Insights

  • Retail Q&A

    As a prelude to the upcoming World Retail Congress in London (September 19- 21), five retail leaders who will be speaking at the event participated in the following Q&A:

    What would you say is the biggest issue facing retailers today?
     

  • HD: Shop-in-shops: One of the decade's big ideas

    From J.C. Penney to Target to Selfridges, retailers across the spectrum are giving over valuable floor space to in-store shops. Here are some interesting observations on the phenomenon from Joanna Felder, VP intelligence and brand strategy at Chute Gerdeman, Columbus, Ohio.

    Shop-in-shops offer retailers the magic formula of flexibility, brand-enhancing cachet and the ability to attract new customer segments. The opportunity has never been better for young, entrepreneurial hip brands to find a mainstream home.

  • RILA Debunks Op-Ed Piece on Marketplace Fairness Act

    The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) has taken issue with an opinion piece that appears in the August 1, 2012, issue of the Wall Street Journal. The piece, written by United States Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), is about the Marketplace Fairness Act (the legislation would end special treatment for online-only retailers who currently exploit a decade’s old loophole to avoid collecting and remitting state sales tax, according to RILA).

  • Moody’s on Credit Card Interchange Fee Settlement

    The July 13 settlement of a lawsuit over allegedly fixed credit card interchange fees is a credit positive for the two largest industry players Visa and Mastercard, but will have a smaller impact on merchant acquirers, retailers and banks, said  Moody’s Investors Service in a new special comment "Credit Card Interchange Fee Settlement is Credit Positive For Visa, MasterCard."

  • Two Great Retail Lessons: One Positive, The Other Not So Good

    By Robert Gordman, president, The Gordman Group

    (Editor’s  Note: Retail consultant Bob Gordman offers some interesting insights into what he calls “two of the most dramatically opposite” retail case studies in recent years: lululemon athletica and J.C. Penney Co.)

  • Microsoft/Barnes & Noble Joint Venture: Winning proposition for both companies

    On Monday, Barnes & Noble Inc. and Microsoft announced a strategic partnership in a new unnamed Barnes & Noble subsidiary that, for the time being, is being identified as Newco. Here some comments from retail consultant Maggie Gilliam (Gilliam Insights) on the new venture:

  • Winners in the Toshiba/IBM POS Deal

    IBM’s decision to sell its Retail Store Solutions (RSS) business to Toshiba TEC was the most significant announcement in the retail point-of-sale industry in the last 10 years, according to industry analyst Greg Buzek, president, IHL Group, Franklin, Tenn. The acquisition establishes a new company in which Toshiba will initially own 80.1% and IBM 19.9% for the next three years to aid transition and after which time IBM will relinquish its stake.

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