| Global retail industry news |  |
- Wal-Mart eyes Russia, X5 denies buyout rumors
Russian supermarket retailer X5 says there's no deal to sell its Karusel hypermarket chain to Wal-Mart, despite published rumors. Wal-Mart didn't comment on the rumors, but said it continues to evaluate its options for entering Russia. "We examined the Russian market for several years and concluded the right entry strategy is through acquisition," a spokesman said. Reuters (15 Feb.)       | Consumer Insights Your Brand Needs to Know: Latest Trends in Behavioral Advertising
Learn what brand managers, advertisers, as well as networks, agencies, and publishers need to know about consumer survey insights into behavioral ad serving, also known as interest-based advertising. Learn more today! |
 - Scotland's retail sales dropped in January
Retail sales in Scotland fell 1.5% in January compared to the same month last year, the biggest decline since 1999, and like-for-like sales dropped 2.6%, according to the Scottish Retail Consortium. Confidence is low among Scottish consumers coping with higher fuel and utility prices and employment uncertainty, the group said. The Retail Bulletin (15 Feb.) - Thorntons profits suffer as sweets sales slow
UK consumers cut way back on pricey chocolates during the holidays, a trend that led to a 90% decline in profits for chocolate retailer Thorntons. The chain, which last year said it would close 120 stores, has raised that number to 180. "These results and the economic climate only reaffirm the need for change," said CEO Jonathan Hart. The Guardian (London) (15 Feb.)  | Voice of the Customer is not just about surveys anymore.
Customers are interacting with your brand through multiple channels including the website, retail store, contact center and even social media. Download this white paper and learn how you can easily gather and leverage data from all customer touchpoints to deliver a superior customer experience. |
 - Forever 21 doesn't blink at high Hong Kong rents
Forever 21 is paying $1.4 million per month for its new Hong Kong flagship, higher than it pays for a presence in New York's Times Square. The US apparel retailer and others including Abercrombie & Fitch are willing to pay the high rents in exchange for a chance to establish the brands with the tens of millions of Chinese tourists who shop there each year. "Hong Kong is the gateway to China; we feel it is important to establish our brand within China," said executive Larry Meyer. Bloomberg (15 Feb.)  | Retailers use video surveillance as a valuable tool to combat shrinkage, which can account for more than 2% of retail sales for some U.S. organizations. Shrink is up 6.6% in 2011 over 2010. This 6-page whitepaper from 3VR gives real examples on how retailers are increasing sales with video surveillance & analytics. Download it free today. |
 | E-commerce Spotlight |  |  | | | Spotlight on Consumer Electronics | | | | - Amazon, others pull iPad 2 tablets in China
Amazon, Sunning and Gome have all pulled resellers' iPad 2 tablets from their e-commerce sites in China, after a request from Apple. Apple says the sites aren't authorized to sell the products online; Gome, China's largest consumer electronics retailer, said it will continue to sell the tablets in its brick-and-mortar stores. ZDNet (16 Feb.), The Wall Street Journal (16 Feb.) | NRF News | | | | - Customer interaction and experience is top strategic priority for retailers in 2012
As customer engagement and segmentation become more synchronous, retailers e-commerce platforms are serving as the backbone for trying to achieve one-to-one customer interaction. A just-released report from the NRF Foundation and KPMG, "Retail Horizons: Benchmarks for 2011, Forecasts for 2012," surveyed 247 retail executives to determine their strategic initiatives entering 2012. It's no surprise that 7 in 10 companies rank customer satisfaction as their top priority for this year -- but more interestingly, retail executives are refining their approach to their online audiences, illustrating the importance of Web personalization. Read more.
| SmartQuote | | | |  | When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."
--John Muir,
Scottish-American environmentalist and writer  |
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