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

Gen Z Cares But Expects Retailers to Care More

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Members of Gen Z care about social issues, but they also demand that retailers and brands make sustainable, conscious consumerism easy to achieve. We pulled Gen Z responses from two How America Shops® 2021 reports and compiled the results, to reveal a telling pattern. Do You Really Know What Gen Z Cares About? WSL’s recent How America Shops® study, “The ... Read more

Powerful Partnerships: What Makes Retail Alliances Work

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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

Are You Honest Enough for Shoppers? 5 Steps to Get There

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We asked shoppers to speak their truths about what they buy, how and why, and learned this: They expect the companies they purchase from to take responsibility for social change and to authentically PROVE it. In short, companies must “show” they are more sustainable, fair and community-focused – across all the media their customers use. Here ... Read more

The WSL List: Retailers That Stand Out, For Better & Worse

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It’s that time of year when we look back over the past 12 months and assess the retail winners, losers and those in between. This year’s WSL List includes not only big brand names, but it also identifies five themes that inform what we call Shopping Life®. Here’s a sneak peek. Welcome to 2019, when ... Read more

Gen Z Finds Its Own Unique Path to Purchase

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Sometimes it’s a new path, sometimes it’s an old one. Here’s a very personal, Gen Z, view of shopping that underscores how fresh and new even long-term retail practices are to young consumers. Retailers that do not see their shopping experience through young eyes risk losing relevance, and growth opportunities. Meet Kaci, WSL’s summer intern ... Read more

The Miss with Walmart’s Jetblack

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By Candace Corlett // President at WSL  Watching Walmart has become my new entertainment (along with Broadway theater, Mr. Robot, Westworld, Suits, and my grandson, Baby James Jordan.) I am watching this brilliant example of how a long stretch of losses (9 quarters of poor sales performance at Walmart) energized this company that had become ... Read more

Big Brands Still Matter – Stop Being So Defensive

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Small brands are gaining trust and influence on the store shelf, but can retailers just walk away from big heritage labels? Not likely. Shoppers want access to both small and big names, our research shows, but for different reasons. Here’s how adventure, and even self-expression, factor in, and how some merchants are responding. Bigger Brands ... Read more

Gen Z Is More Important Today Than Ever, 5 Reasons Why

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Generation Z, now one-quarter of the US population, is growing up and providing a fresh glimpse into retail’s future. Here are five factors you need to know about how this generation shops and differs from Millennials. Generation Z, those born between 1996 and 2011, represents 26% of the total population, according to Nielsen, and its roughly 72 ... Read more

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