How Chevy wins at storytelling

by Jim Joseph — President, Lippe Taylor

For years now, those of us in marketing have been talking about storytelling ... wrapping your brand message into a compelling consumer story that will draw…

Crafting the perfect ambient scent for your stores via the 'six scent families'

More retail designers are now contemplating the role of scent in the customer experience.

SXSW: Retail innovation in the age of the customer

Discussions about how customers interact with brands gave way to how brands have a lot to learn from entrepreneurial retailers.

How and why price discounts impact customer experience

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

What are the odds that discounting your price is going to lead to a positive customer experience? It'll be interesting to see whether your reactions to the…

Six questions to get actionable feedback from customers

It's important to ask questions, but it's also easy to ask questions that lead the witness.

Voice for the customer: The impact of internal customer advocates

Customers need someone inside the organization who is constantly fighting on their behalf.

Choosing the right special effects for your brand's story

by Andrew Sharpe — Retail Strategist, BRANDSPANK

Last month I was in New York City for the National Retail Federation's (NRF) annual "Retail's BIG Show" conference. For those who have never attended this…

Clicks to bricks to clicks: Bringing curated commerce back into the store

Three ways retailers can imitate the online product curation model to create a boutique shopping experience.

Cibo acquires customer experience agency HYDRANT

February 20, 2014

Integrated brand experience agency Cibo recently announced the acquisition of HYDRANT, an established customer experience agency based in San Francisco. The…

Innovating under the Latin influence

by Arturo Nava — Managing Partner & Co-founder, Marketealo

Innovation is the life blood of any successful business; without it, companies cease to offer brands, products, services and experiences that delight their…

Retail customer satisfaction improves for a third consecutive year

Better customer service, discounting more than offsets a drop in customer satisfaction with online retail.

Why retailers need to keep a laser focus on the customer

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

I spent the first 15 years of my retail career in operations, i.e. working in and ultimately managing stores. Those years gave me invaluable first-hand…

To create mobile shopping traction, retailers should think beyond payment

SAP study finds that most U.S. consumers use smartphones and tablets for research, but not final purchases.

Five tips to make the most of your Valentine's Day retail experience

Only 54 percent of Americans are planning to celebrate Valentine's Day this year, compared to 60 percent last year.

H&M Conscious Foundation donates $9.3 million for clean water in schools

February 11, 2014

The H&M Conscious Foundation and the international non-profit WaterAid launched today a new global partnership for safe water and toilets in schools that…

Study shows top retailer websites are 31 percent bigger, 21 percent slower

February 11, 2014

Radware, a provider of application delivery and application security solutions for virtual and cloud data centers, today released a new study titled "State of…

Experience design can help architects design the retail store of the future

by Mike Wittenstein — Customer Experience and Service Designer, Storyminers

Top retail store design architects have long been creating spaces that are functional for the brand and the customer. With the added element that experience…

Big Lots is now the official Hostess outlet store

February 11, 2014

Hostess shut down its 600 thrift store outlets in the summer of 2013, but the brand announced it is reviving the concept by placing its overstock inventory in…

Five requirements for improving employee performance for store growth

by Chris Petersen — Owner, IMS

From the headlines coming out of last month's NRF Big Show, it was difficult to tell if retail stores were "running scared" of e-commerce, or very optimistic…

Victoria's Secret, Nike top retail brand engagement index

Brand Keys has published the results of its 2014 study of emotional loyalty and engagement in retail.