The next logical step for category management
Recent radical changes in shopper behavior are putting pressure on category management practices to further adapt to the new dynamics of retail. How should reta...
How should retailers reinvent the center store?
For the past decade or more, supermarkets and their brand partners have frantically worked to devise new incentives to lure the shopper to center store. But any...
What does it take to thrive in an over-stored marketplace?
The over-storing of America is perhaps the most immediate and imposing problem facing retailers. Retailers need a radical change of focus and success metrics ai...
Why in-store merchandising has to change
At fixture and merchandising plan meetings attended over thirty-plus years, discussions centered on logistics and space availability, but there was little or no...
Is brick & mortar ready to leverage in-store shopper data?
Unlike their online counterparts, traditional retailers do not track the time spent in-store or engagement in their merchandising. Do you see brick & mortar sto...
Should sales guide pricing decisions?
As a battered veteran of many Monday morning retail meetings, BrainTrust Panelist Mark Heckman says that while sales growth is almost always discussed, it is se...
Making the case for shopper time management
Ask any retailer what their shopper's average trip length is or how fast shoppers buy once they are in one of their stores, and you will likely get blank stares...
Are stand-alone loyalty approaches anachronistic?
Well over 20 years ago, the first "electronic" card-based loyalty programs arrived to help retailers promote more effectively. With limited technology and inher...
Are retailers ready to deal with ‘Gargantuan Data’?
EBay's modeling predicts the amount of data available from online commerce transactions will double every year in the near term, a prediction has prompted eBay ...
How to draw a Big Data implementation roadmap
"Big Data implies that data sets are so large and complex they become awkward to work with using standard tools and techniques." Buried within this simple defin...
Do retailers need a central content aggregation site?
With more merchants doing un-targeted e-mail blasts, the open rates tend to be lower for everyone. And most blogger-fed websites and the more established coupon...
CVS customizes data in a big way
Earlier this week at the IRI Summit in Florida, Judy Sansone, senior vice president merchandising at CVS, provided some excellent insights into the company's pr...
How you measure success goes a long way toward achieving it
Years ago, Mark Heckman took part in a strategic discussion with Feargal Quinn, the iconic Irish grocery retailer. Mr. Quinn noted that the very first thing he ...
Is measuring ROI for labor the answer?
Many retailers still see training and employee retention as a luxury they cannot afford. But if retailers measure training and labor in a ROI model, instead of ...
Are Grocery Shoppers Tuning Out In-Store Media?
Many of the proponents of in-store media fail to recognize that the shopper is not in the store long enough to absorb and interact with the plethora of messages...
Is Amazon a ‘Prime’ Example for Others?
One infrequent and yet interesting approach to adding some punch to lackluster loyalty programs involves the creation of a "pay for benefit" club that is a "pre...
Will Consumers Pre-Pay for Groceries?
For grocery consumers, the list items bought week in and week out is remarkably consistent. On the grocer's side, of all the items they stock, a very small perc...
BrainTrust Query: What Does Mobile POS Mean for FDM?
Point of sale systems are the largest single technology investment for the vast majority of retailers. Once seen as required investments, mobile technology is r...
BrainTrust Query: I Need an App for My Apps!!
According to a recent study, the most digitally-aided shoppers frequently use more than one shopping app. In addition, individual retailers offer their own spec...
BrainTrust Query: How Can Stores Drive Digital Coupon Adoption?
One of the key deterrents of digital coupon adoption lies in one of its inherent advantages. It's invisible. But if the benefits of "invisibility" could be reta...