When I was in elementary school I had to do a project on my family’s history. I asked my father if any of our ancestors had been war heroes.  He went on to tell the following story: In the 1700’s a great grandfather many generations back had been an Admiral in the Royal Navy.  One Continue Reading...

In the spirit of full disclosure I am not, nor have I ever been, the CEO of a major retailer. That said, if I was, and my Chief Merchandising Officer told me that his/her strategy to improve profits was “to buy into inventory, and sell it for whatever we can get” I would at the Continue Reading...

  The bank robber’s motivation is to make a lot of money fast, without putting forth a lot of effort. The same is true of the grey markets made up of on-line Minimum Advertised Pricing (MAP) violators. In both situations, the perpetrators know what they are doing is wrong, and therefore disguise themselves to avoid Continue Reading...

15 million victims lose $50 billion a year, In the U.S. alone. Identity theft has exploded because of technology, but people aren’t the only ones at risk. As counterfeiters get more sophisticated, brands become just as vulnerable. I would imagine that most people who buy a fake Rolex watch or fake Gucci bag are well Continue Reading...

Price matching is a known margin killer. Yet, the fear of losing in-store sales to on-line competitors has retailers aggressively implementing discretionary price-matching policies. In the past, all sellers had very similar cost structures. Store hours and location convenience played a significant role in consumer behavior. In order to utilize price-matching, a consumer had to: Continue Reading...