CPG Brands: Increase Shelf Space with Creative Merchandising
Small batch. Specialty. Artisanal. Customers are demanding diversified and specialty packaged goods like beer or a five-ingredient granola bar. With a shift in consumer behavior comes an increasing need for CPG creative merchandising in order to rise above other brands. (A quality product won’t shine on product display shelves if shoppers can’t find it.) To
LEARN MORE >Sustainable Fashion: Connect with Conscious Consumers
While fashion retail may currently be taking a hit, there’s a bright spot: secondhand fashion and accessories. From denim to luxury goods, the resale market is ramping up in prime locations and premier department stores, in addition to having a huge presence online. Providing a sustainable fashion option to consumers who seek it. While digital
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Health and Beauty Retail Goes for a Greener Audience
Over the years, the number of natural health and beauty products has exploded. And what was once a health-food store category is now universally appealing, with premium-quality offerings. Perhaps 10-15 years ago, natural beauty products in a mainstream store was practically unheard of. But all of that changed in the mid-2010s: in 2015 the global
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Increase Sales with Retail Partnerships
The holiday shopping season is retail’s biggest breadwinner, bringing in nearly 30% of annual sales each year and climbing. While the amount of holiday shoppers turning to e-commerce continues to grow, brick and mortar is still the method of choice for buying gifts. Even a majority 55% of tech-obsessed Gen-Z customers report planning to head
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Window Display Goes Big Just in Time for Holiday
In a world where we are bombarded with constant information, art is still one of the biggest forms of inspiration. When harnessed in the retail sphere, art draws customers in, evokes emotion and tells a story. Window display is a highly visual experience and in high-volume foot traffic environments, where hundreds—if not thousands—of customers pass
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Home & DIY Retail Innovation with Tech
The 2018 U.S. Census Bureau survey reports that there are 128 million households in the country covering apartments, home rentals, and home ownership (over double the 1960 count of 53 million households). Whether you are a renter or an owner, being a fixer upper today isn’t the laborious chore it used to be. Retail innovation brings
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Augmented Reality — Impact at Brick and Mortar Retail
According to Gartner, by 2020, 100 million consumers will consistently use Augmented Reality (AR) to shop—both online and in-store. What’s more, 46 percent of retailers plan to deploy AR or VR technologies to forge a better customer experience. The data is clear: AR has evolved from a retail novelty to a must-have item. This interactive
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A Toy Story: In Retail, New Tech Toys Craft an AR Narrative
Tech toys. For good and for bad, generations of kids are growing up more plugged in than ever. In fact, 84% of children aged 3-7 and 96% between ages 8-12 have access to their own internet-connected devices. In tandem with more tots going mobile, toy retailers have seen profits take a downturn—the Toys R Us 2018
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Social Cause Captures the Imagination of the 8-second Generation: Pop-up Retail Delivers
You’ve only got eight seconds. Yup, you read that right. Gen Z, otherwise known as the iGeneration, is busy manifesting a highly evolved, eight second filter in assessing what’s worthy of their attention. That means that every second counts, and social cause marketing will get them to notice and accept your message. CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)
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At Barnes & Noble, a Story of Fantastical Retail Transformation
You’re a wizard, Harry. May the force be with you. For readers young and old, there are perhaps no two literary franchises more ubiquitous than Harry Potter and Star Wars. To date, the Harry Potter brand has generated nearly $8 billion in book sales, while Star Wars books have brought in $1.8 billion—to say nothing
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CPG Converts March Madness into Retail Theater
It’s coming down to the final wire. We’ve spent the past few weeks glued to our TVs and live streaming devices, cheering on our favorite college basketball teams. It’s March Madness (though it’s almost April!), and it hasn’t just infiltrated our psyche, it’s made inroads in our markets – supermarkets that is. Consumer packaged goods
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A Tale of Two Toy Stores: FAO Schwarz vs. CAMP
Toys “R” Us is gone. The question has become: who will fill the void? From Party City’s Toy City pop-ups to JC Penney’s expanded toy sections to Kroger’s Toys “R” Us-branded sections, stores across the retail spectrum have entered the ring. But where these replacements have fallen short is the lack of focus on toys
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An All-Encompassing Trend: Why Health and Wellness Retail Is About More Than Vitamins
The start of the new year can only mean one thing: it’s time for resolutions. And for many consumers, that list of goals for the upcoming year starts with wellness through healthy choices. Health and wellness retail is their starting point. Of course, wellness has been a massive trend in the food & beverage sector,
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Achieving an Authentic Edge: The Brandless Impact Opportunity
Everyone has heard the old adage “less is more.” Maybe you even live by the acronym KISS – “keep it simple, stupid.” But where and how does this minimalistic philosophy lend itself to retail? If you’re one of the biggest up-and-coming brands, it’s the backbone of your company. Consumers (and investors) are falling in love with
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Timberland’s Flex Retail Marketing: Pop-Ups That Don’t Feel Like Pop-Ups
In the world of pop-ups, ideas fly fast and furious. But who would have thought that one of the freshest would come from a legacy brand out of Stratham, New Hampshire? We’ll call it flex retail marketing. Timberland recently launched a “flex” retail pop-up store that is full of life – literally. The 3,500-square-foot retail space (conveniently
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Retail Holiday Creep: Pros and Cons of (Too) Early Retailer and Retail Brand Displays
Today is the spookiest day of the year – and it’s also one of retail’s sweetest and tastiest. After the kids crash from sugar overload, the last cobweb is swept up and the witch’s hat is hung up until next year, Halloween is officially over, and you can finally rest. But wait. The elves don’t
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The Original Holiday Pop-Up: What Retailers Can Learn from Spirit Halloween
Holiday pop-up retail defies expectations. The so-called retail apocalypse has in fact claimed a lot of victims. Circuit City, Toys”R”Us, Borders are all resting peacefully in the graveyard of “shoppings past”. But amidst all of the passings, there’s one retailer that continues to defy the ashes, and, like a vampire, latch onto its lifeblood: brick-and-mortar.
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The Incredible Power of Movie Retail Partnerships
Soon to be released on DVD, Incredibles 2 has already stirred up a world of marketing buzz for movie retail partnerships. For the cinematic release in June, Disney partnered with no fewer than 14 brands ranging from McDonald’s to Zillow. The latter listed the Parr family home on its site, allowing visitors to explore every room
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Are You Ready for Holiday Retail 2018?
We are happy to present Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender as our Guest Bloggers this week writing about holiday retail. Rich and Georganne are consumer anthropologists, keynote speakers, authors, consultants who have helped thousands of businesses in retail, restaurant, hospitality, death care, and service industries since 1990. Fourth Quarter, the Golden Quarter; the big one
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Bringing the Power of the Beauty Vloggers In-Store
Vlogging, or video blogging, is revolutionizing the beauty market. Social media influencers with YouTube channels and Instagram feeds are raking in funds – often enough to subsidize an entire career – to make videos promoting brands. Beauty vloggers dedicate hours to craft videos where they demonstrate makeup trends and hairstyles and do brand comparisons. In
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