List of blog entries

How to entice shoppers in-store and boost both foot traffic and sales? Focus on customer experience, make it fun and unique. Briefly, become a master of retailtainment.

With online shopping being cheaper, faster and more convenient, it is little wonder that retail profits have been shrinking steadily, while more brick-and-mortar stores are closing. That said, conventional stores have at least one advantage over their online counterparts: they give shoppers opportunity to physically interact with the products. But will that be enough to effectively compete against e-commerce?

The economic recession brought with it new opportunities for supermarkets and drugstores to attract consumers who are keen on saving on everyday purchases. One of the simplest strategies to trim bills has been to swap brand names for to cheaper generic “no-name” brands sold only at specific chains. Consequently, private label products received a big boost on the store shelf and on clients’ shopping lists. In total, private label in the U.S. now accounts for more than 20 percent of grocery store sales and 18 percent of superstore sales.

Development of so-called "smart shelves" which watch customers while they are shopping is just one of many ways of using Microsoft's Kinect technology. Since its launch in November 2010, investigators from various industries had been experimenting with the system in ingenious and diverse applications. After finding a number of uses outside of gaming, Microsoft's Kinect motion-sensing console accessory is fast becoming a hit in the world of medicine.