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.

Seeing Store Shelves Through Senior Eyes†

Wall Street Journal, September 14, 2009 — Before walking into a Walgreens drugstore here, Todd Vang donned glasses that blurred his vision, slipped un-popped popcorn into his shoes and adjusted tape that bound his thumbs to his palms.

The get-up was part of an exercise designed to help retailers better understand the physical challenges facing elderly shoppers. Mr. Vang, a 42-year-old Walgreen Co. vice president, struggled to pick up a can of soup. "I can't imagine how this would feel if the store were crowded," he said.

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.

WaMu's Branches Lose the Smiles†

Wall Street Journal, April 7, 2009 — Before it collapsed last September, Washington Mutual Inc. spent roughly $1 billion on a branch-building binge that replaced bank-teller windows with free-standing counters and cash-dispensing machines.

New owner J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is now dismantling it all, right down to the signs that promise "free checking, free smiles," and basically dragging the former WaMu branches back to the past.

Belly Up to the Bar And Buy Some Jeans†

Wall Street Journal, April 2, 2009 — On a recent afternoon, customers at Lost Boys in Washington, D.C., sipped cold beers and watched "Casino Royale" on a giant flat-screen TV.

Lost Boys isn't a bar. It's a men's clothing boutique catering to young professionals. The store's staff offers shoppers free beer in hopes they'll enjoy hanging out in the store and shopping a little longer, increasing the odds they'll buy more.

Cut the Mustard

Red Dot Square uses virtual reality to reinvent the center of the store

Hub, December 1, 2008 — Yes, it is critically important to understand how the mindset of the shopper is different from that of the consumer. But we must not forget that the shopper and the consumer is the same person. The greatest challenge of shopper marketing is, in fact, connecting the shopper experience to the consumer experience. The most important insight of all is how shoppers plan to use what they buy once they’re back home, once again living their lives as consumers.