I don't see a lot of surprises in the survey results -- mostly brands that we've discussed here on RetailWire before as being successful, digital-savvy brands that understand how to reach their target customer. They know how to be relevant to their customer and provide the value they are seeking. For Gen Z, we see this take the form of seeking discounts and value priced offers from brands that demonstrate a social conscience and can deliver a great shopping experience - all rolled into one. I don't see those characteristics changing as this generation gets older. They may expand their brand choices given the products they need to buy, especially apparel -- picture a new generation of shoppers looking for professional office apparel versus athleisure wear. The proportions of what type of apparel may change and hat could dictate brand choices. There is definitely an opportunity for brands to engage this audience before those choices are made!

This is a smart, creative move by Domino's. You can sell almost anything if you make it fun, as was said at NRF earlier this year. Gamification is a powerful tool to generate engagement with an audience, but it has to be done in a way that is relevant to that audience. Will Domino's find new customers with this game, or will they simply build stronger loyalty with existing customers? Probably more of the latter, but they get credit for creativity in a way that their competitors might not be thinking about. This approach may gain in popularity with other retailers beyond just food service in the future and it will be interesting to see what others come up with in their pursuit to differentiate their loyalty programs!

Part of the problem here is trying to generalize poor discovery experiences on mobile across all products and all types of search. As a consumer, how you search for consumable media, such as on Netflix or iTunes, is very different than searching for a pair of pants. In fact, if the survey takers had asked me about discovery I would tell them that my biggest frustration on mobile is not in trying to narrow my selection down to one, but in trying to increase the number of product choices shown in any search in a way that makes sense. It's much easier, and richer on a desktop browser than on a mobile app for many product types. Focusing on AI as the magic solution to mobile discovery assumes the problem lies in narrowing down the choices, not finding the choices in the first place. You could easily make an argument that this problem exists for online shopping in all forms. In the end, whoever said that an Amazon-style search result showing 100 matches in a grid or lit is the right format to present to the shopper? The mobile solution provider that finds a better output for this is the one that will win retailers' business. Will it be AI-based? Maybe, but not necessarily -- it's more a UX issue than an AI issue.

While it's refreshing to see Barnes & Noble taking a more customer-centric position with an app focused on discovery of new books like this, it still feels like playing catch up to the market. Other apps like this exist that are more established so why try and create a new area of competition versus just adding this capability to their main app? It's a good start and direction and, hopefully, we'll see more thinking like this at Barnes & Noble. They really need to find ways to tie this experience into the in-store shopping experience whether it's just discount offers, special events, etc. -- something to link it all together to create a unique ecosystem for their customers.

This is exactly what I would expect from Nordstrom - a customer-first focus adapted to local needs in a way only Nordstrom can deliver. I expect this store will be very successful - I'll be planning to stop by on my next trip to NY! It is an expensive bet for them to take on, but what better way to differentiate their new presence in Manhattan. It will be very interesting to see how successful the 24/7 pickup is and whether the $20 same-day delivery will be accepted ( I suspect yes, but only because it's Manhattan). The final key to this puzzle will be in the merchandise offered. It appears they intend to appeal to a wide variety of New York shoppers, perhaps taking a page out of the Macy's playbook? I also expect this to be a tourist shopping destination which should help their sales.

It takes all sides working together to make a revitalization effort work well. Retailers, city councils, community members -- everyone has to be in sync or it just doesn't work. All of these ideas on the merchant side are good ones and serve at least one very important purpose -- showing that they care enough to do SOMETHING. Sometimes that's all it takes to get the conversation going. Too often these projects never make it past the talking stage without some sort of incentive.

You would expect The North Face to know who its customers are and their demographic makeup. Given that, shouldn't this campaign just be a natural part of any of their campaigns? Yes, it's a great idea as a campaign in and of itself, but the fact that it needs to be promoted as something special and unique says more about what is happening in advertising than the campaign itself. Like any advertiser or brand, how you portray conventional versus unconventional roles is a function of who your target audience is and how they perceive you as a brand.

Walmart's Pickup Towers are certainly a great omnichannel innovation that adds to the convenience factor of shopping with them. They do a great job of leveraging their stores as something more than a traditional store in a way that is customer-centric. However, I do wonder how this automated pickup model is going to create additional sales for Walmart. Placing them at the back of the store may make more sense operationally, but for picking up larger items, it actually detracts from the convenience for the customer. One of the advantages of a store is the human interaction the customer gets to make the experience a better one. Where is that factor in this BOPIS process? It seems Walmart wants to provide the convenience without the labor cost, but I thought we had heard Walmart was finding new ways for associates to engage customers in their shopping journey? This seems a little conflicted.

Data is the modern world's currency, and hackers will always search for ways to acquire it. Every organization that collects customer data and retains it needs to think about how they are storing it and how they are protecting it. Then they can think about how to use it -- in that order, or they'll be the next brand we read about a breach in the news! Complying with mandates like EMV don't really do anything for retailers security. EMV itself did nothing to prevent breaches of this variety. EMV id meant to address other fraud issues, not data breaches. That said, the wisest, and most willing to increase IT dollars, retailers took advantage of the EMV mandate to upgrade their networks and payment platforms to deploy point to point encryption and tokenization -- technologies that go much further than EMV to protect customer data. Back in 2015, I wrote an article about this that is just as relevant today for retailers. Mobile payment systems tend to be more secure as well and as consumers more readily adopt them, we should see a shift in tactics by hackers in their targeting for user data. Which brings us to the last point about the increase in e-commerce incidents. When Europe moved to EMV they also experienced a surge in online breaches. Fact is, hackers will move to where they think the easier targets are. If retailers beef up their security, hackers will find them less appealing and move to other targets!

Agree with you, Paula, 100%. Retailers obviously have a key role to play here, but the banking and payments industry has to play their part and take their leadership role as well. They can't just sit idly by and blame retailers for everything.

Movie theaters have the potential to drive traffic into malls. However, there are a few variables at play. Not the least of which is that most movie theaters are not great destinations in and of themselves, especially older theaters that haven't upgraded. Newer ones fare better but either way, there is another challenge -- movies are losing audiences to home streaming. Apart from major action/adventure movies that deliver a true spectacle coupled with great storytelling (yes, Marvel movies seem to have this cornered these days), there's not much compelling consumers to go to the movies rather than wait to stream it at home. So the question becomes, with the limited number of people going to the movies, are these consumers inclined to go shopping before or after the movie? I suspect this is only true for moviegoers on the weekends as most going to a movie on weeknights are going late enough that the stores at the mall will be closed afterward and they are not likely arriving early enough to shop before the movie!

Fashion is all about edgy, trendy, and avant-garde. The streetwear trend fits into this motif quite naturally. It's one reason why fashion is not the same thing as apparel! IT makes sense for some of these luxury department store brands to adopt this trend in a limited manner where they believe they have potential customers. I don't see this making sense in suburban areas vs urban ones, so I wouldn't expect any of these department stores to shift their focus in this direction any time soon. It becomes one more tactic to appeal to those digital savvy consumers.

This is a smart move for Bed Bath & Beyond to bring in customers holding TRU gift cards and registries. The short time frame helps add to the sense of "act now" urgency and may very likely drive customers into their stores. While not granting 100% face value of the gift cards, I don't see this as an issue, since the alternative could be no value at all! It's certainly worth the effort with little risk to BBB!

It's becoming too easy to blame Amazon for every challenge retailers face today! Consumer expectations rarely (let's face it, never) move backward. Once the genie is out of the bottle, it's not going back in! Amazon's policies and pricing aren't the problems -- it's the customer expectation for free and fast that are the challenges. Customers won't need every item purchased delivered at the same speed, and this should be seen as an opportunity to introduce shipping options at different price points. Not every customer will jump at same day delivery for every item, but if you make everything free, then customers will always pick the fastest option "just in case." There is a fine balance between managing shipping costs against customer expectations and retailers need every tool they can get to help on the cost side. Retailers need to find other ways to enhance the end-to-end purchase experience to compensate for delivery cost and speed. This is where leveraging stores for returns can be an important factor, to name one.

Absolutely necessary. As we know, competing solely on price turns into a race to the bottom -- that's a race you don't want to win, or worse, lose! Aldi is realizing price can only take their market share so far, and they're adapting as they should to attract new customers. So long as they maintain their price points as they stated, the risk to their existing base should be minimal but the rewards of moving themselves upscale should yield big results for them.