Amazon Trumps Target, Wal-Mart in Bug Battle

Kate Rockwood — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:54:52 -0500

E-tailers Amazon, Target, and Wal-Mart will rake in millions in online shopping this holiday season, thanks in part to easy, bug-free interfaces and a growing trust for online retailing.

Battle of the Books: Scroogenomics vs. Shoptimism

Kate Rockwood — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:00:00 -0500

Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays by Joel Waldfogel

BOOK

Shoptimism: Why the American Consumer Will Keep on Buying No Matter What by Lee Eisenberg

Buying presents sucks (duh).

John Mackey's Whole Foods Vision to Reshape Capitalism

Danielle Sacks — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:00:00 -0500

Just to be clear, John Mackey isn't Moses. "It's not like you go up to the mountaintop and God talks to you: Here is your purpose -- execute," he says.

Nonsense At Work

James McIntosh — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:52:45 -0500

Mr Retailer, break down that door!

Here’s one for all you retailers out there busy preparing for Black Friday. Mr Retailer, break down that door.

I have always wondered why I don’t like the open-air shopping malls so prevalent here in the USA. I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit that it took a banker to point out the obvious reason. The doors to the shops are always closed! How uninviting.

Black Friday: Best Day to Buy Your new Miami Honda Car

Brickell Honda — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:16:50 -0500

Forget Bloomies. Use Augmented Reality to Clothes-Shop from Your Computer

Kit Eaton — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:15:23 -0500

We mentioned Zugara's neat augmented reality clothes shopping experiment before--noting how cool it could make online shopping by letting you try out virtual clothes. Well, it's an experiment no more: Online fashion store Tobi has launched it for real.

SightUnseen: Lifestyles of the Young and Designy

Cliff Kuang — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:15:04 -0500

Today marks the launch of a new kid on the design-blog scene: SightUnseen, dedicated to the lifestyles and obsessions of designers.

SVPPLY: High-Style Shopping, Curated by the Crowd

Cliff Kuang — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:04:41 -0400

There's a mass of design junk out there--and if you're a design junky, consider how much time you spend just sifting through it, looking for the perfect chair/shoes/alarm clock. And guess what? Thousands of people just like you are doing the same thing. But all that work's lost, because none of it's shared.

Li Ning and Ziba Design Want to Build China’s First Truly Global Brand

Aric Chen — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:00:00 -0400

You may think you've never heard of Li Ning. But assuming you were one of the 4 billion or so people watching the opening ceremony of last year's Beijing Olympics, you've seen him. Remember the guy who lit the Olympic flame? The one who, as if by some superhuman power, levitated more than 100 feet and ran that mesmerizing aerial lap around the Bird's Nest stadium before setting the Olympic cauldron ablaze? That was Li Ning. And if he has his way, you won't be forgetting him again.

Great Info For Buying a Handbag

Chuck Manchester — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:25:59 -0400

My wife has been thinking that she wanted to get a new handbag. In this case I went online to do a little research for her. I found a great site on designer handbags that had all kinds of information on the history of each brand.

Amazon's Android App Reads Barcodes Too

Kit Eaton — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:04:21 -0400

Amazon released its Android shopping app with a little dose of that augmented reality goodness we've been talking about: Real-world barcode and CD/DVD cover recognition. It's a question of clicking the shutter, then clicking "buy."

Five To-Die-For Augmented Reality Shopping Apps

Cliff Kuang — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:25:35 -0400

Think of the scenes at the Gap in Minority Report. And then imagine it's not dystopian sci-fi but the lifestyle-enhancing future of shopping where there's no line between online and offline shopping. That's what happens when you layer virtual information over the physical world--and then add commerce.

MIT's Bokode: A Tiny Barcode Replacement That's Chockablock With Data

Cliff Kuang — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:09:01 -0400

Dorm-in-a-Box: Designing a Better--And Cheaper--College Prep Experience

Cliff Kuang — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:05:56 -0400

Day and Night: How Le Laboratoire Survives the Recession With Two Different Businesses

Cliff Kuang — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:50:28 -0400

Benefits of Shopping Online for your New Honda Car in Miami

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:38:15 -0400

All of Your Adult Fun in One Place

Steve White — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:02:33 -0400

Happy Shopping

Over 1600 items on sale, boy what a choice, even so there is something for everyone, I mean everyone. After looking around and placing my order on the secure server my order arrived within 4 day's. Mind you I live in the uk so it could take a little longer internationally, but when it arrived it was fantastic quality and cheaper than most online stores. You have GOT to check this out. Total descretion is GAURANTEED everything comes in plain wrappers, so no embarrassing glances from the postman.

Are Fair-Trade Goods Recession Proof? Wal-Mart, Starbucks, and Cadbury Hope So

Jeff Chu — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:32:45 -0400

Big Stretch

Kyle Berlin — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:00:00 -0400

Jamba Juice

2008 revenue: $317 million
Cult product: Made-to-order smoothies
What's next: Oatmeal, sandwiches, ready-to-drink beverages
New competitors: Starbucks, Coca-Cola
Why now: Breakfast is high margin and low risk. Plus, one $2.95 oatmeal is equal to six shares of Jamba's flagging stock.

Under Armour

Think Retail

Tim Manners — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:19:30 -0500

Jill Lajdziak thinks this recession is her best-ever moment to innovate. Not coincidentally she also thinks retail is a critical point-of-difference for her born-again brand, Saturn (link).

For Saturn, retail is the outlandish idea that buying a car should actually be a pleasant experience — before, during and after the sale. Jill is not the only one who is thinking “different” about retail.

Microsoft Stores

Tim Manners — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:48:24 -0500

Imagine if you opened a store where selling stuff wasn't the main idea. What would be the point of that?

That's the challenge -- and opportunity -- facing David Porter, the former Wal-Mart executive just hired by Microsoft to figure out what a Microsoft "store" should be.

In fact, David told the Wall Street Journal that he already has a pretty clear idea: "The purpose of these stores is to create deeper engagement with consumers and learn firsthand about what they want and how they buy," he said.

Buying a House in Today's Market

Lisa M. — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:02:16 -0500

Where do you start? My wife and I went to open houses this weekend and are really excited about purchasing a home. Every realtor was all over us trying to get our business. All I want is an honest person. It seems like it is getting harder and harder to find these people. I don't want to get screwed and pay a lot of fees. I guess I will need to dig in and see what I can do.

Heart of Starbucks

Tim Manners — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:13:33 -0500

On November 26th, at approximately 10:45 a.m., Starbucks store No. 7449 in Nyack, New York, lost its greatest asset.

No, it didn't run out of its Pike Place Blend, oatmeal, or the sausage, cheese and egg sandwiches. It lost a regular customer -- a homeless man known to locals as Fleming Taylor, 62, who turned up dead in a nearby stairwell, where apparently he spent his nights and succumbed to a cerebral hemorrhage.

Five Nights Before Chirstmas

Kellee K. Sikes — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:47:30 -0500

T'was five nights before Christmas and all through the house
Creatures were stirring and rockin’ out.
Santa’s cool def jam blared on the non-digital TV,
As lights twinkled on our LED-lit, ecologically-forested, Christmas tree.
I wrapping presents with recycled paper all a glee,
Amazed by the next commercial announcing an ‘Eco TV.’
I am such a boob! I am!
I ordered a flat, digital TV that now does not seem so glam.
In the store the picture was all a glow.
The holiday deals so wonderfully low.
I never gave a thought, not one.

Holiday Shoppers Say They're Going Green -- But Are They Really?

Saabira Chaudhuri — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:33:18 -0500

This holiday season, more people are thinking about spending more to gift green, but with the economy tanking and unemployment levels at their highest in 15 years, there's likely to be even more of a gap between consumer attitudes and actions than ever before.