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The last two years have been a bumpy ride for home improvement retailers, and although the housing and construction markets are showing small signs of improvement, retailers know they have [...]

When the economy and housing market are slumping, it becomes even more critical for home improvement retailers to take proactive steps to keep sales and profits moving in the right [...]

The following is excerpted from ACNielsen's Consumer-Centric Category Management, published by John Wiley & Sons. The book is a compilation of insights and strategies from some of the leading practitioners [...]

'The customer is king.' This phrase has become something of a mantra for retailers during the last several years, but many fail to support it with their behaviors or systems. [...]

This paper presents the first comprehensive and systematic review of the sales-related customer relationship management (CRM) literature. Specifically, from a narrowed sample of 253 CRM-related articles, 38 were qualified as the juxtaposition of CRM strategies and technologies with sales relevance. Themes found within this literature include the evolving nature of channel functioning and interfirm relationships, the strategic organizational processes involving the sales function, the evolving nature of the sales role, and both salesperson and customer adoption of CRM technology. Contributions were derived from the extant literature for both theory and practice. The meager number of published works with direct relevance to sales management along with the practicality of the topic suggests that additional CRM research, both conceptual and empirical, would be beneficial., Customer relationship management (CRM) encompasses a myriad of activities across the organization aimed at ensuring customer profitability. As boundary spanners, salespeople naturally play an important role in that process. CRM [...]

With the advent of technology enabling greater customer tracking, more robust knowledge management, and direct customer communication, the implementation of customer relationship management (CRM) strategies has grown in importance with many implications for sales-intensive organizations. Implications of CRM strategy, analytical CRM, and operational CRM are discussed, particularly in terms of research opportunities. Although there are, no doubt, many other interesting and worthwhile research opportunities available, the nexus of technology, CRM, and sales-intensive go-to-market strategies provide myriad opportunities for exciting research., According to one study, implementing customer relationship management (CRM) strategy currently ranks among the top five corporate objectives in over 60 percent of enterprises (Nelson 2004). With the advent of [...]

After first demonstrating that definitions of customer relationship management (CRM) vary widely, we build upon stakeholder and network theories and argue that there are two fundamental categories of participants in any CRM initiative: (1) 'core' stakeholders (i.e., the firm selling its products or services as well as its customers), and (2) various 'noncore' stakeholders (e.g., CRM consultants). We then develop a process-based framework and related propositions capturing the various stakeholders involved in a CRM initiative as well as several important mediating and moderating relationships yet to receive attention in the literature. Next, we highlight the specific frame of reference and inherent biases of each type of CRM stakeholder, with particular emphasis on how each attempts to sell its offerings, services, or wares. At the core of our framework is a little-commented-upon mediating construct that we label 'Shared Understanding of CRM.' The paper next offers an additional, and perhaps more pragmatic, framework for managers to garner a better understanding of which specific stakeholders are at work in any given CRM initiative, which type of customers might be involved, and which outcome variables or metrics might be salient. The paper's conclusion offers insights into how the elusive goal of shared understanding of CRM might best be achieved., Costello: Now look, I'm the head of the sports department. I gotta know the baseball players' names. Do you know the guys' names? Abbott: Oh sure. Costello: So you go [...]

Customer relationship management (CRM) implementation initiatives have been marred by failure, which many in the popular and academic literature attribute to limited technology acceptance among end users. This paper presents a conceptual model that depicts how the extent of alignment between the three constituent elements of a firm's CRM program (employees, processes, and technology) influences end user acceptance of CRM technology. In particular, the model proposes that perceived process--technology, technology--employee, and employee--process gaps within CRM programs generate cognitive dissonance among end users, and that the level of dissonance generated ultimately determines whether individuals will adopt or resist the new technology. Research and managerial implications stemming from the literature are provided., One of the biggest customer relationship management hurdles that companies face is driving successful adoption among users. Users' private reasons for rejecting a new technology can play as significant a [...]

No matter the size of the company, chasing unprofitable customers is deadly. Catching them is worse. Companies spend billions of dollars each year chasing down, acquiring, and trying to serve [...]

You did what? That's what I say to myself when I read about a retailer making a seemingly counterintuitive change of course. This usually involves eliminating a service or strategy, [...]

The Walgreens brand can mean a lot more than a safely dispensed prescription at 3 a.m., pharmacist counseling and a convenient shopping experience. Going forward, said Kim Feil, Americans will [...]

Customers who walk into any of nearly three dozen Walgreens test stores scattered around the country can see the public face of Walgreens' reinvention. The changes are apparent immediately in [...]

Today's merchants are well-aware they can't afford to be perceived as a simple box of stuff sold by promotions, price cuts and coupons. Value is everywhere and the market is [...]

The perennial cry from CEOs around the globe is that they are focused on their customers. It is their A-No. 1 mission, the critical job of their company--and everything emanates [...]

Though some might feel that shopping at Neiman Marcus is a reward in itself, the company does go the extra mile to entice, educate and reward customers with a number [...]

Byline: JENNA TELESCA Effective displays that contrast colorful product, use playful themes, and highlight nutrition and cooking information can grab customer attention and boost fruit and vegetables sales. So, David [...]

Byline: Meg Major Providing tips to help consumers stretch their food dollars and enhance their supermarket savvy seems to have evolved into a national pastime for media outlets of all [...]

Byline: Dan Alaimo The weekly circular is the centerpiece of most supermarkets' promotional efforts, but with newspaper circulations in decline, chains are rethinking how to get their specials in front [...]

Byline: David Diamond The new model of marketing is customer service. Consumers are often resistant to traditional marketing schemes that can potentially fool, manipulate or mislead, but they're totally open [...]

Byline: LOIS BRAYFIELD Ever since the first order came over the Internet, people have been predicting the eventual death of the print catalog. Yet for many multichannel merchants, especially those [...]

Byline: CURT BARRY You made it through the last peak period, but it wasn't pretty. Maybe your warehouse was stretched beyond capacity, disorganized and hard to navigate. Or perhaps you [...]

Byline: CHAD GIDDINGS The evolution of marketing is well documented. The success of AMC's TV series 'Mad Men' highlights and romanticizes the earlier days of mass marketing and advertising. Set [...]

Byline: ANDREA SYVERSON Poet Maya Angelou wrote that 'People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.' [...]

Byline: ELLIOT ZWIEBACH LAS VEGAS - To encourage consumer confidence, retailers must adopt an air of optimism about their businesses, despite the issues they must wrestle with behind the scenes, [...]

Byline: JON SPRINGER As Richard Braddock sees it, customer loyalty is every bit as important on the Internet as it is in the real world - and is his case, [...]

Byline: CURT BARRY When it comes to order fulfillment and customer service, most multichannel marketers keep it inhouse. Just 20% use an outside service for fulfillment, according to Multichannel Merchant's [...]

Byline: LOIS BRAYFIELD In the multichannel world, we like to measure things. Every marketing dollar spent is, ideally, associated with a return on investment, though it is getting harder to [...]

By Brad Lloyd What is your most valuable business asset? Would it be your: Inventory? Equipment? Cash? Real Estate? Special process? A patent or trademark? Employees? Above are answers most [...]

By Donna Myers Most Americans do not believe the recession is over, despite repeated enthusiastic declarations from the administration that it is behind us now and everyone can confidently move [...]

'Too much information, running through my brain. Too much information, driving me insane.' --The Police From the desk of The WD Thought Leadership Team The Police declared this back in [...]

From the desk of The WD Thought Leadership Team 'Buy online, pickup in store.' It's an ungainly acronym but a very powerful answer to the threat posed by Amazon and [...]

One of the most common mistakes made by American grocers and other retailers is when they assume that Hispanic (Latino) consumers are downscale shoppers. Although Hispanics tend to have lower [...]

By Donna Myers Do you think of women consumers as a niche market? When a couple comes into your store to shop for a grill, do you or your employees [...]

Staff Briefly..... In making the sale, don't forget to make a great impression on your customers. Three out of four consumers who have a great experience with a specific retailer [...]

By Marcia Blake The principles of home staging are to design a style that prospective buyers can visualize themselves living in. This allure accentuates the best qualities of the home. [...]

By Melissa Haberstroh Get ready for summertime fun. Ahh summer...when al fresco dining takes precedence to the hottest new dive! We know that when money gets tight, consumers don't stop [...]

Consumer Craves Empathy, Connection Today's consumers are smarter, more involved and more frustrated than ever before, said Madonna Badger, founder of Badger & Partners and Beautylab, during her Power Point [...]

Byline: TERRY FLYNN When the going gets rough, many marketers tend to focus on their existing customers. But your existing base may not be enough to sustain your company - [...]

Stephen Dowdell A few weeks ago, an obituary appeared in the Baltimore Sun about Louis Rankin, who had just passed away in a Boca Raton, Fla. nursing home at the [...]

Byline: JEFF MARSH AND KAREN MAYO Continuity marketers know how difficult it is to generate new leads and then nurture them through the conversion funnel. The honeymoon phase - when [...]

Byline: TIM PARRY If you ever play air hockey at Bud Reed's house, get him to tell you the horror story about how he got his table. It's a perfect [...]

By Nancy Zwiers What are they doing when they're on your website? There's an old saying that it's easier to market to existing customers than to recruit new ones. One [...]

Meijer to deliver customized digital promos Meijer, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based family-owned chain of 177 superstores in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky, has deployed a new marketing tool to [...]

Shoppers today are faced with more choices of where to shop, how to shop, and what to buy than any mere mortal could intelligently comprehend and use. They're struggling to [...]

In this high-tech world of e-mail, text messaging, electronic newsletters and online greeting cards, there is still one old-fashioned tool that every jewelry salesperson should use on a weekly basis: [...]

Remember when the big debate was whether an Internet-based business could be housed inside a traditional catalog business or division, whether it had to be a separate entity, whether the [...]

Byline: JIM TIERNEY It's no secret that the number of cross-channel customers has grown exponentially in recent years - to more than 45 million in 2005 - and that they [...]

Multichannel success is all about breaking down barriers between channels and building cooperation. Every company that strives for multichannel success is trying to change from being company-centric or channel-centric to [...]

I have a theory that the quality of personal service provided by retail staff is an effective barometer of a company's overall health, on the basis that if morale is [...]