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?

The missing link in retail customer experience

by Chris Petersen — Owner, IMS

As I make my rounds teaching Retail University around the world, one of the most asked questions is "how do we transform customer experience in retail stores?…

Price increases leading to more spending on back-to-school shopping

July 31, 2012

Consumers' days of cutting back-to-school spending are behind them, according to Deloitte's annual "Back-to-School" survey.

RCE Podcast episode 5: Amazon profits plummet, more JC Penney news, and whether 'Made in America' still matters

Amazon made an awful lot of money in the second quarter - but kept only a fraction of it. We run the numbers in this episode, then talk about all of the news…

NRF releases infographic with top back-to-school trends for 2012

July 26, 2012

The National Retail Federation has released a new infographic filled with data relative to the upcoming back-to-school season.

Macy's novel approach to rolling out mobility in 800 stores

by Chris Petersen — Owner, IMS

Unless you have been living under a rock lately, you'll know that showrooming is one of the hottest topics in retailing. Consumers are increasingly using their…

Five ways to lose your Facebook business page fans

by Bob Phibbs — CEO, The Retail Doctor

Creating a Facebook business page for your small business and then growing your fan base has become a focus for many businesses and has the potential to be a…

RCE Podcast episode 4: Mobile retail marketing and Walmart's innovative approach to back-to-school

The mobile phone brings with it an almost infinite array of possibilities for retail marketers, but new innovations bring new concerns about ethical marketing…

Forecast: Women's clothing sales, online chatter about discounts to surge in Q3

July 19, 2012

In-store sales of women's clothing are expected to see a 9.2 percent increase in the third quarter of 2012, according to a just-released IBM analytics-based…

Commentary: Paying attention to the Retail Rule of Six

Loyal customers are six times more likely to rebuff competitive offers, especially price-based offers.

Charming CHARLIE adds in-store experience analytics tool

July 18, 2012

ForeSee, a customer experience analytics company, has announced that it will measure and analyze the in-store customer experience for Charming CHARLIE.