While there appears to be little overlap between the smaller brands paying for placement in physical marketplaces and the larger consumer products companies appearing via ad tech on even larger retailers’ sites, the objectives are similar: Retailers need to leverage their real estate and traffic, brands need new opportunities for placement and consumers are on a quest to discover what’s new, or at least what’s new to them.

Why am I excited about the idea of brands known for fairly narrow product categories launching curated marketplaces? For three broad reasons.

“The living room is the new dressing room.” - Miki Berardelli, Kidbox CEO

I heard this shortly after telling someone that home is a shopping channel. If a fashion retailer doesn’t have a home strategy, it may be multichannel but I don't think I can say it’s omnichannel.

With links to inspiration and #GoodNewsRetail I like.

Based on personal experience, I recommend GiftNow for consumers and retailers alike.

Looking at stores I’ve visited recently (here and here) and what’s next on my list (future visits coming via Instagram Stories) and paying close attention to my daily inclinations, I have two main thoughts.

By now, we know Alibaba's 11.11 Global Shopping Festival broke all sales records this year. But there are two lesser-discussed parts of 11.11 that are reflective of Alibaba's broader strategy and the company's - and China's - growing influence on global brands.

My reactions to recent news that's been widely shared.

Customers may or may not realize that when they're shopping online with multi-brand retailers, some of the product doesn't touch the retailer's hands and instead is sent directly from brand to end-user. This has benefits for all parties, as well as customer experience implications.

Among the many retailers who will "competitive shop" Amazon Books, I think most will say they don’t want their stores to look or feel like Amazon. But, taken more granularly, some of Amazon's individual tactics can provide inspiration.

What’s new and interesting? What looks good? What’s unproven but sounds like a good idea we should keep an eye on? I’ll use #GoodNewsRetail to share these finds on Twitter and Instagram and I hope you will, too.

It's painfully easy to think of retailers who aren't doing well right now. Handy trackers even help us keep track of bankruptcies and store closures. But there also are bright spots I love watching. Here are some companies doing well right now and why I'm excited about them.

Online merchandising and the ease of e-commerce filtering and sorting can make store visits comparably and increasingly frustrating.Amazon is bringing some of the best of online merchandising tactics to its stores.

As the number of ways we can see and reach customers grows, seemingly at an exponential rate, retail organizations also become more complex. More sharing is needed. Meeting calendars are filling up faster than ever. When an initiative touches marketing, online/mobile, store visits, and tech, who owns it? Everyone? No one?

In making store closure decisions, retailers are, of course, looking at real estate terms and four-wall profitability and the prospect that customers of a closed location may decide to shop in another location nearby.

I hope these additional considerations are also part of the conversation and planning, if not the decision-making process itself.

Retailers can’t do “omnichannel” well without data that profile customers and their paths to purchase across channels. With in-store Wi-Fi log-ins and data collection powered by Euclid Connect, retailers gain illuminating visibility into how the store visit fits into a customer’s purchase journey