Insight | Page 6 of 15 | Pierce Mattie

IT’s Growing Role in What You Buy at the Supermarket

Business Intelligence (BI) systems have been around since at least the late 1950s. Now, with the advent of better tech and faster systems, what took days to find out can take as little as a few seconds. But do buyers of consumer packaged goods really want the Geek Patrol telling everyone what to stock and, presumably, what to buy?

Holiday Spending Highlights U.S. Wealth Gap

With one percent of the U.S. population controlling a little more than half of the country’s assets these days, how do marketers deal with the growing divide between rich and poor in America, aka the Wealth Gap? A look at how those on the lower end of the economic ladder could provide some insight. If you know your Charles Dickens, that is.

Social Zeroes

Given how far social media guidelines seem not to have traveled within the global community, it seems way past time for a refresher – especially when it comes to pushing a company message in the wake of a death or tragedy. It all boils down to something fairly simple, really. Go ahead. Take a moment. It’ll come to you.

13 Fitness Trends Emerging in 2013

The latest developments in exercise involve more than just the progression of a tried-and-true routine. Combining principles of different disciplines into a single approach, maximizing regimens to combat age and going virtual to the mutual benefit of trainers and clients are where fitness is headed, say the experts at Shape magazine. And there’s little to no turning back in sight.

Ready-to-Wear Goes Austere…and Weird

The news regarding London Fashion Week can only be summed up in one word: disturbing. Has the fashion world finally been tamed to cater more exclusively to bourgeois/nouveau riche tastes? Or have designers finally wised up to the idea that Seventies-style fashions (an oxymoron if ever there was one) can be used for inspiration but not as outright archetypes?

How to Deal with Beauty Lists

Are so-called Beauty Lists worth even a cursory glance? Can anything good come from scanning a slideshow about the 12 Best Ways to Massage Away Your Wrinkles? And even if you come away with a factoid you didn’t know before, how much better would it be to turn your attention to something more thoughtful, and less obviously geared toward making you a captive audience for advertising?

Branding on YouTube

YouTube was all fun and games until it became just another platform for selling stuff. Besides peep shows and online brides-to-be. With 100 hours of video added to YouTube each hour, how can brands avoid producing content that disappears amid all the white noise?

Bigger Stores Could Dent Retailers’ Holiday Profits

“He who has the largest store or number of stores will sell the most things between now and the end of the year.” Right? Maybe not. Bigger, alas, is not always better. But could larger operations with extra floor space actually result in lower sales numbers? Especially once the holiday shopping season stampedes into town? Is that even possible?

Covering the Fashions of the Times

Take in some stories about Paris Fashion Week and you might start to wonder what filters are being used to discern noise from news. You could randomly spray paint a poncho, walk down any Paris street – and some self-appointed expert would write a blog post about it. Here’s a glimpse at how these kinds of events get covered. And why the coverage might perfectly suit the events themselves. Or not.

Amazon and Wal-Mart Priming for the Grocery Business?

There’s $565 billion worth of sales in the grocery business every year, according to a report from CNBC. Problem is, profit margins have always been historically low. So why would the likes of Amazon and Wal-Mart rush headlong to get into the food business? Does either company believe that establishing a beachhead on Aisle 2 will be worth the effort? Not to mention the cost?