Why barcodes are about to go extinct
Why barcodes are about to go extinct and QR codes are set to take over, transforming the future of retail.
retail
Price elasticity: a missing factor in retailers’ forecasts - Supply Chain Movement
We all know that a product’s price influences demand. Yet there are still retailers who regard pricing and forecasting as two separate activi
The price elasticity of basic necessities such as milk, eggs and bread is low. Consumers will always continue to buy these.
America’s Greatest Hot Dog
The price and quality of the $1.50 Costco frank haven’t budged in 40 years. It’s the last—and best—deal in the country.
In New Orleans, an empty building becomes a free store — and roller skating rink
In the Lower Ninth Ward, an old Family Dollar stands covered in graffiti. It looks abandoned. But inside, it's a treasure trove — clothing, home goods, toys and books. And everything is free.
The $850 Billion Returns Problem: Why Reverse Logistics Is Becoming a Margin Engine
Inside Andon Lab's Store, Agentic AI Meets Its Limits
The viral experiments are testbeds for autonomous AI
How France Keeps its Small Shops
Commercial lease law, rent indexing and planning rules explain the retail mix other countries are losing
Stop Designing, Start Selling: A Practical Framework for Choosing and Testing Clothing Business Ideas - Retail Focus Magazine - Retail…
Most people who want to start a clothing brand begin in completely the wrong place. They open a design programme, sketch out a collection
The Store Isn’t Dead—but the Merchant Model Is
Retailers need to stop owning so much inventory risk and start operating more like platforms.
Two Brothers Built a Cooler Nobody Asked For. It Became a $2 Billion Status Symbol.
Guy Raz Newsletter – August 27, 2026
Here's how gyms, salons and ice cream are changing America's Main Streets
Shoppers' changing habits are fueling a major shift in what types of businesses are occupying storefronts.
What Makes Customers Stop? The Psychology Behind High-Performing Coffee Spaces in Retail - Retail Focus Magazine - Retail Design
Coffee has become one of the most effective tools retailers have for encouraging customers to stay longer and engage more deeply with a space
The Hidden Infrastructure Of Circular Crypto Economies - Dataconomy
Written by Smartech Daily Team This article has been originally published on Smartech Daily and republished at Dataconomy with permission.
Large retailers like Amazon, IKEA, and Netflix operate “closed-loop” systems. A gift card is essentially a private currency issued by a corporation. Because these vouchers are digital codes, they can be distributed and settled much faster than a bank wire.
slippage
The Lost Civic Life of Movie Rental Stores
Decades before recommendation algorithms, video stores served as social hubs where conversation and camaraderie became a form of taste-making.
In the Age of AI, the Analog Restaurant Feels Radical
As backlash grows to AI-generated food photos and flyers, some restaurants are leaning into a distinctly handmade approach
To me, a restaurant that employs AI art is capitulating to the culture of slop, akin to reheating premade food from Sysco. It’s impossible to square with a value system that cares about craft and integrity.
How a Fitted Product Category Learned to Sell Online - Retail Focus Magazine - Retail Design
For most of the last twenty years, tyres were held up as an example of a category that could not fully move online.
The One Thing Bringing Down Grocery Prices
Aldi is disrupting the U.S. grocery business
Home Depot's New Last Mile - Phenomenal World
Home Depot has been on a building and acquisitions spree, rapidly taking over a half-dozen logistics companies. Is it also creating an opportunity for organized labor?
The loyalty metric no one wants to explain
Repeat purchases aren't proof of loyalty. Incrementality is.
4 ways Bazooka rethought its supplier strategy in face of tariffs
The candy maker scrapped its volume-for-price playbook and adopted a collaborative approach to sharing the pain.
Why Costco pays $30/hr and Target doesn't
Costco is built different
Your Glasses Got Worse On Purpose
How an Italian orphan built a $27 billion monopoly that controls the brands, the stores, the lenses, and the insurance.
Can Traditional (and Discount) Grocery Stores Survive an Ongoing Squeeze?
Grocery stores are seeing a significant shift in loyalty and spend. What's the next move?
What Caused Allbirds’ Downfall?
Why did Allbirds fail to make it in the retail market?
New Chef Program Helps People With Autism Find Jobs in Fine-Dining Restaurants
Culinary jobs have the potential to be a perfect fit, and a new effort is afoot to help autistic workers land them.
‘Do You Have Any NeeDohs?’ The Squishy Shortage, Explained.
Plus tips for finding a Dohnut, a JellySquish, or any other Needoh you desire.
A Better Strategy for Location-Based Advertising
New research finds that ad effectiveness depends on more than just how close a consumer is to your store—it matters how close they are to your rival.
The Insider's Guide to French Pharmacies
Marisa Meltzer on 20 years of stockpiling products that feel, smell, and work better than their American counterparts and doling them out to the underserved masses (her friends and colleagues).
What’s the Point of a Drop When Everything’s a Drop?
How shopping became a game of snagging mediocre, limited-run products
Generally speaking, a drop is just a slightly different way of releasing products.
and to prioritize avoiding loss over gaining rewards
Why Have Gourmet Grocers Become Social Clubs?
Gourmet grocers are leaning into the experience.
Has Von Maur Figured Out How Department Stores Should Work?
Von Maur has made a different play than several other retailers. Is it working?
The Coffee Warehouse
Starbucks ascended as a "third space." Maybe it should run like a 3PL.
Why Small-Footprint Stores are Shaping Big City Retail - Retail Focus Magazine - Retail Design
Large cities move fast and need retail spaces that can keep up with shifting demand. Brands have started to rely on smaller stores that fit busy streets, tight corners, and varied foot traffic. Customers respond well to shops that feel simple, quick, and easy to use. These…
The Perplexing Dominance of Self-Checkout
Many Americans would rather wait for it than interact with a human.
The End of the ‘Generic’ Grocery-Store Brand
They’re no longer terrible—in fact, they’re often the draw.
How Sam’s Club became the ‘Netflix of shopping’
CEO Chris Nicholas aims to double sales at the Walmart unit with a focus on driving “disruptive value.”
How Visual Cues Drive Sales: Practical Strategies for Retailers
Step into a flagship on Oxford Street or a pop-up in Manchester and the same truth applies: what shoppers see first shapes what they do next. Visual cues, whether bold colour blocking, angled shelving, or lighting accents, are the quiet persuaders of retail. They do more than…
Streaming services like Netflix rely on hero carousels and thumbnail previews to guide viewers quickly to featured titles. The platform does not overwhelm users with choices. It uses visual hierarchy to make decisions feel effortless. Social media apps such as Instagram and TikTok use colour…
What If Dynamic Pricing Was Solely Used To Reduce Prices? - RetailWire
Dynamic pricing remains a hotly contested concept in retail, particularly grocery. What if the pricing model was deployed solely to the benefit of consumers?
According to the WSJ, store associates highlight items about to expire, causing an electronic in-house pricing system to check every 15 minutes as to how they are selling, and whether further discounts are needed. The article states, “Prices on any one item are cut a maximum of four times in a day…
, in-store shoppers only see price cuts. Any increases are made when stores are closed.
What Do You Call the Corner Store?
Bodega, deli, offy, party store, and more.
Merchandising Lessons from Top Marketplaces
We analyze the home pages of 10 marketplaces to spot common merchandising traits.
A Trade War Winner? The Booming Business of Returned Products.
As retailers slow down orders for foreign goods because of tariffs, companies that recirculate overstocked or returned items may help fill the gap.
Are Product Images Vital for Brick-and-Mortar Stores?
Regarding marketing and selling products to consumers, product imagery is unquestionably one of the most important selling points. When considering the prevalence and dominance of e-commerce and digital shopping channels, traditional brick-and-mortar retail stores may question…
Ecommerce and the Secondhand Boom
Culture, marketplaces, and economics contribute to consumer demand for used clothing. Merchants can benefit.
The pandemic could have helped Barnes & Noble beat Amazon. That's not what happened
Barnes & Noble had invested significantly in revitalizing its physical stores, and it wasn't ready to make the e-commerce jump.
World in a Box: Cardboard Media and the Geographic Imagination
Cardboard boxes hold a world of meaning — a geography of consumption, disposal, and reuse — that spans from Amazon to the Container Corporation of America.
Cardboard’s ubiquity rests on simple claims: I can hold that, and I can go there.
But first I want to show you how a cardboard box is made.
Returns Are a Headache. More Retailers Are Saying, Just ‘Keep It.’
In a survey, nearly 60 percent of retailers said they had policies that refund customers for items that aren’t financially viable to send back.
Fifty-nine percent of retailers have keep-it policies for items that aren’t financially viable to ship back, according to a 2023 survey on holiday shopping trends by goTRG, now called ReturnPro, a firm that helps retailers including Walmart manage returns. Most companies don’t advertise the policy…
for every $1 billion in sales, the average retailer sustained $145 million in returns.
Retailers Locked Up Their Products—and Broke Shopping in America
CVS, Target and other chains have barricaded everything from toiletries to cleaning supplies. It’s backfired in almost every way.
Erewhon’s Secrets
Japanese utopians. Corporate glow-ups. $400 smoothies. The strange history of the world’s most cultish grocery store.
H-E-B Forever
Nobody in America loves anything as much as Texans love H-E-B
The Bizarre Story of Piggly Wiggly, the First Self-Service Grocery Store
What's in a name?