Insights

“Now Trending” is an exclusive online series to chainstoreage.com, featuring trending topics that impact the retail real estate landscape.

For many, the concept of an outlet mall is associated with not only appealing deals on name-brand products, but also with driving long distances to get to the far-flung locations where outlets have traditionally been located.
 

As technology for LED lighting continues to improve, it is expected that LED lighting -- which is more energy efficient, lasts longer and has a significantly lower cost of operation -- will completely replace traditional fluorescent and HID lighting technologies. The LED lighting market is anticipated to grow 45% per year though 2020, and is expected to reach a market size of over $60 billion dollars.

I recently participated in an SAP-sponsored panel discussion on Game-Changers Radio about how consumer product companies are using real-time consumer insights and engagement. Buoyed by constant customer connectivity, consumer product firms are gaining a much clearer and timelier picture of their end customers, and also directly engaging them near or in real time.

Retail consulting firm McMillanDoolittle, Chicago, weighs in on its blog with three reasons why any retailer using the practice of “on-call” labor scheduling should end it immediately.

Credit card fraud is in the United States is at epidemic levels. Last year, the U.S. accounted for more fraud than the rest of the world combined. And the fraud rates are accelerating. EMV technology, which has shown to greatly reduce in-store fraud in the Europe, is finally being rolled out in the United States with an impending deadline in October 2015 when retailers will be liable for in-store fraud for cards that have chips on them.

A federal agency recently issued important guidance on a question some retail store executives may never have considered — how to handle restroom access for transgender employees.

In its Guide to Restroom Access for Transgender Workers, published June 1, OSHA staked out a clear position: Employees should have access to restrooms based on their inward gender identity, not on the employer’s opinion as to which restroom they should use. Earlier this year, EEOC issued similar language.

Consumers don’t see “channels.” They are time-starved and information-rich, and use technology that they carry around in their pockets and purses to find the best solutions to their lifestyle needs.

The practice in retail of creating different brand experiences in different channels has gone beyond being an inconvenience to shoppers. It is the central challenge that retailers are grappling with today.

Retail is becoming an increasingly hot market for hosted cloud computing providers. Some of those providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the Aliyun cloud division of Alibaba, are operated by retailers.