August 20, 2010 – 5:54 am
by Sarah Barker WHAT’S HAPPENING Fresh, local produce? Aisle 1. Curbside valet service? Done. Organic beef and poultry? Sure thing. Grocery chain H-E-B incorporated customers’ requests in building its new 68,000-square-foot market in Dripping Springs, TX (BlancoCountyNews.com 7.21.10). If they don’t carry a product, they’ll order it. Some other shopper-generated features include a sushi bar, [...]
by Sairica Rose WHAT’S HAPPENING Blue for a boy, pink for a girl? Not anymore, according to PinkStinks, an organisation that challenges media and marketing messages that affect children’s self-esteem, aspirations and body image. And brands are listening. The organization successfully kicked up a stink in April 2010, when the Prince’s Trust withdrew from a [...]
by Tim Henderson Thanks to the Lenox “12 Days of Christmas in July” promo, I recently nabbed my first 2010 stocking stuffer — with free shipping. Lenox wasn’t the only jolly elf hawking holiday wares. From the much-discussed Target, Sears, Kmart and Toys R Us campaigns to the debuts of Tiffany’s holiday jewelry line and [...]
By Iconoculture
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Also posted in Consumer Trend
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Tagged Iconoculture, Iconowatch, Black Friday, Holiday shopping, Consumer Trend, Target, Tim Henderson, National Retail Federation, Lenox, 12 Days of Christmas in July, Sears, Kmart, Toys R Us, Tiffany, Hallmark
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by Lindsay Paterson WHAT’S HAPPENING Haggling is hitting the headlines in the U.K., as cash-strapped shoppers look for the best possible bang for their buck. Bargaining is not in their nature — in fact it’s intrinsically very un-British — but spending more than they need to sticks in the throat. Times are hard, and consumers [...]
by Hans Eisenbeis WHAT’S HAPPENING In autumn 2010, Target will reward customers who use their Target credit cards and debit cards in stores across the U.S. and at Target.com. Whipping out the RED will result in an instant 5% discount — a very generous rewards program compared to other credit and debit cards. Earlier this [...]
by Nissa Hanna WHAT’S HAPPENING A nasty rash? A suspicious bump? There are some things shoppers don’t want to share with their pharmacists. Costco is installing health and wellness kiosks in Ontario stores so customers can have private sessions (ChainDrugReview.com 6.2.10). Created by Portland-based company Aisle 7, the interactive kiosks allow consumers to self-educate on [...]
By Iconoculture
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Also posted in Consumers, Health
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Tagged Aisle 7, Consumer MD, Consumer trends, Costco pharmacy, health education, Health retail, Healthcare kiosk, Iconoculture, Iconowatch, Nissa Hanna
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by Hans Eisenbeis WHAT’S HAPPENING Target is one of the nation’s first major retailers to bring back an old-fashioned form of credit: store-branded plastic that can only be used at Target stores and Target.com. The new credit card will not be branded nor processed by Visa (Bloomberg.com 4.20.10). The retailer has been the third largest [...]
By Iconoculture
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Also posted in Consumer Trend, Money/Spending
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Tagged Consumer spending, Consumer trends, Hans Eisenbeis, Iconoculture, Iconowatch, Plastic without Visa, Store credit cards, Target, Target Credit Cards, Target Visa, Visa
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April 23, 2010 – 11:15 am
by Nissa Hanna WHAT’S HAPPENING Chicago-area shoppers can spend a little more time in their cars and less in stores. Retailers around the city, including Wal-Mart and Meijer, are borrowing from the fast-food playbook and testing drive-thru lanes (ChicagoTribune.com 3.30.10). The remodeled Wal-Mart store in Mount Prospect added a drive-up lane but hasn’t drawn much [...]
By Iconoculture
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Also posted in Consumer Trend, Grocery
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Tagged Aurora IL, Consumer trends, Convenience shopping, Drive-thru retail, Grocery Express, Iconoculture, Iconowatch, Meijer, Mount Prospect IL, Nissa Hanna, St. Charles IL, Wal-Mart
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by Hans Eisenbeis WHAT’S HAPPENING Most casual observers believe that teenage girls share shopping information — especially about sales on cool clothes, music, etc. — with their friends online, and that they follow those tips with online purchases. But that belief is only about half right, according to a 2010 survey conducted by RSCG Worldwide [...]
by Nissa Hanna WHAT’S HAPPENING Beta site Giiv is offering gift givers and receivers “texting with benefits.” Through the service, present presenters have a simple and instantaneous way to deliver their gifts: via text message. The giver picks a gift from one of Giiv’s retail partners (including Amazon, Toms Shoes, Barnes & Noble, Teleflora, Wine.com [...]
By Iconoculture
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Also posted in Consumer Trend
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Tagged Amazon, Barnes & Noble, com, Consumer trends, Gifting, Giiv, Iconoculture, Iconowatch, Nissa Hanna, Teleflora, Text gifts, Toms Shoes, Travelocity, Wine
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March 18, 2010 – 10:15 am
by Katie Anderson WHAT’S HAPPENING Product reviews on Amazon.com? They’re fine and all, but today’s consumers aren’t one-site shoppers. To meet their multi-site shopping needs, there’s Giddi, an aggregator site that pulls together reviews and recommendations from multiple e-retailers (Mashable.com 12.21.09). Giddi lists more than 600,000 products in upwards of 250 categories. Over 1.6 million [...]
February 11, 2010 – 6:49 am
by Nissa Hanna WHAT’S HAPPENING When a couple goes their separate ways, each has the daunting or cathartic task of replacing the items possessed by the other. In January 2010, U.K. department store Debenhams launched a divorce gift registry to help friends and family pitch in for those purchases (Guardian.co.uk 1.18.10). The retailer has a [...]
February 5, 2010 – 7:53 am
by Nissa Hanna WHAT’S HAPPENING As if shopping for a new TV isn’t hard enough, there’s also the major hurdle of at-home set-up. Target and Wal-Mart have launched new services to help their shoppers with this post-purchase phase of buying electronics. In mid-January 2010, Target rolled out a national TV and videogame console set-up service [...]
By Iconoculture
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Also posted in Consumer Trend
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Tagged Consumer trends, Electronics installation, Home entertainment, Iconoculture, Iconowatch, NEW Customer Service, Nissa Hanna, Target, TV set-up, Videogame set-up, Wal-Mart, Zip Express
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January 28, 2010 – 6:38 am
by Nissa Hanna WHAT’S HAPPENING Beta site KangoGift is now providing the hookup for what might be called presentexting. The service lets gift givers send text-message (SMS) vouchers for real presents. KangoGift (located in Cambridge, MA) is currently only partnering with businesses in Harvard Square; though they hope to eventually roll out to other areas. [...]
January 12, 2010 – 1:30 pm
by Lisa Pierce This Christmas, I was a grandma on a mission, determined to get the best price on those gifts that would make my little goobers squeal with delight. After some intense Internet shopping (thank you, CouponCabin.com) and a couple trips to the stores (including an early stint on Black Friday, something I vowed [...]
By Iconoculture
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Also posted in Consumers, Packaging
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Tagged Iconoculture, Iconowatch, Consumer trends, Black Friday, Global Packaging Advisory Service, Lisa Pierce, Frustration-free packaging, Toy shopping, Grandma gifts, Toy packaging, CouponCabin.com, Amazon.com
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