2009 was a tumultuous year for US Retailers.  We entered the year in the throws of a recession that resulted in the bankruptcy of Circuit City.  The ongoing economic challenges kept the likes of Gordon Brothers Group busy as they helped numerous retails close stores and liquidate assets.
While it wasn’t fun, we’ve clearly [...]

The annual gathering of retail designers and in-store marketers starts Monday in Las Vegas.  I’m in town and will be blogging a recap of the show.  Last year, the show was over spring break, during some unseasonably bad weather in Chicago, and attendance was lack-luster.  At the time, I speculated that it was also a [...]

Last week Microsoft announced plans to open its own retail stores to “transform the PC and Microsoft buying experience,” the company said Wednesday as it hired David Porter as corporate vice president of Retail Stores.
Although Microsoft hasn’t publicized the scope or mission of this new retail initiative.  Many reporters and bloggers responded by immediately [...]

In my 2008 CES recap post, I mentioned that while Microsoft had some great demos, and did a terrific job of brainstorming customer experiences for a multi-touch interface, I didn’t expect them to be able to get the Surface hardware to market.
According to Fortune Magazine, Microsoft now doesn’t expect to make Surface available until 2011.  [...]

So far this quarter I’ve visited:
CES, Las Vegas
NRF, New York
EuropShop, Dusseldorf
DSE, Las Vegas
The next stop on the tour is Chicago for Global Shop. My company MTI has an exhibit here, and the team has been working long hours to get the booth constructed while complying with the all the quirkly Chicago exhibitor rules. [...]

I’ve been meaning to start this blog for years… it’s amazing what you can accomplish when you take a half day off from work.
Anyway, I spend my days thinking about how to create great customer experiences that help shoppers make purchase decisions, and while I get called upon to work in a lot of interesting [...]