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
LEARN MORE >The Opportunities and “How To” Dynamics of Seasonal Retail Merchandising
Modern retail merchandisers understand that the seasonal retail calendar year is broken down into more than four traditional seasons (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall). In fact, the Wall Street Journal enumerates between 13 to 20 seasons! While it can be overwhelming to think about 13 to 20 merchandising turnovers, restocks, and resets, a more proactive approach is
LEARN MORE >
How Mass Merch is Rivaling Fast Fashion Retail Competitors
Up until a few years ago, mass merch retailers like Walmart weren’t synonymous with fashion retail. Their private label clothing brands were never the focus—but fast forward to 2019, where Walmart collections are selling out before hitting the shelves and #TargetStyle has amassed over 1,100,000 uses on Instagram. Mass merch retail is finally able to keep
LEARN MORE >
It’s Raining Menswear
Since the dawn of time (or at least since the start of mass-market retail), womenswear has been the dominant force in the apparel market. Dresses, shoes, blouses, handbags—you name it; driving sales in these apparel categories was the ultimate goal underlying retailers’ marketing strategy, and menswear was second-fiddle. But now, an unexpected shift is fast-approaching:
LEARN MORE >
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
LEARN MORE >
Tech Just for Her: Does Gendered Marketing Work in Tech?
Inclusivity. A big trend hitting retail over the past year. Gender neutrality and gender fluidity are permeating product offerings and retail displays. But at the same exact time, another contradictory trend is impacting the retail space – particularly in the consumer electronics sector. And that trend is gendered marketing. New brands are cropping up left and
LEARN MORE >
The Retail Footprint Is Shrinking (Smaller Stores Can Work to a Retailer Brand’s Advantage)
Is bigger really better? When it comes to your retail footprint, the answer is increasingly becoming no. Smaller stores are presenting efficient, market-friendly solutions. We see brands moving away from the tried-and-true, big-box suburban store strategy in favor of smaller, carefully curated spaces in cities and bustling college towns. In doing so, brands are looking to
LEARN MORE >
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
LEARN MORE >
Hudson Yards Opens in NYC – Is This the New Face of Retail?
If you live in New York City, you’ve watched it grow. If you work in retail anywhere in the world, you couldn’t escape the media blitz. It’s finally arrived – Hudson Yards opened on Manhattan’s far West Side last Friday. We sent our Medallion Retail team to experience it in person. Emphasis on “experience it”
LEARN MORE >
New Year, New Ideas: The Five Biggest Retail Trends We Expect in 2019
For all its ups and downs, 2018 saw a lot of interesting retail trends. But now that the bubbly has stopped flowing and the sparklers have fizzled out, we’re taking out our crystal ball to look into 2019 retail trends. Trend #1: The Dissemination of Pop-Ups Living in the nucleus of retail paradise here in
LEARN MORE >
E-Commerce Pop-Ups Deliver a Much-Needed Physical Presence to Online Retail
Once upon a time, pop-ups were simply opportunistic. A way for retailers to generate extra sales in empty storefronts, a low-cost solution for emerging businesses hoping to gain a toehold in a market, or a way for big-buck brands to generate a giant splash. But during the past few years, pop-ups have undergone an evolution,
LEARN MORE >
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
LEARN MORE >
The Importance of Transparent and Sustainable Fashion
Plastic has had a bad year. People are saying ‘no’ to plastic straws to save sea turtles. Government officials are passing laws to ban plastic shopping bags. And reusable water bottle sales are soaring. So what does this have to do with fashion? Well, everything. Especially as more people start to realize that the fashion
LEARN MORE >
Rotating Pop-Up Retail — The Trick to Compelling Return Visits
Everyone loves good pop-up retail. With inventive cross-brand partnerships and creative merchandising, you entice customers into your store for an exciting purchasing experience. And there’s the rub. One pop-up. One experience. One visit. Why not turn one visit into two? Or more? When it comes to pop-ups, the more the merrier. There’s no rule stating
LEARN MORE >
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.
LEARN MORE >
Leveraging In-Store Shopping Technology
These days, who doesn’t shop without a smartphone glued to their hand or tucked into a pocket? Rather than fight the wave of smartphone apps or limit technology to the check-out area, brick-and-mortar brands should join the rising tide. In-store shopping technology apps and augmented reality can engage your customers– and expand your venue– in
LEARN MORE >
Retail Sales Staff Training: Your On-Site and Online Secret Weapon
A user-friendly site. Chat features. Strong images. E-commerce retailers have been using these UX tactics and more to humanize the online shopping experience. But all told, in the realm of personal warmth, human interaction, humor and caring, e-commerce can’t stand toe-to-toe with the in-store experience…and it probably never will. You may say, shopping today is only about price, variety and convenience. If that were the case, brick and mortar
LEARN MORE >
The Pinterest to Retail Revolution: Leveraging the Platform to Inspire Younger Shoppers
Decorations for a birthday cake. Patterns for a knit sweater. Innovative ideas for bedroom organization. Pinterest to retail. Pinterest has become the place for finding inspiration for retail DIY projects. This is especially true for the younger generations. Sixty-seven percent of Pinterest users are millennials, and one out of every two millennials spends time on Pinterest each month.
LEARN MORE >
Blending Work and Play Through Workplace Pop-Ups
Across the nation, millions of people are locked into work every day from 9 to 5 – and often even longer. For retailers, this time frame coincides almost exactly with their stores’ hours of operation. But there’s a new way to reach this largely untapped consumer audience around work hours — workplace pop-ups. From co-working
LEARN MORE >
A Case Study in Evolving: How Best Buy Survived to Thrive
Electronics stores are dead. Or so we thought. Best Buy, against all odds, has fought its way back to become once again a thriving electronics chain. Since they had a leadership switch in 2012, Best Buy’s shares have rocketed from $22.34 to $78.92. That’s a hefty 241.92% increase, and an incredible recovery, beating Wall Street
LEARN MORE >