http://blog.emap.com/retailvoice Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:56:46 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Earlier this month, at the Retail Week Conference in London, there appeared to be a gloomier mood prevailing compared to the upbeat one at NRF in January. Certainly there were enough presentations on the economic scenario for the rest of this year that would make anyone gloomy. Tax rises, a ... http://blog.emap.com/retailvoice/2010/03/14/a-little-bit-of-what-people-want/ Whatever challenges may lie ahead for retailers, there is general consensus that if you are looking for growth then it has to come from online. It is changing the landscape and indeed many product sectors before our very eyes as we have already seen with financial services, travel, books, music ... http://blog.emap.com/retailvoice/2010/02/25/online-friend-or-foe/ Most people would accept that it makes great sense to ask advice from people who have faced the same experiences. But it is equally true that so many people choose to ignore this simple rule - despite it often coming for free. I was reminded of that in the last ... http://blog.emap.com/retailvoice/2010/02/07/listening-to-the-past/ On London's Oxford Street yesterday a man was stood on a box with a loud hailer and a wearing a board proclaiming in big bold letters: "panic no more". Through the loud hailer he was proclaiming to all the shoppers walking along the Street that "the recession was over" and ... http://blog.emap.com/retailvoice/2010/01/27/so-why-doesnt-it-feel-better/ New York in early January would never seem to be the most hospitable of months to visit this great City. The winds that whip through the Avenues and Streets can cut right through you. A year ago, when retailers converged on New York for the NRF convention, the mood matched ... http://blog.emap.com/retailvoice/2010/01/13/what-a-difference-a-year-makes/ Signing off my last blog before the Christmas holiday I said that prospects for the New Year could be made or broken by the consumer and their continuing capacity to surprise. And surprise they did here in the UK with retailers reporting very strong trading which got even stronger with ... http://blog.emap.com/retailvoice/2010/01/03/new-beginnings/ Its that time of year when the media are full of reviews of both the year and the decade about to end - the "noughties" as it has been dubbed. What a decade of contrasts it has been, but best characterised as being about "boom" and "bust". For much of ... http://blog.emap.com/retailvoice/2009/12/23/that-end-of-year-feeling/ So now we know how Christmas 2009 could finish up for the retail industry. America's big Thanksgiving holiday which is followed by "Black Friday" and now "Cyber Monday" has taken on the role of being a global benchmark for retailers. And the official verdict, as supplied by the National Retail ... http://blog.emap.com/retailvoice/2009/12/02/the-shape-of-things-to-come-2/ The big news in UK retailing last week was the announcement of a new CEO for Marks and Spencer. After months of speculation, the company unveiled their choice for this crucial position to be Marc Bolland, the former Heineken COO and then saviour of UK food retailer, Morrison's. A surprise ... http://blog.emap.com/retailvoice/2009/11/23/the-size-of-the-challenge/ The retail mantra of "knowing your customer" has never been more true than it is today. And many retailers certainly appear to have plenty of tools to do just that with sales data pouring into the company's systems every minute, hour and day. But it would seem that this is ... http://blog.emap.com/retailvoice/2009/11/08/drowning-in-data/