Interesting facts

Wal-Mart will spend millions this year to update hundreds of stores, including 12 stores in Michigan. The effort is meant to connect in-store and online shopping, and features changes such as moving in-store pickup to the front of stores, tests of a click-and-collect grocery service, a dedicated lounge area for customers picking up orders, lower shelving and more signs.  Start looking I am starting to see Walmart change like adding more self check out lanes and guess what they are being used!

More info about retailers:

IKEA Group has promoted Jesper Brodin, a 22-year veteran of the Sweden-based furniture retailer, to CEO, effective Sept. 1. Brodin succeeds Peter Agnefjall and will continue the company's focus on growing its online efforts, said IKEA Chairman Lars-Johan Jarnheimer.

Bloomberg 


 Macy's has expanded a self-serve model in its shoe department to three Chicago stores and it expects to roll out the change to all stores by July. Associates will still be on hand to help shoe shoppers, but the new setup gives customers the option of bypassing help, and early tests in select markets led to higher shoe sales, Chief Financial Officer Karen Hoguet said.

In Nebraska Malls are still thriving look at the end of this short article:
Locally, Nebraska Crossing Outlets in Gretna has been fully leased since its opening three years ago, developer Rod Yates said. The outlet mall also is wrapping up an expansion that will house an Ulta store and an H&M, to open in August. Yates attributes the center’s success to its mix of tenants, many of whom are new to the market, and a technology platform that allows the mall to collect data on its customers and where they shop.  Collect data is the term, know your customer!

React to change and prosper:

What new retail benchmarks say about the way we shop now

Consumers have been quick to make new technology a part of their lives and expect retailers to do the same. NRF's Jessica Hibbard looks at the latest NRF-FitForCommerce Omnichannel Retail Index to see how retailers are adding features that make it easier for shoppers to discover products, get what they want and collect rewards for coming back again. 

The NRF-FitForCommerce Omnichannel Retail Index tracks retailer implementation of 200 digital and multichannel features — those deceivingly small considerations that make an outsized difference on the shopping experience — and found a double-digit increase in adoption rates on several types of initiatives. From the first study conducted in August 2015 to the most recent analysis in October 2016, online and multichannel retailers have been adding features that make it easier for shoppers to discover products, get what they want and collect rewards for coming back again.

Generation Z??

Mathews also dissects Uniquely Gen Z, an extensive NRF/IBM research study about the youngest generation of consumers. The rise of social media and evolving technologies has ushered in rapid change, and the upheaval will continue as Generation Z gains even more spending power.

“They’re impatient,” Mathews says, speaking about the differences between Gen Z and older generations. “They want things now.” Listen to this episode of Retail Gets Real to learn how retailers can better meet Gen Z’s needs and earn their trust early in their careers as consumers

It is through technology at all levels that retailers and business in general will grow and thrive. Another such example of ways to get those customers to buy faster and direct them in a store are products by COOL-ADStm:

• Energize your P.O.P. advertising and increase sales with sensory messaging.

  Bring your P.O.P. advertising out of the dark ages with beautiful backlit graphics.
  Command your shoppers' attention and drive sales higher with sensory messaging. Backlit LEDs are incorporated into a design structure that diffuses light across the entire panel. Create whatever messages/designs you want. They print easily on inexpensive transparent sheets and can be installed within seconds. A motion detector module controls the automatic on/off and sleep functions. Battery powered using 8 AA batteries located in an easily accessible compartment.  This captures attention in a store and gets a shopper to the product faster! Once again, a retailer can assist their shopper and make them happy thus hopefully bringing them back again and again.

If you are interested in products from Cool-Adstm let me know I can guide you or visit their web page at http://www.cooladhandles.com/home.php

More to come soon about retail and about new technology!

Joe Rossini