“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.

In the past week, I read two articles that left me thinking about the purpose of physical retail stores

With links to inspiration and #GoodNewsRetail I like.

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

How big a role does brand play in people’s decisions about where to work out? Regardless of its significance now, I think its importance will increase as fitness companies continue to define and amplify their brands.

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.

Walmart and Nike both have taken dramatic action recently, but only one company's tale is being told as that of disruption.

As Amazon closes in on estimates it will account for half of all online retail sales by 2021, networks that forge alliances among non-Amazon players have sprung up. I'm really curious how many more there will be and the extent to which Amazon-indoctrinated consumers will adopt them.

I wrote this as a guest blog post for Reachify, a business intelligence platform for the buyers and sellers of software. Much of it also is relevant for vendors selling physical goods, not just technology products. It's published on their blog now.

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

As the food shopping space anticipates innovation coming from Amazon/Whole Foods, here's my grocery tech wish list.

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.

Twice last week, fashion startup founders asked me for ideas about how to tell the story of what they're building without relying on paid digital marketing or having influential friends. Here are some ideas.

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.

As company after company has filed for bankruptcy or announced mass store closures, I'm reminded both of my question about how retailers are measuring stores and my ideas for how retailers can use stores to enhance the customer experience. 

Regardless of whether retailers are thinking about either of these topics, there are obvious ways to leverage existing stores to drive sales in any or all channels.

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.