Commentary

By Pamela Danziger, Unity Marketing and author Shops that POP! 7 Steps to Extraordinary Retail Success In a recent Adobe Think Tank: The Future of Experience Business, one of the speakers provocatively proclaimed, “Marketing is an outdated practice, period.” The statement arose around a question about marketing’s role in the experiential retail economy now that…

By: Judy Bell, Founder and CEO (Chief Energetic Officer) of Energetic Retail Why think about becoming a mentor? Because it may be just the ticket to refresh and inspire your own creative process. A new book titled One Minute Mentoring was released in 2017 by Ken Blanchard and Claire Diaz-Ortiz. The authors introduce their text…

By Jacques Panis, President, Shinola Authenticity No matter the industry, we know that there is a hunger in this country for authenticity, quality, and for things made here by American workers. American consumers have been duped and are demanding transparency, demanding to know the “why, where, what and who” behind the products they are buying…

By John McCullough, COO, James Avery Jewelers For many years and through multiple generations, James Avery Jewelry has been honored to be a part of our customers’ lives. It started over 60 years ago, when James Avery’s mother-in-law urged him to set up shop and pursue his passion – making jewelry. With her encouragement, James…

By Peter Cummings When Whole Foods announced their decision to build a store in Midtown Detroit almost six years ago, the announcement was greeted with considerable skepticism. Many commented that the store would never get built. Others said that if it were built it would close within the first year. June 5 of this year,…

By Franci Sagar and Sophie Claire Sagar – Lakeside Collaborative At Lakeside Collaborative, our retail strategy firm, we work with an open-source network of visionaries to design immersive retail experiences that echo and underline our client’s mission. The retail identities and stores we create become brand assets for their parent company – a testament to…

By Kelsey Groome, Managing Director, TRAUB Retail, as they say, is therapy.  The cathartic experience today is increasingly coming from in-store wellness concepts versus shopping for shopping’s sake.  As traditional retailers around the world are reimagining the brick and mortar store, fitness for the mind, body and soul is getting more attention and more space. …

By Tom Chappell, Founder – Tom’s of Maine and Ramblers Way My entrepreneurial life has consistently created an intelligent choice from what is the normative offering. The creation of a natural toothpaste, for instance, invited the question, “What is a natural toothpaste?” The context for the idea in 1972 belonged to an emerging niche in…

By Harvey Dulku, Retail Director – Fantasy World Toys As a Kuwaiti-based specialty toy store, Fantasy World has always strived to push the boundaries in both design and lifestyle. However, brick and mortar retailers in general have been suffering with lower footfall and lower conversion rates. Consumers are a lot more sophisticated in how they shop in…

By Joanne Healy The word “empowerment” is not often used to describe retail experiences.  But recently the Luxury Daily reported Barney’s New York taking a powerful stance on female equality and empowerment through The Barney’s New York Foundation’s “We Will Be” project. Strong role models such as Madeline Albright, Jane Fonda, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Lena…