Articles
Articles
Articles
As You Like It
The good thing about malls, city shopping districts and e-commerce sites is the bounty of retail choices they provide. But such abundance makes it trickier for stores to differentiate themselves.…
Articles
Force of Impact
The subject of outsourcing usually has to do with U.S. jobs that have been lost to overseas companies. But when the apparel industry outsourced its manufacturing, it also sent production…
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Getting Personal
In an effort to hone in on what makes consumers buy rather than browse, retail science has gotten a little…sci-fi. For brick and mortar stores, there are “technologies like heat…
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Seeking Social Skills
For today’s retailers, the question is no longer whether to use Facebook, but whether Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr are being used as effectively as possible. Smart stores realize social…
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Turning Back to the Real Thing
Cotton prices have returned to historical averages, and that is good news for both the apparel industry and consumers. When cotton prices spiked in March 2011, some retailers and manufacturers…
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When Jobs Come Marching Home Again
One of the major factors in the country’s stubborn unemployment numbers is the loss of manufacturing jobs — 5.6 million in the last decade. All the off-shoring paired with the…
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Delivering On Denim
[chart align=”right”]/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/keyinsights.jpg[/chart] The love affair with denim crosses continents, continues to inspire creativity in products beyond jeans, and shows resilience even in economically uncertain times. In the U.S. alone, more…
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Flash Dance
Out of the Great Recession came a fun twist on e-commerce: flash sale sites, which combined the art of the deal with wallet-friendly prices – and consumers flocked in droves.…
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Luxury Redux
The Great Recession and the coinciding explosion of smart phones and tablets persuaded even high-end luxury labels to become tech savvy. But open access to once-exclusive merchandise has led some…
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Boom-ing Business
The Great Recession may have sent boomers for a loop, but smart retailers will realize this group is still a powerful purchasing force. Sure, Millennials — those children of the…