RPW 4-1-2008

Retail Paradox Weekly

Retail News Analysis by RSR Research

April 1, 2008

Carbon Offsets: A New Way of Improving Your Green Footprint

By Paula Rosenblum, Managing Partner
4/1/2008

As noted in a recent article in PC Magazine, frequent air travelers have been invited to reduce their personal carbon footprints by purchasing carbon offsets: investments in projects designed to be carbon footprint positive (like planting new trees). I confess that even though I fly frequently, I never heard of these initiatives before, nor have I ever participated. Upon further investigation, they do exist, and just like all legitimate goodwill initiatives, there are not-so-scrupulous people taking advantage of goodwill hunters, and taking their money for no good reason.

So all you frequent fliers with conscience... More

Online Battlefront: Down Under

By Steve Rowen, Partner
4/1/2008

Our industry is positively abuzz with how booming the eCommerce channel has become worldwide. In fact, just today, RSR is launching its brand new cross-channel report, Finding the Integrated Multi-channel Retailer. The report focuses on how vital it is for winning retailers to create a seamless shopping experience in order to take advantage of double-digit growth online sales projections.

But the message doesn’t seem to be getting through in one part of the world... More

RFID: Now What?

By Brian Kilcourse, Managing Partner
4/1/2008

Several weeks ago we conjectured about the future of RFID in Retail. Look hard enough, and you’ll find examples of retailers experimenting with the technology for asset management, load routing/rerouting, dock scheduling, yard management, selling floor inventory management, special “closed loop” supply chain applications, perishables management, automated checkout, and loss prevention. There are even some well-documented examples of production rollouts, such as at Marks & Spencer in the

UK . But the problem with asking about “RFID adoption” is that it’s a bit like asking someone about “EFT” – it covers a broad spectrum of use cases and technologies.

For example... More

The Mobile Explosion: Where Will Consumers Drive Mobile Retail?

By Nikki Baird, Managing Partner
4/1/2008

I remember the “End of Days” in 2001 – the great popping of the internet bubble - quite well. I was a consultant working for PriceWaterhouseCoopers at the time, and it was like watching a star go nova: as each successive business model or “new economy” gave up the ghost, people ran to the next “big thing” in the hopes it would keep the bubble going, until they finally ran out of fuel and the bubble burst. One of the last of these new “new models” was mobile. As with everything before it, it was going to change the world – overnight.