Ben Sprecher

This article points to anytime, anywhere information transforming retail from the perspective of the retailer and store associates, but I think the more powerful force will come at the hands of the consumers themselves.

It is inevitable that retailers will adopt technologies to counteract the information disadvantage that store...

There is an inherent tension in any rewards scheme: the currency of the rewards is most valuable to the consumer when it is least valuable to the merchant. By definition, an unrestricted, universal currency (i.e. cash) is most valuable for a consumer, because if there was an equivalent reward...

I am reminded here of the immortal line from "The Princess Bride":

"You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - the most famous of which is 'never get involved in a land war in Asia' -- but only slightly less well-known is this: 'Never go against...

This conversation needs to be turned 90 degrees. The article and ensuing discussion have focused on price elasticity, margin, and market share. When you are framing the conversation that way, then Ian's point is exactly right -- all you need is math to answer the questions in terms of...

Both BI-LO and Winn-Dixie are operating in depressed economic areas against brutal price competition from Walmart and dollar stores. At the same time, the two chains' market position is hemmed in at the high end by Publix and Harris Teeter.

For Winn-LO (BI-Dixie?) to succeed, they will need to stay...

Legal issues aside, I like how Matt Keylock jumps right to the core question: how will this effect the consumer?

I'm not sure there's a clear answer. Presumably, eliminating brokers will eliminate brands, as some brands may not be able to shift to new brokers due to competitive considerations...

Tons of great comments here, so I have nothing to ad on the topics of whether Lowe's screwed up (it did) or whether it is right to knuckle under to bigotry and hatred, whatever the form (it isn't).

Rather, I'd like to pose an odd question; since Lowe's has...

I started out thinking I was going to agree with this article, but I got snagged on the line "The solution to 'fast AND data-driven' decision making is planning."

If the author is saying that taking an agile test-and-learn approach today allows you to make better big decisions for...

Behavior is all that matters.

Demographics, psychographics, attitudinal data, brand engagement, sentiment analysis, and all the other "fluffy" metrics that are the currency of so much of today's marketing double-speak -- they are all worthless unless they can be used to predict actual consumer buying behavior. You can't deposit "brand...

There is a false choice given in this article: the decision doesn't need to be "do I use IT or do I use an outside consultant?" There's a third possibility: using a technology solution that is designed for your own marketing team to use.

Historically, this hasn't been an option;...