January 2011 Blog Posts (8)

What do Whole Foods, Meijer, Best Buy and the Mall Of America all have in common?  They have all implemented charging stations for electric vehicles in pilot locations.  Some charge a fee and others offer charging for free.  The free services are expected to decrease over time as the number of electric vehicles on the road increases.  It takes longer to charge a battery than it does to fill up with gas and customer cars spend regular amounts of time in retail parking lots.  As such, electric…

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Milwaukee-area independent Sendik's Food Market opted for transparency in a remake of its original Whitefish Bay Market. The strategy paid off.

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Last week I had the privilege of visiting exhibitors at this year's National Retail Federation event in the company of IGN member Michael Avella.

 

Mike owns a restaurant called Love Lane Kitchen in Mattituck, NY, and is in the process of building a grocery store in an adjacent building formerly occupied by an A&P. "My restaurant customers, when they are…

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PROGRESSIVE GROCER Independent's January cover story profiles the Retailer-owned Research Company, a retail technology vendor that is owned by three cooperative wholesalers. Featured in the story are IGN member…

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This is my attempt to create a list of New Year’s resolutions. The thing is, I’m tired of breaking my resolutions; year after year I fail always saying “next year is the year I’m going to get it right.” Even look at me now finishing up my new years resolutions 7 days after the New Year. So this year I decided to do something a little different to ensure that I get it right. I’m still creating a list, but this time the list isn’t for me anymore, it’s for you!



But don’t worry, I’m not… Continue

It’s hard to believe you can reduce your cost of electricity or natural gas with the stroke of a pen…but it’s absolutely true.  Here is what you need to know about getting the most out of customer choice utility programs.  These programs have been available in most industrialized states since 1999.…

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In an earlier blog ("We're Talking High Tech Today"), I talked about the importance of educating the consumer in how to use a product in order to increase satisfaction with the product and drive repeat purchase. Today, I'd like to take just a brief moment to talk a little bit more about this topic.



As an industry, we need to continue to educate ourselves and strive to improve our offering. That's a key reason why we've devoted so much time and energy (and yes, money) to research--to… Continue

The design of any sign is only limited by its function and expense.  A very utilitarian sign may cost very little while a very expensive sign may lose some of its functionality.  The sign design can say a great deal about what type of experience customers…

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