Retail Innovation Archives

How America Shops® Explores: 4 Ways to Lead Shoppers to Joy

May 9, 2023May 5, 2023 by WslAdmin

Blog banner for 4 Ways to Lead Shoppers to Joy

The troubles of the past three years have been overwhelming, and consumers are ready to get some joy back into their lives. Joy happens in everyday experiences, including shopping, feeding the family, decorating and maintaining the home. Joy is essential to consumer feelings, confidence and loyalty. To learn the role of retail and brands, we ... Read more

Gen Alpha’s Influence Is Taking Hold at Retail

May 10, 2023April 20, 2023 by WslAdmin

Gen Alpha blog banner featuring three Gen Alpha teens and their interests

WSL has long advised that to know the shopper, you have to follow the shopper. And today, many of those shoppers are following someone in very small shoes. Gen Alpha, the oldest of whom are just approaching 14, have outsized influence as consumers. These brands and retailers are responding, with formats just for the Gen ... Read more

The Infinite Store Inside a Small Format

March 1, 2023March 1, 2023 by WslAdmin

Blog banner featuring collage of storefronts and in-store of UGG, Kohl's, and Bloomies

For our latest Retail Safari® excursions, our scouts visited several new retail concepts that meet the consumer’s preference for a quick trip but with innovative merchandising and experiential perks. What each of these store formats has in common: a small footprint where consumers can shop fast. Here’s what they get right about consumer expectations. Retail ... Read more

The New Frontier in Wellness: We’ll Help You Find Your Place

February 7, 2023August 12, 2022 by WslAdmin

Collage featuring shopper choices, clutter, apps, and clinics banner

WSL’s upcoming How America Shops® report on the future of WELL starts with emerging conditions shoppers are treating, bolder categories that are “out of the pantry,” faster services and a shift in trust and treatment. The dilemma is that as more categories have launched healthier choices, the Next WELLness Frontier is cluttered and harder for ... Read more

Improve the Store Experience Category by Category WSL Has an Index to Help!

February 7, 2023June 13, 2022 by WslAdmin

Hand placing stars down to represent categories banner

WSL recently asked thousands of shoppers what they value most in a brick-store shopping trip and what makes a good shopping experience. The answers, we learned, vary by category. So we measured how well various retailers deliver what shoppers want, by category, and reported the results in our Retailer Performance Index. Here’s how we do ... Read more

The Human Store: How Hy-Vee, Nordstrom, Victoria’s Secret and Camp Do it

February 7, 2023November 24, 2021 by WslAdmin

Adults and their kids exploring colorful, interactive store exhibit banner

Among the reinvented retail formats we have seen that meet post-pandemic shopper expectations, few resonate as deeply as the efforts by some retailers and brands to create authentic, human experiences. What does this mean? From our recent Future Shop® podcast, WSL leaders explain what makes a “human store,” with boots-on-the-ground, Retail Safari® examples. Your Store ... Read more

The MedMall Delivers the Convenient Healthcare Shoppers/Patients Demand

February 7, 2023November 9, 2021 by WslAdmin

Collage of retailers that feature medmalls and retail pharmacy - banner

As stores leave malls and shopper/patients demand more convenient medical care, what could be more convenient than healthcare in the local mall? The Big Business of WELL movement is becoming the anchor in malls across the country, seizing the opportunity presented by empty retail space. WSL runs a temperature check on “MedTail” to help you ... Read more

Powerful Partnerships: What Makes Retail Alliances Work

July 24, 2023October 8, 2021 by WslAdmin

Split collage of Target and Ulta stores with center image of Ulta products at Target - banner

More big retailers are exploring alliances, with the anticipation that doubling up will double the cachet, more than double the size of the shopper basket – and create a second reason to come into the store. WSL sent its Retail Safari® scouts out to see what works and does not toward this bigger-basket goal, and ... Read more

Destination: Innovation. 4 Retail-Shaking Store Concepts

February 7, 2023September 9, 2021 by WslAdmin

Banner featuring Ulta x Target, RiteAid, Mecca, and Nordstrom stores and their customer star ratings

Sure, more shoppers are going back to stores, but which ones, and for what reasons? Now that tech has irreversibly changed the shopping trip, retailers have to anticipate a future when consumers find stores less important. These innovative approaches, discovered by our WSL Retail Safari® scouts, are turning stores into destinations. It’s Time for Retailers ... Read more

Retail Consulting Services

November 22, 2022August 13, 2021 by WslAdmin

Many of the world's biggest retailers and consumer brands use retail consulting services to drive their shopper-centric strategies. Whether to optimize the customer experience through focused workshops, develop new strategies or adapt to the changing retail industry, brands across channels and subsectors can benefit from retail consulting. When you work with a retail consultant, you ... Read more

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