Bill Bittner

The whole daily deal thing has also puzzled me. The promoter (the deal site) has no skin in the game. Their fee to the retailer simply amounts to a very expensive advertising cost. They are not trying to promote a product which would either spin off future sales or...

When I look at these too approaches my initial thought was the "failure" of the stimulus package. Governor Randell recognized the big mistake that was made by not giving the portion of the stimulus that was from tax cuts as checks in the mail. It was probably less expensive...

Sorry I missed this yesterday, but if anyone bothers to catch up on the discussion, I offer my thoughts.

First of all this quote from the Forester researcher is the stupidest thing I have heard: "Wal-Mart and Target are willing to sell a few things at a loss. Amazon's whole...

I think this is exactly the competitor Walmart is targeting with their Walmart Express store concept. I have not seen an Express store, but as I remember our discussion last year it planned to be a limited line store offering online ordering and in-store pick up. This kind of...

I agree Amazon is the leader in online retail. The tough part is establishing the distribution network in the physical world. Amazon has it. They will only get better.

I believe the survival of brick and mortar stores is the critical question for 2012. The whole concept of the...

I had heard the news clips on this event and had hoped this article would shed more light on how the problem occurred. After 30 years of managing supply chain inventory applications, I know how difficult it is to properly control both multiple supply chains (direct and through the...

The Holy Grail in the successful transformation of retail applications is a new paradigm in retail item data master files. Instead of a static model that simply indexes item numbers to a single description, the item master data must be recorded in a dynamic model that supports "perspectives" and...

I think everyone understands that brick and mortar operations are not able to compete with online retailers solely on price. The challenge Penney's (or anyone) is going to have when trying to increase their service offerings is ensuring that they have sufficient staff (both numbers and quality) to deliver...

I don't think the impact on retailers will be that great. If a retailer hasn't already put their offerings online and made it possible for customers to interact through their website, it might speed that process but where has that retailer been the past 10 years? I think consumers...

When evaluating technology, I like to think of it from the perspective of the four fundamental retail drivers: Inventory Turns, Gross Profit Dollars, Labor Cost, and Shrink. Technology can benefit each of these drivers, but often the glitter of the technology overrides the fundamental driver. When it comes to...