Doug Fleener

Well most of our current clients fall into the traditional gift category, so we're happy to keep it there. Regardless of what you sell, Mother's Day offers brick and mortar retailers a great opportunity to engage their customers, drive both moms and buyers into the store for events, and...

While every retailer wants to capture the wherever and whenever online buyer, I think they still need to make a compelling reason to visit the store. To Doug's point about not thinking channels and the logical path, the key differentiator for most retailers is the in-store experience. Take that...

If I'm a shareholder, I'm more interested in who they find than how long it takes. It takes as long as it takes to find the right person. Brian Dunn wasn't running the entire company by himself. There is a solid management team that will continue to run things...

I think what's missing is to tell the customer you're sorry they're unhappy. Telling a customer you're sorry doesn't necessarily mean the store has done anything wrong or has made a mistake. It's just expressing regret that the customer is upset.

An apology is extremely effective in turning around...

Upside: Incremental sales. (Potentially) Downside: Lower margin. Commoditizing your own products, services, and staff. (A very bad idea.)

Clearly, for most retailers there is very little upside and I would recommend that my clients not participate.

Thanks everyone for your comments and insight. I love Joan's first comment about it being "retro" as I wanted to show that as things change the more they stay the same.

I also appreciated Ryan's "kvetchable" description. I think that could be a discussion in itself!

I have yet to see it in their stores, but I do hope Sephora invest in the training and management resources to make the digital integration successful. It's one thing toad digital elements and tools into the store, but it is another to use it successfully to enhance and...

Wow. Could you get any more anti-customer experience if you tried?

As a consumer, I feel more loyalty to the retailer who cares about me more than their need for data. I appreciate when my local Stop & Shop does a swipe for me, but then again I like...

While showrooming is a problem for all types of retailers, this is a major issue for those with products that depend on expert salespeople that Bob highlighted.

I believe more pressure needs to be put on the manufacturers. We're seeing some much needed pricing policy changes come to the...

Ben has it right. If over 80% of the consumers would switch for a better deal, you're in trouble.

As a consumer I just don't want to work that hard. Give me the best deal on the shelf and I'll make my decision. I can't hold all of the...