Phil Rubin

While many people are worn out from the media-frenzied Facebook IPO, and some even wearing out from Facebook itself, there's still reason for optimism in terms of Facebook's potential for connecting brands and customers. Whether its stock is worth $36 a share is another discussion, but consider these three...

JCP's turnaround strategy is bold and involves a great deal of risk and patience. Public companies are rarely afforded patience by investors. Great turnarounds, including Apple, take a great deal of time. It's unlikely Johnson has that. And of course, the other reality is that JCP is not Apple,...

Target, like almost every other retailer, is losing business to Amazon. A lot more than they are making selling Kindles, though perhaps selling Kindles wasn't enough of a trip driver to compensate for the lost sales. While strategically this is a sound decision (why arm your enemy?), it's not...

Old Navy and Gap Brands as a whole have had a rough time over the past few years for lots of reasons, notably leadership. This is a great move for them as they continue to get things in order and regain their leadership within specialty retail.

There are foundational elements for developing a social presence but in order for there to be significant and sustainable impact, a social presence has to be integrated into both a broader marketing strategy as well as specific CRM strategies.

If there is one area I'd change in terms of...

The more online merchants can emulate, replicate and/or improve the in-store experience, the better off they will be. The beauty of this model is that it allows a merchant to determine at what price they wish to acquire a customer. With some experience they can see that these customers...

Whoever leads Best Buy next needs to be highly innovative to make BBY relevant again. It is not and will not be if it is focused on selling "goods" versus providing service and selling services as well as a broader consumer electronics and technology experience. It completely lost its...

What a great post and yes, Amazon is the model for bringing the art of selling, rather than the hack job of discounting, back to retailing. I'll go a step further and suggest that Amazon offers a great model for not just retailing, but building customer relationships, loyalty and...

Of course social sharing is a huge opportunity as is all social advocacy tied to brand commerce. The ultimate opportunity is for brands and especially retailers to recognize the customers (and prospects) who follow these influencers and the influencers themselves. Social data adds an entire new dimension to customer...

This issue of "No Loyalty Card, No Discount" has two simple answers:

1. With today's technology capabilities, there is little excuse for a retailer not being able to "alias" a loyalty card number with a mobile (or other) phone number. This makes it easier for customers to be compliant...