Retail by MarketScale

The struggles of once giant retailers like JCPenney and Sears have been well documented, but what's behind these massive dips for these companies? This week's episode of the MarketScale Retail Show takes a look at what's fueling JC Penney's identity crisis. We also take a look at Saks Fifth Avenue and ask if they're immune to market shifts or consequences for bucking the latest trends.

Over the years, e-commerce has become a large entity in the Retail industry. It’s availability and ease-of-use have made it top competition for traditional brick-and-mortar stores, forcing retailers to lean into experience versus convenience. It’s evolved so much so that large retail stores are struggling to remain relevant (i.e. Toys R Us, Sears).

For this episode of the Retail podcast we’re joined by Aaron Kilgore, Regional Southeast Sales Manager for Resource Label Group, a company that works to fulfill complex and custom label solutions for various brands across different industries. In today's competitive marketing and branding world, a label has to be more than just a label; Aaron explains the power of Extended Content Labels as he goes into the nuances of the creation process, and help us understand the complexity and variation available in this niche.

MarketScale Host Elmer Guardado sits down with Aaron to distinguish between the two main applications of ECLs and discuss how the rise of more small startups has changed how companies brand themselves. The shift to local and personalized advertising has caused marketplace demands for more appropriate labeling.

"With the digital printing revolution that is happening right now in printing, we can now change things up and add variable data and different information so that [the client is] seeing very unique messages specific to that brand or maybe even individual to that region," Kilgore said.

Today’s guests on the MarketScale Retail Podcast Show, Roland Memisevic and MarketScale's own Geoff Short, discuss two "super" aspects of retail: the use of intelligent avatars in brick-and-mortar stores, and the annual impact of the Super Bowl on the industry. Quite uniquely, retail is being affected by future trends even as it continues to feel an impact from half-century old traditions.

NRF 2019 was an eye-opening way to start the year, and laid out a vision for what trends and tech to look out for. We got a good sense for what Retail was looking for in 2019 during out Walking NRF video with Melissa Gonzalez and Nichole Leinbach Reyhle: "Everything is an experience, and experience is everything." This idea is our theme for today's podcast as we break down a tech tool and a trendy theme for brick-and-mortar stores; we not only get more insight into the mix that is Retail and Pro AV, but we get even more thought leadership from our frequent collaborator Melissa Gonzalez, who looks to Lululemon as a staple for creative, in-store experiences.

Ready to catch up on what was trending at NRF 2019? This year's big Retail show was full of innovation, offering retailers lots of choices when it comes to optimizing customer experiences, whether online or in store. There are lots of tech solutions—including robots— out there for retailers, and finding the ones that best fit their goals and business model can be tricky. We talked to the experts on the show floor to gather some intel on what next move retailers will make, and we also had the chance to speak to retail expert Bryan Eisenberg about his thoughts post-show. All of this and more in this NRF-themed episode of the Retail Podcast.

NRF 2019 is in full swing and MarketScale's Chief Digital Editor Geoff Short is in the middle of it. He joined the podcast to recap what he saw and experienced at the retail industry's big show for 2019.

The MarketScale team received a hands-on explanation of frictionless payment and how the industry is tackling potential security concerns. "The industry is wide awake to [security] threats, it's just a question of how to implement these kinds of things," Short said.

Geoff and the MarketScale team have a big day ahead of them as they wrap up the show. Make sure to keep up with the latest from NRF 2019 by following our live blog.

With the first day of NRF under his belt, MarketScale's Chief Digital Editor Geoff Short joined the podcast to provide an update of what he has seen so far. He marveled at the advancements in in facial recognition technology, talked about his favorite booth so far, and provided an update on whether or not he has eaten one of those famous New York hot dogs.

He also talked about the various ways that retailers are approaching the challenge of creating a memorable customer experience inside brick and mortar stores. "There's a lack of consensus about experience," Short said. "I know that's something that everyone who has read a single article on retail in the last couple years knows is sort of the overhanging cloud."

It will be interesting to see how this continues to play out over the course of the show. Keep following along with MarketScale's coverage for all of the latest coming out of NRF in New York City.

MarketScale's Chief Digital Editor Geoff Short joined Tyler Kern in the podcast studio to preview NRF, the biggest retail trade show of the year. The show takes place January 13th through the 15th in New York City. Geoff is heading up to "The Big Apple" as part of MarketScale's comprehensive coverage of the show.

Can traditional brick and mortar retail locations keep up with the world of e-commerce? Will the trend of frictionless payments continue to take off in 2019? Follow along with all of Geoff Short's coverage on the MarketScale Retail industry page.

The future of retail is bright, according to industry analysts Stephanie Sullivan and Tony D’Onofrio. Both agree that the economy is driving the retail boom, especially the fantastic holiday sales. However, innovation is also acting as a major disruptor. What this means for the retail industry as a whole, as well as specific sectors within the industry, are investigated in these two fascinating interviews.