RetailWire Discussion: Guys join the 'get out of shopping' club

Where does the shopping-averse and fashion-challenged male go for help? One answer is Trunk Club, a new online personal shopping service.

Designing a new experience — and putting fun back into retail

Now is a great time to design and launch a new customer experience — especially for brands feeling the pinch of commoditization.

Research: E-commerce hindered by lack of human assistance

A large number of respondents to a new survey indicate a lack of assistance affected their online purchasing decisions.

Discounting while preserving the brand

Why retailers need to focus on intelligent promotions, rather than across-the-board discounts.

Hands-on review: Best Buy's Twelpforce

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

The electronics retailer is using Twitter to connect customers to an army of tech experts. How well does it work?

Intelligent online marketing boosts purchases by 25 percent

Marketers must employ direct digital marketing strategies that demonstrate an understanding of how consumers use technology to make purchases.

How to catch male shoppers: Market to women

The men's grooming market is set to explode, and retailers can reach it more directly by marketing to women.

Opinion: Why customer satisfaction surveys don't work

With 95 percent of our cognitive processing handled by the subconscious, how much value is there in surveys that probe the other five percent?

What the Amazon/Zappos deal means for customers

Amazon has acquired Zappos.com in a deal that exceeds $800 million. From the customer's standpoint, is this a marriage made in retail heaven?

Amazon remotely deletes Kindle books that were legitimately purchased

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

In a move fraught with irony, the online bookseller has remotely removed copies of George Orwell books from paying customers' Kindles.

E-tail clinic: The new CircuitCity.com

The electronics retail brand has been revived online by Systemax — so what is it like for customers?

Eight tips for better retail brand messaging

A New York City ad agency lays out a process to ensure retail communications reach their full potential.

Amazon explores private label opportunity

The online giant, like many other retailers, is looking to strike gold with the introduction of a new private label line.

Fighting online shopping cart abandonment

While most e-commerce sites measure conversion, many do not take a structured and proactive approach to abandonment.

Loyalty segmentation needs to extend into the store

When front-line employees are left out of the loyalty process, points programs miss the point.

RetailWire Discussion: Most loyal customers aren't profitable

A recent Harvard Business Journal article suggests that few customers are profitable — and of the ones that are, most are not loyal.

Commentary: Online retail over-analyzed, 'stripped of all brand soul'

A brand consultant argues that too much emphasis on search engine optimization has diminished the online shopping experience.

Five viral marketing mistakes to avoid

There's a lot of buzz surrounding viral marketing — but retailers need to make sure to avoid these common missteps.

Netflix takes service outage, turns it into a customer service opportunity

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

Quick response and a proactive attitude turn what could have been a negative into a win for the brand.

The financial discipline of customer experience

For the retail CFO, customer experience needs to shift from a "nice to have" to a "must have."