right sounds and smells will make shoppers spend

December 19, 2012

Retailers can start factoring in shoppers' senses when figuring out how to increase dwell time. A new study by Washington State University researchers has…

Amazon's FreeTime Unlimited geared toward kids with Kindles

December 19, 2012

Amazon has lured in adults with its Amazon Prime subscription service and is now setting its sights on children. FreeTime Unlimited is "part streaming media…

Motorola releases shopper insight survey

December 19, 2012

Findings from the Motorola Solutions annual holiday shopper study highlighted the impact on the shopper experience across various age demographics.

Cookies and the key to success in retail

by Doug Stephens — President, Retail Prophet Consulting

For the holidays I took my friends, clients and business colleagues cookies. I bought them from a small coffee house and bakery in Toronto called Le Gourmand …

Outhouses and QR codes: Never assume the norm

by Jeff Weidauer — Vice President, Marketing & Strategy, Vestcom International, Inc.

New research from the NPD Group shows that nearly 100 million people (or about half of Internet users) listened to music online in the past three months. No…

Predictable results

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

In the world of pricing, results are more predictable than we might think. Recently a Fortune 500 marketing professional told me that his company had changed…

Under the Radar: Ten emerging marketing trends

Loyalty programs are becoming a commodity due to their ubiquity and lack of creative differentiation.

Commentary: The facts about card-linked incentives

A retailer's most loyal customers spend $1.44 with competitors for every $1.00 spent with them.

Analyst: Microsoft's retail strategy 'absolutely stinks'

December 17, 2012

Over at The Street, Rocco Pendola isn't pulling punches when he talks about visiting a pop-up Microsoft Store in Times Square this weekend, which he said was…

Report: Social integration drives consumer engagement, trust

December 17, 2012

Research firm Mass Relevance has released a new research study that quantifies the impact of social integration on customer engagement, brand preference and…

Web outages are costly nightmares for retailers

December 14, 2012

The days between Thanksgiving and Christmas mean big money for retailers, and with the increase in online shopping revenue, glitches in a retailer's website…