Ben Sprecher

The big box threat is real, just like the high-end threat is real, and the dollar store threat is real, and the chain drug thread is real; but savvy conventional grocers can still find room to operate a (moderately) profitable business in between those other channels.

To do so, however,...

I think much of the conversation here assumes that Giant Eagle is choosing between (a) requiring loyalty cards to use self-checkout, or (b) allowing anyone to use self-checkout. What if, instead, they were choosing between (a) requiring loyalty cards for self-checkout, or (b) killing self-checkout for everyone?

Perhaps Giant Eagle...

I think much of the discussion around payments is looking at the industry through the rear view mirror rather than looking ahead. When credit cards showed up on the scene, the alternatives were cash and checks, each of which had costs, time, and risks associated with them from both...

I see a disconnect here; we're trying to argue about whether loyalty programs should use new digital/social channels by using a *survey* of consumers, rather than using actual engagement data.

Perhaps the single most important aspect of these new channels is that they are measurable. Why ask someone if they...

"Best" is such a loaded term. "Best" for whom?

In terms of pure fanatical customer devotion, I think you can't top Wegman's. For consistently delivering exceptionally low prices on a near-full line of name brand and PL products, Demoulas/Market Basket in the northeast is exceptional (better even than Walmart). When...

I find it interesting that an earlier comment mentions Stew Leonard's. Because of their unique retail layout (with essentially one long winding aisle snaking around the entire store) you could almost think of the entire store as in-queue merchandising....

There are many good comments here on the existing methods of variable pricing (such as prix fixe menus mid-week, early-bird specials, cheaper lunches, etc.), which I won't repeat.

Instead, in the interest of a lively year-end discussion, I'll pick a fight with two BrainTrusters (BrainTrustees?), both of whom I greatly...

This is clearly a very sensitive area, and retailers must tread carefully in both the way they implement variable pricing as well as the way they communicate about it to their consumers.

To be cynical for a moment, people are indignantly opposed to variable pricing if it means that they...

I see offering exclusive product as the most powerful of the strategies mentioned for blunting the impact of price transparency. After all, there's no way to compare prices on Trader Joe's Candy Cane Joe-Joe's because there's no such thing anywhere else. If you want them (and believe me, you...

Any customer service interaction should be thought through backwards: what is the ultimate goal of the interaction, and what steps should the staff take to get there? The goal of almost all customer interactions is to leave the customer happy and willing to come back to your store again...