Chocolate lounge invites customers to sit back and relax

February 4, 2008

Display & Design Ideas: In recent years, chocolatiers have picked up on consumers' fond sentiments for the cocoa bean and have begun opening chocolate…

Putting the 'world' in Wincor World

by Tracy Kitten — Editor, AMC

Steady growth, innovation mark German firm's annual self-service show.

Luxury consumer confidence hits all-time low

January 30, 2008

Display and Design Ideas: Luxury consumer confidence has never been lower, dropping 23.8 points from the third quarter to 63.6 points in the fourth quarter…

Shoe stores need new format to compete, says study

January 29, 2008

Design Week: Footwear retailers are suffering from high levels of competition from clothing chains, and should develop new store formats to catch up with…

Brand-sponsored events boost purchase intent

January 28, 2008

BrandWeek: A new survey shows in-person events can boost purchase intent by as much as 52 percent. According to the report, released this month by the…

Colleges moving into the retail business

January 27, 2008

The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star: The University of Mary Washington's recent foray into retail operations may be new for Fredericksburg, but it's part of a…

Office Depot adds customer product reviews to Web site

January 27, 2008

South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Delray Beach-based Office Depot, the world's second-largest office supply retailer, recently launched a new product review and…

Tesco plans department-style stores

January 23, 2008

Reuters: Tesco has plans to open multiple-level stores, revealing a new threat to store owners like Marks and Spencer and Debenhams. "Where land is premium we…

Interactivity 'the future of customer service'

January 22, 2008

Nikki Baird with Retail Systems Research identified three areas of investment that retailers have eyes on for the coming year: cross-channel care, mobility and…

NRF 08: emphasis on 'green'

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

Retail's Big Show saw a major emphasis on the environment.

HBO Shop named 2007 Store of the Year

January 20, 2008

Display & Design Ideas: The Gensler-designed HBO Shop was named the 2007 Store of the Year in the 36th annual Institute of Store Planners (ISP)/VM+SD…

Ben Stein speaks at NRF

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

Actor/economist gives state-of-the-economy address to retailers.

NRF board calls for economic stimulus

January 15, 2008

NEW YORK, N.Y. — The National Retail Federation Board of Directors has called on Congress and President Bush to enact legislation to stimulate the nation's…

Wal-Mart to open small-footprint grocery stores

January 15, 2008

The Arizona Republic: Just one month after Tesco opened its first smaller-scale Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, Wal-Mart Corp. is reportedly planning a…

Bookstore claims world's largest item-level RFID deployment

January 15, 2008

RFID Update: A new bookstore in Portugal uses RFID to track almost all merchandise in what it says is the world's largest item-level retail application in a…

IBM unveils results of new retail loyalty survey

January 13, 2008

NEW YORK — IBM unveiled a new survey of 19,000 U.S. consumers which found that across multiple retail segments, only 21 percent of consumers are advocates for…

ARTS releases SOA blueprint for retail

January 13, 2008

NEW YORK — The Association for Retail Technology Standards, the standards division of the National Retail Federation, announced the release of the SOA…

NRF 2008 opens in New York

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

January 13, 2008

NEW YORK — The National Retail Federation's 97th Annual Convention & Expo opened this morning at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Approximately 60…

Wincor Nixdorf bringing retail IT platform to the U.S.

January 10, 2008

AUSTIN, Texas — Wincor Nixdorf, supplier of IT solutions for the retail and banking industries, announced the U.S. introduction of its TP.net software…

Home Depot moving staff to days to improve customer service

January 10, 2008

Wall Street Journal: Home Depot Inc. plans to reassign overnight-shift employees to days at its lower volume stores, a change that puts more workers on the…