RPW 3-17-09

Retail Paradox Weekly

Retail News Analysis by RSR Research

March 17, 2009

The SAS Analyst Conference: A Story of Contrasts in Business/IT Alignment

By Paula Rosenblum, Managing Partner
3/17/2009

Last week, Nikki Baird and I attended the SAS Analyst Conference in Steamboat Springs, CO. We had the opportunity to hear about SAS’s recent accomplishments, technology road map, and perhaps most importantly, hear from several product portfolio users. The users came from a broad swath of businesses: from casino/hospitality to financial services, to health care to retail. We attended a panel discussion between them all, and met one-on-one with two of them.

We sometimes tend to think of the retail industry as behind the curve when it comes to the use of Information Technology... More

What Are Your Thoughts on Workforce Management Technologies?

By Steve Rowen, Managing Partner
3/17/2009

In late 2007, we conducted our second annual benchmark on the state of retail workforce management. Within, the 160 retailers who took the survey showed us some continuation of the previous year’s trends (shifting the workforce from a tactical to a strategic enabler of customer centricity), but also, that a major shift had occurred: the previous year, retail respondents were still focused on cost management of their workforce – trying to squeeze those last few payroll dollars out of the labor budget. Our 2007/2008 report, instead, showed a shift away from cost management to an investment in customer service.

In short, even as... More

When Even TV Advertising is Targeted...

By Nikki Baird, with RetailWire
3/17/2009

In the world of digital media networks, TV advertising is held up as the ultimate in mass media. Sure, TV has not escaped the ravages of audience fragmentation, thanks to about a million cable channels, but even so, for most media buyers, it's about selecting the right show on the right channel in hopes of hitting the right demographic - no matter who might ultimately watch the show. The "spray and pray" approach, which ultimately pays according to "viewers" and views alone.

That approach is at the heart of the struggle over... More