Newsletter Articles
HANA and Her Sisters: A Rejuvenated SAP Looks Forward at Sapphire 2013
May 20, 2013
The most graphic way to describe the change in SAP expressed at Sapphire 2013 is to start from the end: co-CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe on the stage at the Amway arena introducing the “Celebration Night” concert (Bonnie Raitt, Martina McBride and Alan Jackson), arm-in-arm, dressed in jeans and clearly feeling no pain. [...]
Omni-Channel Strategy vs. Tactics: The Difference between Planning and Doing
May 20, 2013
Last week was probably the height of spring conference season, and I had my hands full with two conferences: Epicor Insights, the software company’s user conference, and Next Gen Retail, one of those business meeting “speed dating” events, put on by GDS International (for the record, RSR was the content/analyst partner for that event). The [...]
NetSuite SuiteWorld: Sweet? Sour?
May 20, 2013
I’d never been to Suiteworld before, NetSuite’s user conference in San Jose, CA. In fact, the show was a first for RSR. By the company’s own admission, it has a brand new focus on the retail market, and it showed. I’m really glad I went. What grabbed me most was founder Evan Goldberg’s day two [...]
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 [...]