James Tenser

Thanks for the thoughtful comments, fellow BrainTrusters.

Joan is right -- this is a two-track story. I'm more fascinated by the resilient nature of human habit than the threat of cyber stalking by marketers.

Ben correctly notes that there are (forgive the pun) pregnant moments when shopper habits may be...

While we might ironically observe that this advice about inclusion is being delivered by a privileged American white male, this makes his message no less valid.

In an ideal world, true diversity would be as effortless as breathing. This is an area of human resource policy that requires conscious...

As is evident from the BrainTrust comments here, we are just working out the right questions to ask about how consumers apply mobile-social-local-digital media to their daily consumption and shopping decisions.

One important insight worth amplifying is the existence of multiple diversities within and between demographic groups. These are...

Sears Holdings' strategies are hard for people like us to quickly grasp because we persist in viewing them through a conventional retail lens.

Better to discard the merchant frame of reference, and try to take this on its own terms. An asset is an asset. A profit-generating spin-off may be...

Interesting that our discussion here hasn't yet touched on another essential question: Did Walmart break Mexican law, then cover that up too?

We Americans have a vested interest in helping our neighbor to the south become more prosperous and stable and less corrupt. Walmart counts Mexico as its second...

Media sage Marshall McLuhan famously observed that newer media displace (not replace) older media.

The same may be said of newer retail techniques -- especially online, and now mobile. Digital retailing is an adjunct, an expansion, an added choice that has been layered on to traditional analog retailing. I...

This feels to me like the institutional investors are trying to stir the pot. Safeway share prices are at an ebb and speculators would like to see a bump.

A huge lesson for the supermarket business is that increased size no longer increases rate of profit. Empire building is...

First and foremost: Even the most brilliant and facile service recovery practices cannot create a fraction of the benefit derived by serving the customer properly in the first place. Mr. Hess has some commendable suggestions here, but the first mission is to minimize the number of service recovery incidents...

I think most retailers and brands should back away from trying to provide proprietary product information apps and work instead at enabling the mobile experience within their stores and sites.

Let's stipulate that shoppers will choose apps on their own terms and think harder about why these shoppers will...

Ryan's take is on target. It may be politically profitable for some to make a show of heightened penalties for common thieves, but I doubt this will result in behavioral change.

A close look at the language of the bill, however, reveals another intent on the part of its...