How Retailers Are Thriving in The Resale Economy
We’ve come a long way since 2012, when Nordstrom selling secondhand shoes at Rack stores was the scandal du jour in the retail industry. In light of increasing environmental concerns, retail is evolving into what is called a “circular economy”–– an economy that doesn’t depend on finite resources or need to create waste to stay […]
Expert Spotlight: 5 Big Ideas from my Interview with KIZER & BENDER
Georganne Bender and Rich Kizer comprise the dynamic duo that is KIZER & BENDER. As “consumer anthropologists,” KIZER & BENDER’s client list reads like a “who’s who” in retail. Internationally lauded for their no-holds barred approach, their clients rely on them for timely advice on how to wow shoppers rise to the demands of our […]
The Recipe for Successful Alternate Format Grocery Stores
In today’s rapidly changing retail landscape, it’s no wonder that one of the most basic human needs—food—is undergoing the biggest transformation. Traditional grocery is at the heart of the changes. Since 1988 it has seen its market share shrink from 90 percent to 44 percent. A couple of key points underpin this shift, namely the […]
Retail Store Heat Mapping: Hot or Not?
Store heat maps can be an enormous help when it comes to understanding the functionality of your stores and how customers behave inside them. But what is a heat map really? At its most basic, ‘heat map’ is just a hipper way of saying ‘a shaded matrix where single values in a matrix are represented […]
5 Ways to Increase Conversion in Retail & Prevent Store Walkaways
As a retailer, there’s nothing more heartbreaking than to see a seemingly interested customer turn around and walk out the door. Most of the time, you won’t even know why it happened. But identifying the small factors that are steadily eating away at your conversion rate can help you ensure that it doesn’t keep happening. […]
5 Amazing Tales of Apparel Retail Comebacks
The retail world is littered with doom and gloom stories. It seems like every week there’s another retailer that has to close its stores or file for bankruptcy. But every so often, we get a feel-good story from a merchant that bounced back from the brink of extinction. This article will be about those companies […]
The Secret to Localizing Assortment the Easy (CB4) Way
Localizing their assortment is mission-critical to today’s best retailers. Assortment localization, i.e. tailoring a store’s assortment to reflect the demand of the community it serves, has both tangible and intangible benefits. According to a report from Retail Systems Research (RSR), “Merchandising and Pricing 2018,” 59% of retail’s top performing chains say localized assortments are “very […]
Retail Bankruptcies of 2019: Lessons Learned from Forever 21, Gymboree, & More
Bankruptcy. It’s not pretty, but it happens. And in the retail world, it seems like there’s another company filing for bankruptcy every other week. This year alone, the industry has seen 16 major bankruptcies, including filings from Charlotte Russe, Payless ShoeSource, and Gymboree, among other stores. To be clear, retail as a whole is alive […]
How to Energize Your Retail Workforce
Anyone who’s ever worked in retail will tell you there’s a disconnect between store personnel and corporate retail teams. To customers, this might look like a retail employee engagement problem. Part of the challenge is employee turnover. According to a study by global consulting firm Korn Ferry, 29% of retail HR teams reported an increase […]
AI in Apparel Retail: From High Tech Gadgetry to Revenue Builder
Imagine a world in which apparel retailers and manufacturers truly know what customers will buy. One in which they can anticipate which products will be returned because of poor fit. One in which they can bring each store team’s attention to the products in the highest demand to ensure availability. And one in which they […]
