retail trends Archives | Page 2 of 4

October 3, 2011

The Future of Retail: The Destination is You

By Doug Stephens Since the time of the Roman Empire, retail as a concept, has been about destinations. Whether a small specialty shop, a department store […]

September 18, 2011

The Declining Need for and Escalating Value of Human Service

By Doug Stephens Technology has been steadily reducing the number of human service interactions we require in an average day. For at least the last decade, […]

June 6, 2011

Mobile Reality Check

Many of the headlines we read would have us believe that consumers are running rampant, begging for opportunities to browse, shop and even transact retail purchases […]

June 2, 2011

The New Media Marketer’s First Date

We’ve all been on a first date and can relate to the awkward pauses in the conversation, the often-confusing body language and the painful uncertainty about […]

May 25, 2011

Note to Macy’s: You Are the Company You Keep

By Doug Stephens Retail is in a state of historic upheaval and nowhere is this more evident than in the department store channel. Virtually every major […]

April 19, 2011

Does Love Scale?

This week Wal-Mart announced its purchase of social media firm Kosmix to help it better manage and capitalize on its social and mobile marketing efforts. What […]

March 16, 2011

What’s In-Store for the Future?

By Doug Stephens There’s an ongoing debate about the viability of “bricks and mortar” retail in a digital world. With online and mobile commerce growing at […]

February 5, 2011

Death of the Focus Group: Research Meets Mobility

By Doug Stephens I sat on a panel discussion this week that explored how social and mobile media is changing the way customer feedback is collected, […]

January 20, 2011

The Enduring Allure of the Secret Handshake

By Doug Stephens The world is an increasingly inclusive place and as a society, we’ve grown to expect equal and open access to just about everything. […]