Kagan: Early adopters gain competitive advantage

by Jeff KAGAN — Wireless Analyst, Telecom Industry Analyst

Jeff Kagan explains why timing your entry into new areas of retail payment technology is key. Early adopters get a competitive advantage yet they take the…

Evolve or die: This is the state of retail

The advent of digital has changed life as we know it, including the shopping experience. The state of retail is now evolve or die. The dogma of old school…

Factoring order fulfillment, returns into a peak season service strategy

As painful as it might seem to jump back into the peak season mindset, fortune tends to favor the prepared, so getting a head start and developing your…

Identifying the millennial 'tribes'

by Bradley Cooper — Editor, Connect Media

Media outlets often make the mistake of stereotyping millennials either as lazy, entitled, antiestablishment types who can’t stop taking selfies, or as clever…

When will retailers wake up and smell the CLV?

Peter Fader, professor of marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and co-founder of Zodiac, explains why a truly customer centric…

A look at trends taking over retail in 2017

To keep up with shopper expectations, it's more important than ever for retailers to enhance and integrate the physical and digital. As we move further into…

The future of retail: Thinking small

Leading retailers are beginning to make sweeping changes to keep up with consumer demands. In the past six months retailers like Amazon, Target and Kroger have…

4 ways to retain infrequent retail customers

As most business owners know, the cost of acquiring a new customer is much higher than retaining a current buyer. It's why companies put a lot of effort into…

Kagan: Fixing your app to improve customer experience

by Jeff KAGAN — Wireless Analyst, Telecom Industry Analyst

Bottom line, smartphone technology and apps are an incredible way to reach customers in new and creative ways. Use technology in new ways to give the customer…

Forget just selling products: Customer experience is king

In a world where anyone can whip up an e-commerce site and begin selling in a matter of hours, merely taking products to market just isn't good enough anymore.

Easing the pain of shipping: 5 tips to optimize shipping solutions

For many customers, online shopping is exciting (or, at the very least, more enjoyable than leaving the house to visit a store). Actually, receiving the…

Why a customer-centric retail model is key to beating digital competition

Rental car companies can effectively respond to competition by adopting the successful strategies and best practices digital retailers use to engage customers…

5 key distributor opportunities in an omnichannel world

by Chris Petersen — Owner, IMS

For today's consumers, omnichannel is their "new normal." They now shop and purchase anytime and everywhere. What this means for traditional retailers is that…

Why retail Is the ultimate social platform

The impulse to socialize at the market lives on — witness the late 20th century phenomenon of "hanging out at the mall," or the 21st century rise of farmers…

The art of balancing workplace automation

The buzz about bots is on the rise. No, not the all-knowing Isaac Asimov supercomputers. The 1-800-number variety that never seems to detect any urgency in the…

Amazon's Treasure Truck banking on retail consumer whimsy

by Judy Mottl — Editor: RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com, Connect Media

While the New York Times describes Amazon's Treasure Truck as another of Amazon's "puzzling retail experiments," it can be viewed as Amazon's continuing effort…

FastCasual's parent company launching FoodTruckOperator.com

by Cherryh Cansler — Publisher, FastCasual.com

Networld Media Group will launch FoodTruckOperator.com on April 1. It will cover industry trends and news, profile business owners and explore the technologies…

7 under-the-radar retail trends for 2017

by Bryan Pearson — President, LoyaltyOne

Will men and artificial intelligence define retail in 2017? Possibly. Considering the activities in retail today, several experts shared what unexpected trends…

Harnessing mobility in retail: 5 challenges to overcome

Retailers have a number of digital sales channels and a plethora of mobile marketing technologies to choose from. That said, when building a mobile marketing…

UX university: 4 retailers getting the user experience right

Customer loyalty requires more than offering a customer a free coffee every time they buy 10. There’s no middle ground any longer as user experience is key for…