In the Age of Specialty Everything, many private label brands are now winning taste tests – to the point that generic food items are said to taste as good as or better than national brands. How do marketers respond when a major consumer publication like Consumer Reports magazine says that brands those marketers oversee might not perform/taste as well as those from generic issuers?
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The Neighborhood Market Returns
Just when Americans seemed sold on big-box grocery stores as the answer to meeting or beating the monthly food budget, along come several national chains that want to sell people on an idea once thought extinct: Buying household groceries from the friendly neighborhood market. Is a significant change afoot? And will product manufacturers need to change their go-to-market strategies?
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Using Gamification to Engage Customers and Employees
Expanding on the premise that most activities – including shopping and work – aren’t as stressful if they feel like fun, gamification has risen to prominence in the world of retail. Merchants as diverse as Nike, Whole Foods and New York-area drug store chain Duane Reade are taking a long, hard look at how online games and apps can help them improve the bottom line while keeping customers — and employees – entertained. And, the retailers hope, loyal.
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