Newsletter Articles
JDA Wants to Change the World
May 13, 2013
As I sat down to write this article, I thought back to how long I’ve known JDA. I can’t attest that I’ve attended Focus, JDA’s user conference, for ten years, but I have certainly known the company as a retail analyst for that long. I haven’t always agreed with the directions JDA has taken over [...]
NRHA 2013 Young Retailer Awards: ‘It’s A Nobile Business’
May 13, 2013
One of the things that I have found satisfying about spending all these years in-and-around retail is that at its essence it’s an “honest business”. People (usually) don’t buy things that they don’t want. Even though I was a career retail technologist and usually fairly removed from the gritty details of day-to-day store operations, I [...]
Business Challenges in Today’s Store
May 13, 2013
Our brand new store report has just released, and it provides stunning clarity into how retailers plan to help bring their largest investments back to life. As the stores try to find their way in a brand new digital world, we asked retailers to candidly share their experiences. The best performers have a vastly different [...]
Four Big Cross-Channel Questions
May 6, 2013
Last week I fielded an inquiry about the biggest questions retailers are asking in cross-channel right now, and I figured the answer was worth sharing. So here are the top questions that I hear retailers currently asking about their omni-channel strategies and/or operations. These are the “big” questions, mind you, not the tactics. What is [...]
Who Says the Store is Dead? Whole Foods Market Theater Comes to North Miami
May 6, 2013
This year, for the first time, I’m not co-authoring RSR’s annual store benchmark report. Of course, the report is in great hands with Nikki and Steve, and having seen an early draft, I can tell you it’s going to be good! But “store benchmark season” always brings the question to mind, “Is the store dead?” [...]
Sneak Peek at Our Newest Store Report
May 6, 2013
As Paula notes, the 2013 Store Report is being written by Nikki and I this year. And while all three of us are currently at JDA’s Focus Conference in Orlando (expect a full write-up to follow next week), we’ve had plenty of chance to discuss some of its most key findings in our conversations here: [...]
The CEO as Rock Star: My Evolving Mindset
April 30, 2013
When politicians say their opinion on a particular subject has “evolved” you know you’re about to hear a complete flip-flop. I suppose it’s easier than saying “I was wrong.” Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of a CEO in retail. It’s only natural, really. We’ve seen the [shocking] debacle of Ron Johnson [...]
US Retail, EMV, NFC, and Mobile: Opportunity or Disaster?
April 30, 2013
Last week I attended the CARTES North America conference. It is an event focused more directly on credit card issuers and the technologies that support them. So what was I doing there? Well, increasingly it seems that the future these industry players are building will have direct impact on how retailers engage with customers, and [...]
More on Next-Gen Payments: Digital Vouchers
April 30, 2013
RSR partner Nikki Baird’s column this week (US Retail, EMV, NFC, and Mobile: Opportunity or Disaster?) talks about U.S. retailers’ apparent lethargy when it comes to next-gen payments. It’s a topic that we both know about, having co-authored RSR’s recent benchmark of the state of next-gen payments in retail. I can’t say it any better [...]
Global Retailing Conference: ‘Everything Is Retail’
April 23, 2013
The Global Retailing Conference, hosted by the University of Arizona Terry J. Lundgren Center For Retailing, is a concentrated dive into the state of retailing from the perspective of the executive suite. The conference is both a gathering place for business leaders from throughout the industry, and a teaching opportunity; in addition to all the [...]