Walmart 'Impact Store' Program Remains on Track†

Remodeled Stores Will Make Up 32% of Retailer's U.S. Outlets By Mid-November

Advertising Age, October 21, 2009 — Reports by some suppliers and others close to Walmart that the retailer will temporarily halt rollout of its remodeled "Impact Stores" looks to be wishful thinking: The retailer's executives indicated to analysts and investors today that the program remains on track, and that elimination of in-aisle displays will even accelerate.

Disney’s Retail Plan Is a Theme Park in Its Stores

The Walt Disney Company, with the help of Apple, intends to overhaul its approach to the shopping mall.

New York Times, October 13, 2009 — The Walt Disney Company, with the help of Steven P. Jobs and his retailing team at Apple, intends to drastically overhaul its approach to the shopping mall.

At a time when many retailers are still cutting back or approaching strategic shifts with extreme caution, Disney is going the other way, getting more aggressive and putting into motion an expensive and ambitious floor-to-ceiling reboot of its 340 stores in the United States and Europe — as well as opening new ones, including a potential flagship in Times Square.

Getting to 'Wow': Consumers Describe What Makes a Great Shopping Experience

Knowledge@Wharton, July 9, 2009 — Paula Courtney found "wow" when she took her daughter to the employee washroom at her local grocery store. A sign by the door instructed workers to remain physically by the side of any customer experiencing a problem until that problem was resolved. Later, when Courtney was in the checkout line, the cashier noticed Courtney's blueberries were squishy. The cashier insisted on walking back to the produce section to find a fresh box.

Shoppers Primed for a New World of Shopping Experiences

MarketingVox, May 19, 2008 — Biometric fingerprint payments, intelligent shopping carts, holographic sales assistance, and interactive dressing rooms are among the top shopping experience innovations foreseen by shoppers, finds a TNS Retail Forward study, MarketingCharts reports.

Retailers Harness Digital Media for In-Store Experiences, Product Sampling†

Also Re-evaluating How to Deliver the Sunday Circular Through Mobile, Web

Advertising Age, March 19, 2008 — When it comes to retail spaces, marketers have perhaps the best opportunity to tie digital-marketing experiences to physical-marketing experiences. And marketers are experimenting with morphing circulars into mobile formats, implementing social media into in-store experiences and using technology to promote product sampling. In some cases, these technologies can be considered media in their own right.

Apple Retail Stores Revamp for Holidays

Associated Press, November 23, 2007 — Not a cash register is in sight. The electronics on display are all powered up and ready for use. Personal trainers, specialists and newly minted concierges in aqua blue shirts make the Apple Store feel part salon, part Internet cafe — just without the espresso. Over the past year, Apple Inc. has revamped its 201 stores, changing the layout, adding services and increasing its staffing. The "concierge" service that Apple launched last week is only the latest initiative designed to draw more visitors and bolster already record-breaking sales.

Online Sales Lose Steam

Online commerce has enjoyed hypergrowth, but now that growth has slowed sharply in a trend analysts call a turning point

New York Times, June 17, 2007 — Since the inception of the Web, online commerce has enjoyed hypergrowth, with annual sales increasing more than 25 percent over all, and far more rapidly in many categories. But in the last year, growth has slowed sharply in major sectors like books, tickets and office supplies.

Federated gets behind mall-based multichannel concept

DMNews, May 16, 2007 — Federated Department Stores has taken a stake in The Epicenter Collection, the new mall concept designed to showcase catalogers, e-tailers and individual brands. Gordon Group Holdings, which first developed The Epicenter Collection several years ago, announced yesterday that Federated has leased a former Lord & Taylor store in Delaware to Epicenter in exchange for an equity interest in the company.

Few Convert at Retail E-Commerce Sites

Many shop. Few buy.

eMarketer, April 9, 2007 — Online merchants convert an average of 2%-3% of their site visitors into buyers, according to the e-tailing group's "Sixth Annual Merchant Survey." That's about the same as last year. And the year before that. The group says that driving the right customers to sites and increasing sales and retention all require more targeted tactics every year.

For Bulgari, a New Look and New Ventures

New York Times, April 6, 2007 — Nicola Bulgari entered his Manhattan office like he owned it, which, of course, as the grandson of Sotirio Bulgari, the great Roman jeweler, he did. In the big room, whose windows overlook Tiffany and Vuitton, almost everything looked fairly old, at least since the last generation, including the portrait of his father leaning against the wall, still unhung. Only a new white sofa stuck out. It did not match his sensibility.