September/October 2016

Retailers who are interested in being paid by phone have a fundamental one: Wait for one or two systems to become dominant, or develop their own?

"When you look at this trend it is not unique to the United States," says Todd Hale, a consultant with Nielsen. For example, Hale notes that in Europe, where private label is more established, market share last year dipped slightly to 30.5 percent, compared to 30.6 percent in 2014.

For food retailers to provide their customers with the bank of information today's shoppers seek, they must be in lockstep communication with those who raised it and produced it.

Retailers see plenty of opportunity for small-format stores, particularly in densely populated urban environments, but winning with smaller stores means overcoming challenges that have proven daunting for even some of the most successful operators.

The idea of not having any choice in your phone carrier seems preposterous today. Those of us old enough all remember the days when Ma Bell dominated the telephone market, ending with the historical breakup of the legendary telephone monopoly.

How's private label trending? Depends on what category you examine. The average food category has seen a 5 percent increase in private label feature ad share compared to 2015.

Businesspeople have plenty of complaints about Washington and the way it operates—lack of fiscal responsibility, inability to compromise, and governing by crisis to name a few—but at their core these concerns boil down to one simple issue: unpredictability.