Posts by Mary Beth Garcia
Creating Customer Experiences in a Frictionless Retail World
More than 100 million products were purchased on Amazon Prime Day in 2019. So is it official? Is brick & mortar dead? Not hardly. During the 2018 holiday season, for example, shoppers spent twice as much in physical stores as they did on Amazon, and 93% of them went to a physical store. Looking ahead…
Read MoreAre Your Managers Prepared to Win Retail’s War for Talent?
Whenever there’s a tough labor market, like there is now, the spotlight returns to recruiting and interviewing skills. But retailers need to do a better job of developing a mindset of recruiting as a continual process, not an isolated event. Smart managers are building recruiting networks to find and attract the talent they need to meet…
Read More4 Skills Retail Leaders Need to Succeed
We’re often asked what key skills and behaviors store managers, district leaders, and other retail leaders need to succeed in today’s challenging retail environment. While the retail world continues to go through disruption and upheaval, we’ve seen through our continuing research over the years that there are a few core, foundational attributes that are consistently…
Read More4 Ways Store Managers Create Legendary Customer Experiences
The National Retail Federation’s Big Show is upon us, and once again, the digital transformation of retail is front and center: Topics like the latest disruptive technologies, artificial intelligence, and innovative apps and new ecommerce developments abound. At the same time, we know that tech, on its own, isn’t the cure-all for retail’s latest disruptive…
Read More7 Ways to Turn Retail Training Concepts Into Daily Practice
In the scheduled breaks during our retail training programs, you’ll likely find participants rushing to their phones. Sounds like most training sessions, right? The difference is, they’re not just catching up on messages and emails; they’re often busy putting the concepts and learnings from the class to work, right then and there. Enthusiasm is always…
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