Sony moves to common pricing

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

Sony's CEO, Phil Molyneux, announced a move to common pricing beginning April 1, 2012. What is common pricing? More importantly, what is the impetus for this…

Gamers must shop Walmart for full Angry Birds Space experience

March 22, 2012

Players of the newest Angry Birds game, Angry Birds Space, must go through Walmart to unlock the game's first round of bonus content, according to a story on…

Undressing an online loyalty trend

by Phaedra Hise — Senior Editor, COLLOQUY

Flash-sales online retailer Gilt recently announced that it would be offering discounts based on users' Klout scores. It's all very sexy, using online media to…

Angry Birds crashing into retail shelves

March 21, 2012

Angry Birds will be flying to retail shelves nationwide, now that the game’s creator Rovio has partnered with a major U.S. retail chain to put its branded…

Coinstar counting on new kiosk concepts to expand footprint

Movie rentals and coin counting aren't the only markets Coinstar hopes to dominate.

NRF: Easter sales to exceed $16 billion

March 20, 2012

Americans will shell out an average of $145.28 on everything from apparel and candy to food and decorations this year, up 11 percent from $131.04 last year…

The dangers of competitive pricing intelligence

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

Many businesses, particularly larger businesses, feel that competitive pricing intelligence is essential to their success. Is that true? Or will their…

Is Klout the new credit score?

by Doug Stephens — President, Retail Prophet Consulting

Celebrities have long been known to receive special treatment. The best seats in the house, front of the line access to the hippest clubs and healthy discounts…

Deadline for NRF 'This is Retail' video contest is Friday

March 15, 2012

The National Retail Federation (NRF) is hoping its video contest will spark interest in the retail industry, which supports one in four American jobs.

Museums increasing branding with upscale stores

March 15, 2012

The gift shop inside New York's Museum of Arts and Design feels more like a trendy place to shop than a museum store, thanks to Franci Sagar's creativity…

Video game retailers merge to dominate Canadian market

March 15, 2012

Play N Trade, the world's largest video game retail franchisor, is expanding in Canada through a merger with Canadian-based Dimensions Games Corporation.

Follow-up for success

by Doug Fleener — President and Managing Partner, Dynamic Experiences Group, LLC

A few years ago I presented a seminar to around one hundred retailers. These people run stores whose products have a fairly high price point; they often offer…

Gap's marketing strategy may be a mistake

March 14, 2012

Gap, which successfully marketed to young adults in the 1990s with classic khakis and swing-dancing ads, is hoping that demographic will again buy into its…

NBC's Fashion Star puts winning designs in-store the next day

Macy's, H&M and Saks will sell the reality show's best designs.

Why you should never ask customers how much they're looking to spend

by Harry Friedman

You go shopping. You're looking for a gift. A salesperson, trying to deter­mine what merchandise to show you, asks, "How much do you want to spend?" You say…

Report: Mobile promotions trump brand loyalty for consumers shopping in grocery, drug stores

March 12, 2012

The "Mobile Shopping Survey Series, Part 2: CPG Shopping Behavior" – the second in a three-part series on smartphone owners' in-store experiences sponsored by…

The dangers of cost-plus pricing

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

In the early years of my consulting work I picked up a client that had been losing money for two consecutive years and was experiencing severe cash flow…

Psychological secrets of Gen Y shoppers revealed

March 9, 2012

Retailers learned how best to market to Gen Y shoppers this week at the 2012 Shopper Marketing Forum. Consumer psychologist and author Kit Yarrow, PhD.…

Ford's options – when stock revs up workers

by Lisa Biank Fasig — Director, JZMcBride and Associates

As a former shareholder of Ford Motor Co. who benefited handsomely from my two-year investment, I should not be one to criticize the payouts enjoyed by the…

The four benefits of multi-channel retailing

Multi-channel retailing offers plenty of benefits to retailers, benefits that make investing in the strategy worthwhile.