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

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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 Role of the Store in Retail 5.0 Research Report

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The self-serve store has not changed since the 1950s. Tweaks have been made but the basic format of walking the aisles, squinting at the shelves to find the right item, and then waiting in line to pay has not changed in 3/4 of a century. The pandemic has drawn retailers’ attention to honing online ordering ... Read more

How 3 Big Retailers Link Sustainability to the New WELLness

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For many shoppers, wellness doesn’t end with their minds and bodies; it extends to the entire planet – the air they breathe, the water they drink and the open spaces and oceans that surround them. Our research shows that more shoppers expect companies to accept more responsibility for sustainability. Here are examples of how Dick’s ... Read more

New WSL Research: Shoppers Cutting Back, Not Doing Without

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Our just-released How America Shops® survey synthesizes what shoppers told us about how they are responding to rising prices, and it’s more positive than you might think. Read on to learn where they are trading down on brands, the stores they are willing to sacrifice and the savvy ways they are holding off across categories ... Read more

Is This Latest Pharmacy Trend an Opportunity, or a Threat?

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As pharmacists became distracted by other tasks that took them out-of-sight from behind the counter, shoppers increasingly turned to more accessible sources for advice. Our How America Shops® research explores the growing acceptance of online pharmacies, which challenge retailers to find their way back to their Rx shoppers. Shoppers Want Wellness Advice, But They Won’t ... Read more

What’s On Trend For Retail In 2022? Here Are 5 Predictions

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By Bryan Pearson on December 3, 2021  ||  Forbes If the past two years have taught the retail industry anything, it’s to meet the unexpected, eye-to-eye, with more of the unexpected.  Unexpected as in surprising channels, unpredictable brand partnerships and even a dose of the expected. Because consumer desires have not changed; they still want shopping to ... Read more

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

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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

Beauty’s Retail Reckoning: Specialty and Mass Retail Poised for Further Gains

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By Allison Collins on October 29, 2021  ||  WWD The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have specialty retailers including Sephora and Ulta Beauty poised to gain even more market share in the U.S., experts said. How many brick-and-mortar retail stores does the beauty industry actually need? That’s the question those in the industry are asking themselves in ... Read more

Brands Lose Loyalty Online

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Online grocery sales soared by 54% in 2020, creating logistical challenges, but also unintended consequences for brands. As we learn here, buying CPG online raises a loyalty concern for brands. Shoppers surveyed for WSL’s How America Shops® research said they are far more likely to switch brands online than in-store. We delve into the research the ... Read more

Beauty Breaks Barriers in Health, Safety and Innovation

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Shoppers have been inspiring remarkable retail innovations across categories, but in few areas are the results as noteworthy as in beauty’s healthy, safety and digitally progressive experiences. WSL’s Virtual Retail Safari® Open Call Event, scheduled for March 11, captures the most visionary and shopper-inspired examples. Healthy Beauty is an Exercise in Getting it Right For years, ... Read more

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