Apple, Inc.

A journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, and RadioShack’s quest to makes its 4,300 U.S. stores relevant again began this week with the opening of a new prototype and a re-imagined corporate logo.

Over the weekend, RadioShack opened a store at 2268 Broadway on Manhattan’s Upper West Side that aims to attract tech-hungry shoppers who will find a new level of products, services and excitement in a store that makes the buying experience fun, according to the company.

SAINT LOUIS — Aisle411, developer of a mobile in-store navigation platform for retail stores, has bolstered its advisory board with some Google muscle. Don Dodge’s appointment helps to round out the company's executive management team.

Demand forecasting helps Curacao react to cultural shifts

Any good retailer gets to know its customers, and not just their product preferences but also who they are, where they come from and what they aspire to. This type of intimate knowledge allows retailers to forecast and meet product demand with the highest degree of accuracy.

Price, location and selection fade as real differentiators

Remember when retail gurus used to say that when it came down to it, retail strategy was all about location, location, location? Location still matters, but not as much as it used to. With the explosion of online retail, brick-and-mortar retail strategies are changing. But it's not just location that has receded in importance. Price and selection don't matter as much anymore either.

By Sherry Orel, [email protected]

Retail today is supposed to be all about the experience. After all, it’s so easy to shop online. And yet so many retailers could be providing a much richer customer experience if they only made a few simple changes that meet customers needs and expectations.

Many socioeconomic pundits have bemoaned the trend in modern education and childrearing toward creating an artificially level playing field where everyone gets a participant ribbon for everything they do, regardless of how much effort they put in or how good (or bad) the results are.

Menlo Park, Calif. -- Facebook on Thursday announced the launch of a video feature for its photo-sharing app, Instagram. The new feature, which allows users to share video clips lasting up to 15 seconds, is seen as a direct shot at Twitter, which acquired short video start-up Vine last year.

Similar to photos, the Instagram videos will show up on a user's profile and will be available immediately on both Apple’s iOs platform and Google’s Android devices.

Redmond, Wash. -- Microsoft Corp. on Thursday announced that it plans to open 500 “Windows Store” shops in 500 Best Buy stores across the country and in more than 100 Best Buy and Future Shop locations in Canada. The roll out will launch in late June, lasting through September.

The in-store shops will sell exclusively Windows-based tablets and computers and other Microsoft products, with support from dedicated staff, in an interactive environment.  

Plano, Texas -- Another executive hired by former J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson has apparently left the chain. Kristen Blum, executive VP and chief technology officer, is no longer with Penney, according to various reports that cited a note to investors by Citi analyst Deborah Weinswig. Penney has yet to officially announce her departure, which was also reported by Women’s Wear Daily.

By John Paluszek, [email protected]

This time it is different.
 
But the question remains: Is it different enough? Let us, then, count the ways.
 
The “tipping point” may seem facile, but the current dramatic increment of tragic incidents is now more toxic to more corporate reputations.  That’s a big deal, generating a new dimension of company action.