How Nike Slayed 2018, and Takeaways for Fashion Retailers
2018 was a year full of wins for Nike, on the field and off. The brand’s iconic swoosh was ubiquitous at the 2018 World Cup before a television audience of nearly 3.6 billion people—the third-most-viewed television broadcast of all time. By Nike’s count, 60% of the athletes competing in the tournament’s opening round wore Nike […]
How International Retailers are Digitizing Customer Experience
US brick-and-mortar retailers at the shores of transformative customer experience innovations might be hesitant to dive in. But that ocean is wide and deep—ranging from solutions that improve operational efficiencies to those that put AI at the forefront of a brand’s interactions with consumers. Here’s a peek at four cutting-edge retail innovations rising to the […]
How CB4 Keeps Convenience Stores Competitive
One indicator of the health of an industry is the intensity of the competition within it. Nowhere is that truer than in the convenience store business. Relative to other retail channels, the convenience vertical has recently seen tremendous growth. In 2018, a whopping 84% of convenience retailers reported in-store sales increases. Along with this growth […]
Retailers: Use Negative Yelp Reviews to Your Advantage in 5 Steps
A century ago, P.T. Barnum declared, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.” In today’s highly charged and highly connected world, dealing with a negative review requires the precision of a high-wire act. One negative review can result in 30 lost customers or provide information to improve the overall business. Many retailers will stop at […]
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 […]
CB4’s 1st Annual Convenience Store Loyalty Awards
Convenience store chains once thrived on driving impulse buys. Now, successful convenience retailers capitalize on unlocking customer loyalty. Implementing an effective loyalty program enables retailers to retain customers, increase market share, drive higher cart value, and communicate more broadly with customers. To ensure that they can successfully reap these benefits, however, retailers must provide an […]
The Lost Sales Calculator: What It Is & Why We Built It
At CB4, we live and breathe retail. That means connecting with our customers and other retailers whenever we can to learn about their successes, the challenges their stores face, and how they’re adapting to the demands of 21st century brick-and-mortar. One question we love to ask retail leaders is: “How much revenue does your chain […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
