The brand-breaking challenges JC Penney has had are in no way inevitable, Forbes magazine says, in this discussion of predictive analytics. By harnessing the power of mathematics, we're told, retailers can significantly reduce the risk of going catastrophically off-brand, alienating your best customers, and losing...
Some zaftig mannequins are getting serious love from shoppers all around the world. More than 16,000 people have shared the image you see here, enthusiastically embracing the new profile on display at a Swedish retailer. "“Finally, mannequins showing how clothes fit on real women. I'm...
It's a tough time to be in the grocery business. Walmart, which derives nearly half of its revenues from grocery sales, recently reported that February 2013 was the worst sales month they've had in 7 years — an absolute disaster, according to leaked internal memos. The...
As a retailer, your success is almost entirely dependent upon how successful your sales team is. Not all salespeople are created equal. There are tremendous variations in personability, physical attractiveness, and understanding of human nature as well as the sales process to take into account....
L.L. Bean has been very successful in the mail order business for one hundred years. Founder (and namesake!) Leon Leonwood Bean would be proud — and probably absolutely dumbfounded by the latest role the familiar catalog has taken on in the marketing and promotion of...
First, it happened at Wal-Mart. Then it was employees at numerous NYC McDonald's staging a one-day strike. Both groups of strikers were advocating for better wages, health care benefits, and the ability to organize. The typical striker makes less than $8/hour. At approximately $1,280 a month,...
If there's one story that bears examination in the wake of the 2012 Presidential election, it's why so many people were so profoundly shocked by the outcome. This is a tale about the power of narrative, and how the stories we believe shape the way...
They're called the "Nones," and they're one of the fastest growing demographic groups in America, according to a recent well-publicized study from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Adults who have no religious affiliation number approximately 46 million individuals, roughly 20 percent of...
Hurricane Sandy has secured its place in the history books. The mammoth hurricane came late in the season, taking an unusual track through New Jersey toward the center of the country, lasted for days, and created billions of dollars worth of damages. Much of lower...
One cannot watch Lance Armstrong's very public fall from grace—he has been stripped of all seven Tour de France victories, and has been barred from competitive cycling for life—without having brought to mind some words from Joyce: "They discovered to their vast discomfiture that their...