Image
June 2023
05 Jun
How Generative AI Is Reinventing Retail
Generative AI is already creating countless new opportunities for retailers and consumer brands.
May 2023
31 May
Five Questions to Consider Before Creating an EV Charging Program
A decade from now, transportation as we know it will be barely recognizable — and the opportunity for businesses to benefit is clear.
24 May
Donating Goods: A Sustainable, Socially Responsible Solution to Excess Inventory
The retail industry is facing an excess inventory crisis.
05 May
Create reliable customer experiences in an unreliable world
I’ve long been fascinated by “retrofuturism," an art style that showcases past visions of how the future would evolve.
Apr 2023
27 Apr
Retail’s Reinvention: Resetting Store Strategies to Drive Future Growth
During the pandemic, retailers started to wonder what kind of role the physical store still had to play.
25 Apr
Supply chain innovation could boost the retail labor force
Of the many challenges retailers continue to grapple with — high costs of goods, transit, managing out-of-stocks and more — the labor shortage could be the most worrisome.
21 Apr
Leveraging New Supply Chain Law to Increase Sales and Lower Costs
It has been nearly a year since U.S.
13 Apr
Businesses go direct-to-consumer -core retail principles remain king
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) used to be a specific retail segment, but now all brands, including traditional B2B brands (the ones selling at your local grocery store, superstore or toy store), are getting in the game.
12 Apr
How closed loop systems are key to a sustainable future
You may have noticed that the term "sustainability" has become a big buzzword these days.
12 Apr
Three strategies to help brands thrive in an ‘up and down’ economy
Inflation is a persistent issue that is impacting consumers and businesses alike.
11 Apr
Why speciality retailers digitally onboard and upskill frontline teams
As every retailer knows, consumers are getting smarter.
04 Apr
Why a Responsible Reset Will Drive Retail’s Reinvention on the Path to Growth
Retail has faced many curveballs over the past two years.
03 Apr
Designing Brick and Mortar for the Digital Age
The digital age and all of today’s advancements in e-commerce have prompted us to adapt quickly — especially when it comes to the shopping experience.
Mar 2023
21 Mar
How Software Can Mitigate Weather-Related Supply Chain Disruptions
In recent years the supply chain has been challenged by port backups, factory closures, material shortages, and labor and driver shortages.
20 Mar
What retail media networks tell us about the future of the industry
Does it feel like you’re seeing more sponsored product recommendations on your go-to e-commerce platforms lately?
14 Mar
How Amazon sellers can seamlessly diversify their sales channels
It’s no secret that Amazon is a behemoth in the digital marketplace.
10 Mar
The benefits of automated repricing strategies in food retailing
Up to one-third of all food produced is lost or wasted, leading to inequalities in food availability and impacting food cost.
09 Mar
Is Ship Congestion Finally Easing Up?
Since early 2020, the U.S. has grappled with disruptions in the international supply chain, much of which was a direct result of the Covid pandemic.
07 Mar
Why retailers are embracing fixed CAM costs
Common area maintenance clauses in leases always created headaches. Now both retailers and landlords are finding relief with fixed price arrangements.
07 Mar
How Companies Can Prevent Retail Policy Abuse
Amid economic uncertainty, consumers are adjusting shopping habits accordingly.
01 Mar
The 5 steps all retailers must now take with their leases
It's official: ASC 842’s implementation is here.
01 Mar
Fortifying Your Retail Operations in the Face of Growing Cyber Threats
In today’s fast-paced retail and consumer industry, the shift towards hybrid shopping is rapidly changing the way retailers do business.
Feb 2023
27 Feb
Reacting to Consumer Behavior During Times of Economic Uncertainty
If we’ve learned anything in the past few years, it’s that there will always be unpredictable external forces.
24 Feb
Combating Retail Ghosting: How Digital Tools Drive Worker Retention
Retail employees are quitting the industry in droves.
23 Feb
The Role of IoT Connectivity During an Economic Downturn
The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) adoption in retail is opening new pathways to business resilience at a time when it’s needed most.
17 Feb
How to Improve the Reverse Logistics Process for Better Outcomes
The ever-growing popularity of online shopping has also dramatically increased the number of returns retailers need to mitigate.
01 Feb
How to Move Post-Holiday Excess Inventory — And Maintain Brand Value
Rising inflation and fears of a recession present a challenging environment for retailers in the first quarter of 2023.
Jan 2023
27 Jan
Business Outlook for Retailers
Businesses navigated a choppy and challenging 2022 by being nimble, creative, and disciplined.
24 Jan
Analysis: Retail Outlook 2023
After two years of frenetic activity fueled by a post-pandemic recovery, retailers are expected to confront a tougher operating environment in 2023.
23 Jan
Insight: Supply Chain Protected From Layoffs
Tech layoffs are dominating the headlines with cuts from major companies including Meta, Amazon, Cisco and Twitter due to attempts to save costs.
20 Jan
Why cameras are ideal for frictionless shopping
Online shopping and tap-to-pay methods have slowly introduced shoppers to the future of tech-powered retail, prioritizing convenience and contactless efficiency.
Dec 2022
13 Dec
Five Reasons to Adopt Smart Warehouse Management
Technology is getting smarter all the time, and the solutions in your warehouse should not be an exception.
11 Dec
Why returns fraud should be a top priority within loss prevention
Organized retail crime (ORC) is on the rise across all channels.
05 Dec
How to Use Intelligent Clustering as a Competitive Advantage
Finding a balance between providing shoppers the products they want and the cost of doing so is key to success in retail.
04 Dec
Loss Prevention Is Bigger Than Shrink
Retailers have been combating theft and shrink for as long as there have been goods to sell.
01 Dec
How Business Process Outsourcers Can Make the Holidays Merry for Retailers
The holiday rush offers retailers the opportunity to add some much-needed revenue to their books.
Nov 2022
30 Nov
From Meta: Four Creative Strategies to Set Your Online Holiday Campaign Apart
The holidays are the noisiest time of year for businesses and shoppers alike.
28 Nov
Omnichannel customer retention is critical as in-store traffic returns
During the COVID-19 pandemic, shoppers flocked to e-commerce amid lockdowns and concerns of exposure.
20 Nov
Resolving excess inventory over the holiday season—and beyond
With the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic—and its social and economic side effects—seemingly behind us, retailers are anxious to rebound during what we can expect to be the most robust holiday shopping season in three years.
20 Nov
Holiday Hiring is the ‘Storm of the Century’
With the aftereffects of “The Great Resignation” looming like a winter storm cloud, hiring and retention continues to pose a major challenge.
17 Nov
Luxury lives on Fifth Avenue, Rodeo Drive...and off I-270 in Columbus?
One of Ohio’s fastest-growing metros is the center of a Midwest expansion embarked upon by leading luxury brands.
10 Nov
The Five Most Common Social Commerce Mistakes and How To Fix Them
Social media is where customers spend 2.5 hours each day on average.
03 Nov
Technology Solutions Can Help Deter Retail Theft this Holiday Season
The holidays are fast approaching and in the air, there’s a feeling of shopping.
02 Nov
Using Automation to Solve The Labor Shortage
In the wake of the pandemic, the health of the retail sector has quickly recovered.
01 Nov
Enhancing In-Store Experiences with Music, Scent and Visuals
Experiences have always been the driving force behind retail, and yet many brands still struggle to understand and implement this transformation in today’s new economy.
Oct 2022
25 Oct
A Bit of Tech Goes a Long Way In-Store
The world of retail has leaned into technology and it has subsequently transformed the entire shopping experience.
19 Oct
Expert Commentary: Update on U.S. ports
Port congestion around the U.S. is continuing to cause issues with the global supply chain.
13 Oct
Analysis: Data is the real gold in the Kroger-Albertsons deal
Kroger’s $24.6 billion deal to buy Albertsons would change the U.S. grocery landscape, creating a mega grocery chain.
12 Oct
Secondary market goods help holiday shoppers beat inflation
As consumers continue to face consistently high inflation, discretionary spending will be far less this holiday season than in years past.
03 Oct
Take a New ‘Jobs to be Done’ Approach for Adopting AI
Although interest in artificial intelligence has come and gone in the past, market experts believe it is here to stay.
Sep 2022
27 Sep
2022 Holiday Season Will Look Very Different: Five things retailers need to know
The popular holiday tune, “It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas” hits differently for retailers this year.
14 Sep
Holiday Predictions 100 Days Out
This year could bring one of the earliest kick-offs to peak trading season ever, with customers in a determined mindset to buy.
14 Sep
Why shopping center developers must continue to be innovators
The social element, not the shopping opportunity, is what must drive today’s retail centers
08 Sep
Trends shaping supply chain sustainability (SCS) in 2022 and beyond
According to the EPA, supply chains often account for more than 90% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
07 Sep
How can brick-and-mortar retailers compete against e-commerce brands?
E-commerce is sweeping the global markets at an extremely fast pace.
05 Sep
How Stores Can Work Harder: Seeing threats as opportunities for change
When it comes to threats, avoidance isn’t an option.
Aug 2022
29 Aug
How not to bungle layoffs and become a viral sensation
They don’t teach how to conduct layoffs in college or graduate school.
25 Aug
Peak Season: Meeting Holiday Demands Amid Stressed Supply Chain
Many shippers and manufacturers have started to work on their supply chains to get inventory over to the U.S. sooner.
22 Aug
Analysis: Is Bed, Bath & Beyond Headed to Bankruptcy?
As predicted, retailers are struggling now that the historic government aid packages during the COVID-19 pandemic have ceased.
18 Aug
Digitalization gives retailers essential tools to combat inflation
In June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that over the last year prices surged, exemplifying a key post-pandemic challenge facing retailers.
16 Aug
The next era of DTC is ‘direct-to-community’
As we begin to emerge from the pandemic, one of the most important learnings about commerce is that people want to shop their values and build more genuine relationships with businesses.
14 Aug
Consumers reimagine retail shopping
It’s no surprise that online shopping for goods and services reached an all-time high during the pandemic.
11 Aug
The Future is Electric: What retailers need to know about adding EV charging stations
Despite the tremendous gains made by e-commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic, brick-and-mortar locations remain a critical part of Americans’ shopping habits.
04 Aug
Retailers Should Look to QSRs for Inspiration
Regardless of how you study the competition, I urge everyone to watch quick-service restaurants/fast-food restaurants. If you are not, you are missing some critically important information.
01 Aug
Making Stores Work Harder: The Power of a Small-Format Strategy
It has been 20 years since The Home Depot introduced plans for a smaller format store. Its intention was to address urban areas where their traditional store concept wouldn’t fit.
July 2022
28 Jul
Three ways to show love to your loyal customers
If the in-store experience is not up-to-par with the competition, customers will reconsider their loyalty.
26 Jul
First party misuse: The hidden cost of the e-commerce boom
We’ve all been there. We open our account statement only to find a transaction we don’t recognize from a merchant we don’t remember.
25 Jul
How Web 3.0 will challenge centralized data
In the Web 2.0 era, a handful of behemoth retailers dominated data collection and unification based primarily on online and in-app shopping behaviors.
24 Jul
Checkout has 99 problems…and speed is only one
Checkout abandonment is currently a $4 trillion problem for retailers.
04 Jul
How grocers are adapting to shoppers’ omnichannel fluidity
With COVID-19 having forced even reluctant grocers to operationalize e-commerce, it seems that the industry has finally reached an omnichannel tipping point.
June 2022
30 Jun
Reimagining the role of store associates in a digital world
A friend of mine recently walked into the nursery department of a major home improvement store to look for a specific plant.
26 Jun
The Pandemic Did Not End City Life
When the pandemic began, many assumed that there would be a mass exodus from urban centers.
23 Jun
Everything Points to the Sunbelt as Next Center for E-commerce
Are you wondering where the next big boom in e-commerce will be?
23 Jun
Unpacking the generational variance affecting retail
Walk into any shopping center, restaurant, or convenience store, and you’re sure to experience some degree of inconvenience that can almost always be traced back to COVID-19.
22 Jun
The role of supply chain management in a successful BOPIS offering
The COVID-19 has pandemic flipped retail on its head.
21 Jun
Headless commerce is not as scary as it seems
The term “headless commerce” can seem daunting.
21 Jun
Prioritizing Safety to Increase Employee Satisfaction
Employee satisfaction and retention have never been more important.
20 Jun
Protecting Brand Loyalty When Last Mile Delivery of Large Items Fails
Consumers today have high expectations. Not only do they want the best price, they also gravitate towards retailers that deliver fast.
20 Jun
Leveraging AI-powered pricing increases margins in high inflation
In this period of high inflation, retailers will be challenged with razor-thin margins – which only continue to shrink.
14 Jun
How retailers and brands can support a circular economy
Sustainability matters to retail shoppers.
09 Jun
What retailers need to know about hiring minors this summer
As summer approaches, retailers may be looking at staffing options they did not consider before the current worker shortage.
07 Jun
Retailers’ Response to Social Issues Can Make or Break Their Reputations
Consumers and other stakeholders are putting their money where their morals are and expect the chains and brands they do business with to do the same.
06 Jun
Four small inventory management tweaks that can have a big impact
Accurate inventory management requires a significant investment of time and money.
05 Jun
Precision pricing: How retailers should act on inflation data
The data is not monolithic. Retailers should understand inflation trends more granularly.