Customer experience management 101: Identifying channels of communication

by Kimberly Nasief — President, Measure Consumer Perspectives

Customer experience management has changed, thanks to the digital age. Social media has changed the way businesses interact with their customers. No matter the…

The new 'super shopper' and the fate of bricks and mortar retail

Despite the mobile boom, 90 percent of consumers still embrace the physical store when making retail purchases.

Ignorance is expensive

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

A construction company complained that while revenues were up over 40%, their profits hadn't grown much at all. When asked who their ideal customer is, they…

Mobile retail lags behind Web-based in customer experience, index shows

September 14, 2012

Customer experience analytics provider ForeSee released yesterday the ForeSee Mobile Satisfaction Index: Retail Edition, which creates a benchmark for customer…

Back-to-school shoppers boost August sales, slightly

September 14, 2012

According to recent calculations from the National Retail Federation, August retail sales had a boost from back-to-school shoppers.

Showrooming data not yet sufficient, article claims

September 12, 2012

An article in The Sydney Morning Herald regarding the growing discussion of retail showrooming cites the problems with junk research in analyzing the trend.

New customer experience mapping software announced

September 12, 2012

Touchpoint Dashboard LLC announced yesterday the release of its customer journey mapping software that gives companies insight as to how customers interact and…

Why Costco discounts postage stamps ... and why it matters

by Micah Solomon — president, four aces inc

A good equation for value is as follows: Value = Personal Benefit minus Cost and Inconvenience. But the "personal benefit" variable can easily override the…

Report: Retailers still conservative about investing in mobile

September 11, 2012

Retailers remain prudent in their financial investments when it comes to mobile objectives, showing tempered future plans for spending on mobile and tablet…

Fed policy hinders home sales

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

The Federal Reserve governors' decisions to keep mortgage rates artificially low are hindering new home sales. Sound crazy? Isn't it true that lower interest…

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…