RetailSails

• Online retailers evolving to serve the confident, connected consumer (Internet Retailer)
• Interbrand Rankings Show Amazon Gained Brand Value at Best Buy’s Expense (Bloomberg)
• Fashion Brands Would Rather Make Their Own Magazines Than Buy Ads (NY Times)
• Record-Breaking Retail Lease Deal Rumored on 5th Ave in NYC (Retail Traffic)
• Can You Grow by Shrinking? How ‘Endless Aisle’ is Changing Retail (RISNews)
• Small retailers need to “re-envision” the future to survive against big-box & online chains (USA Today)
• Retail consumer satisfaction up, but still below pre-recession levels (Boston Globe)
• The Brands American Men And Women Desire Most (Forbes)
• Retailers betting on technology in race to lure shoppers & run stores more effectively (Globe & Mail)
• How To Predict What Consumers Want Before They Even Know It (FastCo)
• The Redboxification of the American Shopping Experience (Time)
• Though Not Yet Profitable, Amazon’s Prime Key to Company’s Future Growth (Fortune)
• U.S. department stores surging back to life or headed for dustbin of retail history? (SCT)
• People Who Buy, Use Then Return Stuff Costing Retailers $16 Billion A Year (Business Insider)
• U.S. Retail Outlook: 9 trends to watch in 2012 (Colliers)
• Retailers find bigger returns in smaller spaces (KC Star)

Here’s what we are reading on President’s Day:

• Warm Weather Puts Chill on Brands’ Winters (AdAge)
• Coinstar looks to reinvent vending machines, expand self-service retailing beyond Redbox (NY Times)
• Five Cents of Every Retail Dollar Now Spent Online (WSJ)
• How going private helped BJ’s Wholesale change its game (Boston Globe)
• Mobile Audience Insights Report Finds Key Trends in Location and Mobile (JiWire)
• Nordstrom’s Savvy Sales Strategies For Stellar Growth (Forbes)
• Following retailers’ lead, marketers will soon realize they’d better start utilizing Pinterest (Adweek)
• Pop-Up Shopping Wall Lets You Buy Beauty Products With Your Phone (PSFK)
• Brands have failed on Facebook BUT F-Commerce NOT a failure (ZDNet)
• The Case for a CVS-Walgreen Combination (Morningstar)
• Valentine’s M-Commerce Proves Christmas Was No Mobile Fluke (MediaPost)
• McDonald’s Losing That Lovin’ Feeling? Brand Perception Not Keeping Pace With Sales Growth (AdAge)
• After Slow Recession Sales, Men Buying Fashion Accessories Again (NY Times)
• Gen Y shoppers increasingly mixing luxury & value (USA Today)
• American Apparel Loses Hipster Fans as it Cracks Down on Shoplifting (HuffPost)

Here are the top retail & consumer stories on our radar this Friday afternoon:

• Why Mobile Shoppers Want Brick-and-Mortar Stores (Bloomberg)
• Location-based technology will redefine behavioral targeting, maybe sooner than you think (Adweek)
• Urban Outfitters is bringing its fledgling bridal concept to Chicago (Chicago Tribune)
• Pampers or Huggies? How Diapers.com Profiles Customers From First Click (Forbes)
• New Rich Fuel Luxury Boom Even as Low-End Suffers (WSJ)
• F-Commerce Fails to Live Up to the Hype as Gap to JC Penney Shut Facebook Stores (Businessweek)
• Why Consumer Goods Brands Must Think More Like Retailers (brandchannel)
• 5 Paradoxes Shaping the Future of Mobile Commerce (Mashable)
• Target Still Sees Opportunity for Growth in U.S. (Star Tribune)
• Customers Love a Company That Keeps Its Promises (1to1media)
• A Six-Pack of Insights: Where Consumers Buy Their Beverages (CSP)
• Smartphones & tablets influence consumer purchasing decisions on mobile, online and in store (Google)
• Toymakers Hope Parents Are Ready to Splurge on Their Kids This Year (CNBC)
• Memo to Retailers: Social Media Should Focus on Engagement, Not About # of Fans (Knowledge@Wharton)
• Mobile & Tablet Commerce – Is Anyone Really Ready? (Zmags)

• Walmart restoring image as go-to retailer for budget-conscious Americans with back-to-basics approach (Reuters)
• Big Bet On Bricks and Mortar as Westfield Backs Regional Shopping Malls (CoStar Group)
• Facebook Tests Concept Enabling Merchants to Offer Discount Codes for Sharing (Portfolio)
• Sears and Ulta: Two Chicago retailers, two divergent paths (Crain’s Chicago)
• Foxwoods Resort Casino plans luxury retail outlet center (Boston Herald)
• Hong Kong Rent Topping Manhattan Doesn’t Faze Retailers in China (Bloomberg)
• How Companies Learn Your Secrets: Inside Target’s Guest Marketing Analytics Department (NY Times)
• Retail Container Traffic To Show Increases In First Half Of 2012 (NRF)
• E-Commerce Sales Increased 16.1% in 2011 to nearly $195 billion (US Dept of Commerce)
• Data Analysis + Customer Focused Marketing Strategy = Personalized Brand Experience (Business 2 Community)
• Zale’s best hope might be combination with Signet Jewelers (Reuters)
• Is Brick-and-Mortar Shopping the Next Big Thing in Digital? (Huffington Post)
• High-end designers create uniforms for the masses (CNN)
• Retail hiring managers concerned about top-worker turnover (Chain Store Age)
• Designer John Varvatos on Fashion, How Jessica Simpson Became $1 Billion Brand (Yahoo! Finance)

Here’s what we are reading this Wednesday afternoon:

• Shopping secrets of retail’s customer service associates (WSJ)
• The Unique Ways Retailers are Using Pinterest to Showcase Their Brands (Shop.org)
• Gap recruits fashion bloggers to style new digital catalog (ClickZ)
• The Only Lasting Competitive Advantage Is Extreme Trust (Fast Company)
• Sam’s Club, Publix & Starbucks Top Customer Experience Rankings (Temkin Group)
• Downward shift in luxury consumer attitudes signals shift toward ‘inconspicuous’ consumption (Unity Marketing)
• U.S. Retail Beer Sales Grew 2% to $98 Billion in 2011 (NACS)
• NBC’s “Fashion Star” hopes authenticity & fashion purity drive shoppers to the stores (Star Tribune)
• Walmart and Target Retail Stores Give Amazon a Brick & Mortar Footprint (ClickIQ)
• The spring to deploy tablets is rolling out faster than any other retail technology (RISNews)
• For Retailers, 2012 All About Customer Interaction And Experience (NRF)
• Amazon’s Approach to Advertising Might Work, But It’s Not for Every Retailer (AdAge)
• How flash sales sites influence high-end fashion purchases (RetailWire)
• What dot-com companies’ move to bricks-and-mortar stores could mean for retailers (Mobile Commerce Daily)
• eBay is repositioning itself as a technology partner, not competitor, for retailers (ZDNet)