US Posts Steep Labor Productivity Decline – No Kidding!
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported reported a 7.5% decline in labor productivity during the first quarter of 2022. The steepest decline since 1947. I was not surprised. But apparently a whole lot of people excited by high US job growth in June were....
Retail: Halfway Through 2022
Winners, Losers and Holiday 2022 Predictions Delaney Consulting aggregates shopper trends from a variety of sources to look at winners, losers and holiday predictions halfway through 2022. Winners For customers reeling from product shortages, there is a new concern:...
Why Space Scorecards are Difficult (But not impossible)
Image source Retail runs on numbers. And retailers measure everything. How fast is my inventory turning? How many days of supply are in my warehouses? When do my best customers shop? You name it. But when retailers talk about space productivity (the sales per sq ft or...
New Roles in Space Planning
Omnichannel shopping and new technology create new roles in Space Planning for retailers. Some retailers may already have them. Or they are emerging. Maybe they are shared across teams. But as Space Planning matures, new roles develop. You may decide to create FTE...
A/B Testing in Space Planning
Any good marketer knows the key to successful campaigns is A/B testing. Its a standard practice that marketers regularly use. A/B testing puts 2 versions of a campaign in front of an audience and then measures which one performs better. Then the winning campaign gets...
Strategic Space Planning Makes Retailers Smarter
Space planners at smart retailers work across boundaries and include Space Metrics to improve financial forecasts and customer retention. The Space Planning teams contribute to promotional planning, real estate, new business development, supply chain, vendor...
Item Attributes – a Primer
There are five main Item Attributes. Also known as Product Attributes. As such, retailers and their solution providers should understand them. Because merchandising systems require them. They are key inputs for merchandising and space planning systems. There are five...
The Corrosive Power of “Yes”
Why Pessimists May Be Your Project's Best Ally If you wonder why your project has stalled, consider the corrosive power of yes that may lurk within your team. Retail projects with pessimists may be the best indicator that a project will come in on time, on budget and...
How Walmart Makes Space Management Work for Customers
Photograph by Miller Zell - Red circles and numbers added for emphasis. Here is the perfect image to explain how Walmart makes Space Management work for customers. As explained here, Miller Zell helped the Swipe Up program become a part of its store of the future....
Knowledge Transfer in a Post-Pandemic Retailer
If you work on transformational retail initiatives, this truth is too real. In any initiative that extends beyond 12 months, key team members will leave. Heck, even if the initiative is less than 12 months. Those key team members might be project managers, IT leads,...