All Retail Articles
  • With succession planning, avoid the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ syndrome

    Donald F. White Business Management, Services & Risk Management

    Do you remember Alice, the little girl who fell down a rabbit hole and ended up in Wonderland? As Alice wandered about Wonderland, she came upon a Cheshire Cat with a distinctive, mischievous grin. Too many people are on their way to somewhere, with little to no idea what or where somewhere is. They assure themselves that someday they’ll know what and where somewhere is because, well, aren’t they on their way there? Sadly, when it comes to business continuity and succession planning, most business owners are like Alice — on their way to somewhere, yet with little to no idea what or where somewhere is.

  • What’s the BIG Idea? Episode 3: Jasmine Ahmed on organizational transformation

    Hank Boyer Business Management, Services & Risk Management

    In this episode of “What’s the BIG Idea?” we visit with Jasmine Ahmed, Senior Vice President of Global Finance Transformation for NewsCorp. NewsCorp’s media empire spans the globe with trusted brands such as The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Barron’s, News Australia, and Dow Jones.

  • Infographic: The rise of the ready-to-drink cocktail market

    Brian Wallace Food & Beverage

    As we all were forced to become our own bartenders last year, 44% of Americans began purchasing alcohol online, and purchases of ready-to-drink cocktails grew by 43% worldwide. It’s awesome that COVID at least gave us some tasty new drinks, but sometimes it’s even better to be able to just grab the drink and relax, without all the prep, mixing, and cleanup. Ready-to-drink gives us the perks of a "bartender" doing all the work from the comfort of our own homes. These drinks may have risen in popularity due to our collision with calamity, but unlike quarantine mandates, ready-to-drink cocktails are here to stay.

  • Besides higher wages, what else can businesses do to address labor shortages?

    Linchi Kwok Travel, Hospitality & Event Management

    When everyone in hospitality is hiring to meet growing demand and prepare for the summer, many are struggling to fill job openings. How bad is the current labor shortage situation? A restaurant owner in New York City, for instance, posted a job listing for a host/hostess position at $30 an hour but received no response for two weeks. A year ago, the same restaurant would have received "hundreds and hundreds of resumes" already for the same position paying $20 an hour. When every company is offering a higher wage and even sign-on bonuses to new hires, businesses must do more to respond to the labor shortage challenge.

  • Financial choices that will benefit your business

    Rayanne Morriss Business Management, Services & Risk Management

    Making sound financial business decisions can be compared to drinking enough water, getting enough sleep, and having a healthy diet. If you don’t do those things, your health will fail. Similarly, if you don’t make sound financial decisions, your business cannot succeed. Half of small businesses fail within five years in part due to a lack of good financial decisions. The following are some financial choices that will benefit your business.

  • How the changes in Amazon’s affiliate program impact businesses

    Domingo Karsten Marketing

    Amazon’s affiliate program was first launched to the general public in 1996, making it among the first programs of its kind. Since then, the program has grown to become an important revenue channel for Amazon and millions of marketers, with affiliates promoting more than 350 million products yearly. As with all affiliate programs, the Amazon Associates program has gone through many changes through the years. In 2020, the company announced a set of updates that affected a lot of businesses. In this piece, I’ll discuss what these changes are and the best way to adapt.

  • How to achieve customer service excellence with social listening

    Victorio Duran III Marketing

    Businesses are using social media as part of their marketing strategy more and more, helping build brand awareness and boost sales. Leveraging your social channels has become even more critical as it seems working from home is here to stay. Customers crave engagement and interaction. Since most of our shopping is now done online, you must create a customer experience (CX) that’s personalized and connects to users. Take it a step further and amp up engagement by incorporating social media customer support into your strategy with social listening.

  • Product configurator: The key to e-commerce personalization

    Brian Wallace Retail

    Personalization has been a potential promise of e-commerce since the early days of the internet. Since the dawn of the modern internet, the belief has been that getting a product down to a specific user’s need is beneficial, as it leads to greater loyalty and exceptional customer experience. There are four main approaches of how to handle customization. Learn more about those approaches and how the product configurator achieves a superior level of collaborative, high customization with this visual deep dive.

  • COVID-19 accelerated change. How do you stay ahead moving forward?

    Philip Burns and William Putsis Business Management, Services & Risk Management

    The COVID-19 pandemic was a catalyst that accelerated change in almost every industry. What used to take some companies five years to accomplish remarkably took them only five months during the pandemic. From at-home grocery retailing to working at home virtually, companies digitized their businesses and changed how they delivered services at unprecedented rates. While some companies were better positioned to deal with the challenges the pandemic presented, others struggled. Given this, consider three relevant questions for all business leaders in the context of their own organization and industry.

  • Infographic: Understanding eminent domain

    Brian Wallace Law Enforcement, Defense & Security

    One of the basic understandings of the American dream is having a house and land. What if the government then came along and tried to take your land? If you own land, you need to know your rights when it pertains to eminent domain. This is happening across the nation. Eminent domain has roots based on the Fifth Amendment, and grants the government the rights to seize private property without the owner's consent — with two main points: as long as the government provides just compensation and claims for public use, it is permissible. Find out more with this visual deep dive.