2018 has lived up to its billing. The year promised zaniness amid the industry-wide “crack-up,” and it has not disappointed. The last six months have raised as many questions as answers. It is appropriate that we now pause and pull […]
Retail’s Mid-Year Physical Exam Read More »
The Retail Radicals is Hosted by Richard Jaffe, The Robin Report and the W. Edwards Deming Center – In Collaboration with SAP Join Robin Lewis at The Retail Radicals, a one-day interactive forum on emerging trends and macro shifts shaping the
The 2018 Retail Forum at Columbia Business School Read More »
We know most every organization has an underbelly. Hopefully, customers never get to experience that dark and dysfunctional place where unlucky customers get tossed about by incompetence and indifference lurking underneath the polished veneer of the branding campaign. This is
Best Buy, Worst Service Read More »
Everybody’s got skin in the game when it comes to international trade. Some are just a little more thin-skinned than others. Now we’re going to find out who and how much it’s going to cost retailers and the American consumer
Blood on the Battlefield Read More »
Just over a year ago I wrote “Amazon Ain’t Just a River in Egypt”. The only thing that’s changed in its content is that Jeff Bezos is no longer the second richest person in the world. Today, he’s the richest person
GDS – GaryVee Denial Syndrome Read More »
Look at any list of the most powerful advertising messages of all times and the 1948 De Beers-N.W. Ayers slogan “A Diamond Is Forever” is at the top. While many claim the line made the $80 billion diamond industry what
Lab-Grown Diamonds Are Now a Girl’s Best Friend Read More »
Sustainable fashion has been more of an oxymoron than a reality since the advent of mass merchandising. But social media, internet-enabled transparency and a new zeitgeist has brought the broader ESG (environmental social governance) movement to a tipping point. Across
The New Sustainability Read More »
How many of you are following the conversations between Vladimir and Estragon? I doubt many have the time to get involved in yet another inane online activity. But about 400,000 people have tuned into twitch.tv to follow a streamed chat
Invasion of the Homebots Read More »
I have watched with interest the travails of Victoria’s Secret. The brand, a historic market leader, as well reported is in trouble. The seminal evolution pivot of our species in the past 100 years has been birth control and its
Why Women Buy Lingerie Read More »
I have often said and written that the traditional retail sector has a huge untapped advantage over e-commerce. They can they create a compelling “Starbuckean third place,” full of experiences that cannot be created online. Additionally, they have the potential
Macy’s Brand Ambassadors: Radical and Brilliant Read More »
