How Top Retailers Use Mobile Tech to Boost Employee Motivation
Engaged, inspired employees can make all the difference in the brick-and-mortar environment. But there’s a twist on that road to employee motivation. Creating the right employee experience may well include arming associates with mobile devices to keep pace with their ever more knowledgeable customers. It wasn’t that long ago that mobile devices were considered anything […]
Why Big Brick-and-Mortar Retailers Are Thinking Small in 2019
After consolidating their real estate empires during the 20th century, big box retailers are shifting their focus to smaller spaces to meet the demands of 21st century shoppers. Early results show promise—the shrunken formats are boosting brick and mortar retail by catering to young, city-dwelling shoppers while cutting costs—and these pilots may prove instructive to […]
The High Cost of Grocery Store Shrink, and What to do About It
Shrinkage in retail comes in many forms; thefts, markdowns, and human error all eat into profits. Grocers, however, put out a full-scale buffet, when the perishability of products is taken into account. Historically, grocers have some of the lowest margins at 2.5%. Those low margins are colliding head-on with a massive shift in consumer taste […]
How CB4 Retailers Use Tech to Enable Store Managers
As shoppers grow increasingly knowledgeable about the products they buy, the demands placed on store managers continue to pile. With a quick search on their phone, shoppers can find the best prices, the flavors/colors/sizes, and the local sellers of any product they want. Heck, they can even have it on their doorstep free of charge […]
Naming a Product “Corn Knuckles” and Other Private Label Pitfalls
Private label goods are now standard retail practice, especially in grocery. If executed well, a private label brand can drive growth in volume and in margins. By utilizing in-house brands, you essentially scoot your business down one spot on the value-chain, connecting directly with manufacturers and producers. In so doing, you leverage economies of scale […]
Kohl’s x CB4 NRF Panel: How to Satisfy Mission-Driven Shoppers
Kohl’s VP of Technology, Shweta Bhatia heads up the retailer’s in-store learning labs. These labs test innovative technology solutions and then scale them across Kohl’s entire chain of 1,000+ stores. Bhatia had this to say about her philosophy: “We focus on two things: Keeping it simple and making it actionable. Making it simple is the […]
How to Convert Fuel Shoppers & Increase Convenience Store Sales
According to the most recent data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), Americans purchase 140.43 billion gallons of gas in a single year. That’s a lot of trips to the pump—but not necessarily to the convenience stores they’re attached to. In fact, despite all these fuel purchases, nearly 75% of customers aren’t venturing past […]
How to Cut Costs Without Sacrificing Customer Experience in Retail
With increasingly slim profit margins, brick-and-mortar retailers are searching for ways to cut costs. While upping your prices and shedding employees are some obvious cost saving ideas in retail, doing so puts you at risk for disappointing customers and sending them into your competitors’ loving arms. According to a recent study by McKinsey, the most […]
Workforce Management Techniques for Today’s Fashion Retailers
Employee turnover is a big drain for fashion retailers. When one part-time sales associate resigns, it costs more than $3,000 to replace them—and that’s often more than 15% of one worker’s annual salary. Retail employees often quit due to issues around unpredictable scheduling, insufficient training, low pay and benefits, and lack of advancement opportunities, Cisco […]
How Tech-Savvy Operations Teams Keep Pace in Fast Fashion
Fast fashion retailers exist in an ever-changing world of ephemeral trends. Their operations teams have the challenge of uniquely high product turnover rates, which affect everything from production to pricing. However, thanks to fashion industry technology powered by AI and machine learning, fast fashion operations teams can arm store staff with the information and tools […]
