Gender inequality may be decreasing for menswear

September 7, 2012

In perhaps what is one of the few gender wars won by women, retail is now trying to close the gap and offer fashion equality to men. 

Vibes releases mobile consumer report

September 6, 2012

The mobile marketing and technology company Vibes announced today the release of its first annual Vibes Mobile Consumer Report that provides retail brands with…

How to increase demand, counter-intuitively

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

A July 30, 2012 Reuters report stating that "Two of the country's major airlines, Kingfisher and state-owned Air India, are reducing capacity, which helped…

Back to school shopping drives retail revenue up 11 percent

September 5, 2012

U.S. consumers took advantage of back to school shopping this summer, according to findings from IBM. Over the months of July and August sales grew by 1…

The reality of retail therapy

September 4, 2012

Retail therapy could be the result of a mental disorder where people become addicted to shopping, according to an article in The Atlantic.

RCE Podcast episode 9: Inside the leaked Apple Genius training manual

An alarming new report suggests that a large number of shoppers would leave a bricks-and-mortar store and place an order online instead, if they stood to save…

The power of Pinterest to drive online sales

August 30, 2012

Recent studies on the selling power of Pinterest compared to Facebook and Twitter showed that the more recent social networking site does not have much of an…

JCP spurring Macy's profitability?

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

In his August 8, 2012 New York Post article, "Macy's profit climbs 16%," James Covert states "[Macy's] Profit rose 16% as the New York-based retailer continued…

Apple Genius training manual reveals sales secrets

August 29, 2012

A leaked copy of Apple's Genius Training student workbook was examined in an article on gizmodo.com this week, and the contents were extensively revealing of…

Survey: Shoppers still careful about spending

August 23, 2012

A survey done by RetailMeNot.com, an online coupon site, found that more than seven in 10 consumers (71 percent) have a dismal view of the economy, and one in…

Which retail brands do a good job at pricing?

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

Some days, despite your best intentions, you fumble the ball. Such was the case at the Retail Customer Experience Executive Summit when I was asked "Who [among…

NRF: School, college shoppers still have a lot left to buy

August 16, 2012

Even though they began shopping for back-to-school and college items earlier than ever this year, families with school and college-aged students as of Aug. …

When will the penny finally drop for J.C. Penney's Ron Johnson?

J.C. Penney showed a big 2Q 2012 loss, down another 23 percent, which is much bigger than expected.

The most common mistake made during a customer experience change, and how to overcome it

by Colin Shaw — Founder & CEO, Beyond Philosophy

I was once called into see a new client who had a problem they wanted to discuss: "We undertook research about 18 months ago on how we could improve our…

Everything that's wrong with retail summed up in one question

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

During my presentation last week at the Retail Customer Experience Executive Summit, a question was asked that sums up everything that's wrong with retail…

How to get your customers to picture regret

by Bob Phibbs — CEO, The Retail Doctor

I was speaking at the Sturbridge Inn & Convention Center recently and had to print something at the business center. A guy was on the one computer checking…

July sees increase in retail sales

August 6, 2012

American retailers reported a sales increase in July, after three months of lower than expected sales. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that discounts and…

RCE Podcast episode 6: The Chick-fil-A debacle and how retail is becoming more political

Wednesday's "appreciation day" set sales records at Chick-fil-A, and polarized an awful lot of people in the process. Meanwhile, other retailers have come out…

Retailers mining data to offer tailored customer experiences

August 2, 2012

New software is available to help retailers figure out what makes consumers buy rather than browse.

JCPenney: Not a pricing failure

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

There's a lot of talk about JCP's failed pricing strategy, but is it really the pricing that's off?