Ryan Mathews

The problem with PE companies is that they tend to know a great deal about balance sheets and less than nothing about branding.

This deal would dilute the value of both brands over time. Of course, by then the PE position would be liquidated so it doesn't make much difference...

What works for digital shopping doesn't necessarily translate to physical stores.

I agree with Joan, Debbie and Max. All I can add is that price variability online looks like a treasure hunt. In physical stores it tends to look like profitering.

Customers who see too much fluctuation in prices will begin...

Marketers seem to have an addictive desire to segment, a bit ironic when you consider that consumer purchasing behavior is getting less and less predictable and consumers themselves are falling into multiple segments, often in the space of a single day.

Over ten years ago in our book "The Myth...

The answer is simple any retailer that continues to make margin by shaving labor hours is going to end up with stock outages.

Is Walgreen worse than anyone else? I don't know. But I do think its an industry issue, not a corporation issue.

Walmart can't keep growing forever so what this MAY be is normal attrition caused by retail plateauing.

On the other hand, the company does seem to be, if not losing its way, stumbling a bit to keep up with changes in its primary shopper demographic.

I agree that this is an exponential effort targeting an incremental (at best) sales lift.

And Steve is right—where do you cut off what can be picked up and what happens when a customer pulls up in a Le Car to collect a piece of furniture?

If brick and mortar retailers believe that a digital sales tax is going to keep them in business, they have more problems than any single piece of legislation can fix.

So bring on the tax if you want, but don't expect it to turn the digital tide. The issue is...

One of these days, people are going to figure out Walmart is better at being Walmart than anyone else.

Fred Meyer—and Fred Meijer, for that matter—are great formats FOR THEM. Why try to take a formula that works and degrade it?

Right now, I'm with George—color me skeptical.

The "coins" may work for Amazon as a promotional tool, but it's a very, very long distance between promotion and currency.

As I said, I think they'll work as a promotional device, but on a limited basis. Are these really anything more than digital...

All of these support the Whole Foods brand.

What can others retailers learn?

Don't be afraid to price more aggressively, know yourself, and stick to your brand.