September/October 2016

Category management was a major breakthrough when it arrived on the retail scene some three decades ago. When it did, merchandising and assortment planning decisions became fact-based, and all facets of the shopper experience benefited.

Just-in-time shopping creates fragmented trips and new — but surmountable — challenges for retailers. Quick trips — those "I need it now" grocery excursions — account for two-thirds of shopping visits and slightly more than one-third of grocery expenditures.

If there has been one constant in a retail industry characterized by unrelenting change, it was that private label could be relied upon to gain market share from brands. That was the case for roughly three decades, but those gains began decelerating about five years ago and came to a stop in 2015.

The ability to understand, predict and ideally shape consumer behavior lies at the heart of today’s heightened interest in analytics and the growing appreciation for the huge potential of data-driven insights. Retailers consistently ranked analytics as a strategic priority in the recently releas

Retailers eager to satisfy shoppers' growing expectations for home delivery are relying on a range of third-party alternatives. When it comes to home delivery, the last mile is the hardest, and aside from Amazon, no retailers' supply chain infrastructure was purpose-built to pick, pack and make res

The retail industry has never seen anything like Amazon.

Consumers who are interested in paying by phone have a lot of choices. 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? Mobile wallets are like the Wild West: no central authority and lots of open terri

For CPG retailers, good things may come in small packages, but they don't come easily. 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 so

Football season is in full swing, and at some point this year a major controversy will arise at a crucial point in a game regarding whether a player caught the ball. The definition of "a catch" has become very nuanced thanks to technological advances such as high-resolution zoom lenses an

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.

Scheduling hourly workers has always been a balancing act. Now it's being done on a very high wire. On one side, workers want more hours, and more predictable ones. On the other, demands for labor are shifting, in both the short and long term, requiring extra flexibility.

A Letter from the President and CEO
Leslie G. Sarasin