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 […]
6 Ways to Improve Grocery Store Profit Margins with Technology
Raising prices used to be the go-to strategy for retailers looking to widen their grocery store profit margins, but this practice is no longer sustainable in today’s retail landscape. With players like Walmart, Aldi, and Lidl constantly offering bargain basement deals, other grocery stores risk losing their customers if they can’t match the prices of […]
How Ulta is Revolutionizing the Beauty Biz (With the Help of AI)
Carrying a variety of drug store and luxury brands, Ulta has carved a niche as a one-stop shop in a landscape rife with specialty beauty retailers. By developing a deep understanding of its customers and deploying the cutting-edge technology needed to attract them, Ulta has managed to grow sales in a competitive industry and join […]
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 Alibaba & TMIC Help Retailers Capitalize on Local Demand
In today’s competitive landscape, an innovative product development strategy hinges on a retailer’s ability to uncover hidden consumer demand patterns. Machine learning algorithms are the conduit through which retailers process consumer purchase data to uncover critical insights about what products customers in a specific market want most. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is at the forefront […]
How CB4 Improves Communication in Retail
Teamwork and communication in retail settings can seem like an unwinnable battle. Your average sales associate or store manager often feels like corporate employees sit in a castle in the sky. Likewise, store managers are swamped with back-office work, and may lose focus on training initiatives that their associates need. Opportunities for relationship-building are few […]
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 […]
3 Things We Learned Working with Convenience Store Managers
No matter what your role or industry, you probably use some kind of software at work. At CB4, we’re no different. And like you, we’ve used our share of great and terrible software, and learned a lot from it. The most important thing that we learned—great software companies understand their audience and build their software […]
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 […]
