Briefly Retail - Issue 2017 - 8 →

Winning the Retail Tug of War

The doom and gloom surrounding retail malls in the United States seems pervasive.  In a little over three months, 14 chains have announced they will seek court protection, according to an analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence, almost surpassing all of 2016.  Department stores, electronics retail, and apparel shops appear to be at the most risk, with closures from major chains like Macy's and J.C. Penney pouring up to 37 million square feet of additional space back into the market.  See more…

Briefly Retail - Issue 2017 - 7 →

Exponential Growth Matters

A 13th century Islamic scholar once related a story where an emperor was to reward the inventor of chess with a single grain of wheat doubled for every square of the chess board. Up through the first half of the board, the reward was measured in spoons and cups. By the end, it was a wheat pile the size of Mount Everest… (2 to the 64th power-1 grains to be exact, for those interested in the math).  This storyline eventually gave rise to the phrase "second half of the chessboard" in reference to the point where an exponentially growing factor begins to have a significant economic impact on an organization's overall business strategy.  Read More…

Briefly Retail - Issue 2017 - 5 →

Seeing the Forest

In conference rooms throughout the land, retail executives are striving to derive meaning from the phrase “Customer Experience” and how to leverage their brands to provide it.  Most of them start with their brand visuals (logos, websites, store layouts, etc.).  Usually a safe bet, as the illusion of progress is easily demonstrated – most usually at an enormous capital outlay as they increase development and marketing spend and deploy “one-off” technologies (like tablets in the store).  Read More...

Briefly Retail - Issue 2017 - 4 →

Tag ‘Em and Bag ‘Em

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. The tags contain electronically stored information that can be used to identify the object. Passive tags, such as those normally associated with retail, collect energy from a nearby RFID reader's interrogating radio waves. At a cost of less than $.10 per tag, this technology has been around for years. 

What is truly remarkable is how few retailers actually use RFID to help streamline their operations.  Part of the reason is in finding a practical use for the technology.  Originally marketed in specialty retail as a means to perform inventory counts virtually instantaneously, practical limitations of the RFID reader technologies have made these benefits difficult to realize in the store environment.  Read More...