PROFILE
Ken Cassar
Vice President, Principal Analyst, Slice Intelligence
Ken Cassar is the principal analyst at Slice Intelligence, where he oversees Slice's research agenda; identifying and contextualizing e-commerce industry trends from Slice's panel of 4 million U.S. online consumers.
Ken brings a rich online retail background to Slice Intelligence. Most recently, Ken was the senior vice president, media analytic solutions at Nielsen, where he developed several innovative digital commerce measurement and advertising effectiveness solutions. Prior to Nielsen, Ken was an analyst at Jupiter Research, where he was an early thought leader, trusted adviser and media source on e-commerce. His prescient outlook on fledgling e-commerce industry was a key contributor to Jupiter’s dominance as a digital media zeitgeist at the dawn of the Internet.
Ken has an MBA and Bachelors Degree in Political Science from the University of Connecticut. Ken aspires to stay technologically ahead of his teenage children, as evidenced by his ‘Gadget Geek’ Slice profile. He also has the appropriate jacket for every occasion.
Learn more at the Slice Intelligence website...
Read the Slice Intelligence blog...
Ken brings a rich online retail background to Slice Intelligence. Most recently, Ken was the senior vice president, media analytic solutions at Nielsen, where he developed several innovative digital commerce measurement and advertising effectiveness solutions. Prior to Nielsen, Ken was an analyst at Jupiter Research, where he was an early thought leader, trusted adviser and media source on e-commerce. His prescient outlook on fledgling e-commerce industry was a key contributor to Jupiter’s dominance as a digital media zeitgeist at the dawn of the Internet.
Ken has an MBA and Bachelors Degree in Political Science from the University of Connecticut. Ken aspires to stay technologically ahead of his teenage children, as evidenced by his ‘Gadget Geek’ Slice profile. He also has the appropriate jacket for every occasion.
Learn more at the Slice Intelligence website...
Read the Slice Intelligence blog...
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- Posted on: 03/30/2018
Former Walmart U.S. CEO raises prospect of breaking up Amazon
Trump's attacks on Amazon are entirely about Jeff Bezos' ownership of the Washington Post. He is flat out wrong when he says that Amazon isn't paying sales tax. He is flat out wrong in saying that Amazon has anything other than a positive impact on the USPS' bottom line. But we should all share Bill Simon's concern that Amazon's "market share sans margins" approach is a long-term danger not just to competitors, but to the consumer. I consider myself a good capitalist, but I do believe that the ultimate outcome of unregulated competition is monopoly, which is only to the advantage of the monopolist. - Posted on: 03/16/2018
Amazon/Whole Foods planning store pickup service from third-party retailers
Amazon has clearly recognized that its biggest (only?) competitive disadvantage is a lack of stores. Allowing in-store pickup of online Whole Foods orders is a no-brainer. Using these pickup spots as locations at which shoppers can get orders from other retailers is classic Amazon (see Keith Anderson's comments). Layer onto that the likelihood that Amazon will strike deals with other brick-and-mortar retailers, like Kohl's, to turn their stores into pickup locations for Amazon or retailers that Amazon is partnered with and you've got an Amazonian trifecta. - Posted on: 03/06/2018
Will all retailers soon go cashier-less?
It seems inevitable to me that the cashier largely goes away in the long run. In addition to Amazon Go and folks like AiFi, we already see widespread use of self checkout and mobile scan and go technology. The implications on trip behaviors are very interesting; if a shopper can get in and out of the store without friction, we could see a higher number of smaller trips in an average week, which could radically reshape the grocery industry. - Posted on: 03/02/2018
Will automation make retail teams less efficient?
The closing line in this article is the key point. Organizations need to be reorganized around automation. When the chainsaw came around, logging companies needed to reallocate resources from cutting trees down to stripping bark and planing boards. Costs of lumber dropped and more people could afford to build homes, which expanded the industry and jobs in the industry. Automation is scary and requires adaptation across the organization, but I don't know of a historical instance where automation didn't lead to greater opportunity at the macro level. - Posted on: 02/26/2018
What do shoppers want most?
Convenience is most likely to move the needle today. Make the shopper's life easier and you will be rewarded: Online ordering with in-store pickup that doesn't make her get out of the car, meal kit boxes, mobile pay, etc. Consumers are increasingly trying to reclaim their time. - Posted on: 02/23/2018
Target CEO: Success built on ‘great physical assets’ and ‘digital interaction’
Target fulfilled 70 percent of its holiday orders from store inventory in 2017 -- a period during which sales grew more than 50 percent. If Target can build upon that and couple it with Shipt's ability to pick orders up in-store and deliver the same day, Target could have a clear differentiator over the rest of retail. Execution will be extremely difficult and will require perseverance, but if immediacy matters to consumers (it's still unclear if this is indeed the case) Target could be poised to make a mark in the omnichannel landscape. - Posted on: 02/15/2018
Sam’s Club takes on Costco and Amazon with a new strategy
Sam's Club had a good e-commerce year in 2017, with sales up 38 percent (compared with 23 percent increase for overall e-commerce). Winning online is going to be critical for the club stores and this move by Sam's Club is a step in the right direction. Sam's Club has a lot of catching up to do though, as it had just 23 percent share of online club sales in 2017 compared with Costco's 72 percent share. - Posted on: 02/13/2018
Will Instacart and Shipt give Amazon a run for its money?
WIth Prime Now delivering Whole Foods, Instacart expanding and Shipt having been acquired by Target, we have reached a tipping point where retailers are finally capitalizing on their existing in-store inventory. Over the course of time, this should most significantly benefit retailers with big retail footprints, which will be a challenge for Amazon, which only owns 460 or so Whole Foods stores. Or of course, Amazon could just go out an acquire its way into a big store footprint. - Posted on: 02/08/2018
Amazon rolls out Prime Now deliveries from Whole Foods
This is going to work well for Amazon. While I believe that click and carry, not delivery, is the future of online grocery in most of the U.S., Whole Foods' affluent customers are a clear exception. - Posted on: 02/07/2018
Will a CEO without department store experience transform Hudson’s Bay business?
CVS's decision to walk away from tobacco sales was one of the boldest, most forward-looking moves I've seen in years from a highly profitable, publicly-traded, category-leading retailer. If Ms. Foulkes had even a little bit to do with that decision, I like the hire. The department store needs bold new thinking now. Experience in the department store space is starting to seem like a liability. - Posted on: 02/02/2018
How addictive are smart speakers?
Smart speakers (or voice user interface) are fast becoming a critical piece of consumers' means of accessing the trove of digital content available, and will accelerate the already rapid shift of analog to digital. What will distinguish 2018 is the increased availability of voice user interfaces in cars, with many deals announced between Amazon and Google and auto manufacturers at CES this year. This will be the beginning of a revolution in the morning and evening commute, where we spend, on average, about 300 hours per year. Marketers snap to attention, ASAP! - Posted on: 01/30/2018
Can Albertsons help brands hone their digital ads?
This is a good move from Albertsons. Brands, especially CPG brands, demand accountability on their marketing dollars (at least from their digital marketing dollars -- print FSIs are a whole different kettle of fish that seem to defy accountability). Beyond validating the efficacy of digital dollars spent on Albertsons, this allows both brands and Albertsons to understand what works, what doesn't and to optimize going forward. - Posted on: 01/24/2018
New store concept is next step in Dunkin’ rebranding
In my neck of the woods (halfway between Boston and New York) Dunkin' Donuts shops are so close together that they ought to share parking lots. Despite that, lines are inevitable during the morning rush. I see Dunkin's moves as a smart move to drive more yield from existing locations, leveraging digital: Put another way, it's got more to do with improved customer experience than trying to move upmarket. - Posted on: 01/12/2018
Surreal to so real – Sam’s closes 63 clubs after Walmart announces pay raise
Sounds like there might have been some bungling on how the Sam's news was broken to employees, but I applaud all of the decisions that Walmart made: Increasing worker wages, giving unplanned bonuses to all eligible employees and closing underperforming stores seems like Retail 101 to me. - Posted on: 12/20/2017
7-Eleven goes omnichannel with mobile, BOPIS and delivery
I just don't believe that 7-Eleven has the order sizes to support the expense of delivery, whether that expense is covered by 7-Eleven or the consumer. And I'm skeptical that any time will be saved with mobile pre-ordering, given that the whole store is set up to get the shopper in and out in the time that it takes to fill a gas tank. With that said, 7-Eleven is doing the right thing. It's an experiment where the outcome may be obvious, but there will be critical learnings along the way that will lead them to the truth, whatever that is.
