Research Topic

Because we know it's important to stay on top of your retail customer's strengths and weaknesses, we're bringing you new research findings from our sister publication, RIS News, which benchmarks the progress of omnichannel strategies in retail.

IDC reveals its top 10 predictions that will impact global technology spending and the use of information technology in the manufacturing and retail industries. Covering 3D value chains and servitization optimization to big data and immersive commerce, these predictions will help both sides of the supply chain grasp emerging market opportunities and plan for future growth.

Booz & Company recently conducted the bi-annual refresh of its Customer Planning and Trade Spend study, revealing that a majority of consumer goods companies believe they spend too many resources on trade promotion management and are unhappy with the quality of the tools/systems available to manage investments. Executives from Kimberly-Clark, Kraft Foods and McCormick & Company discuss the pain points, best practices and tips for better efficiency in customer planning and trade spend.

Sophisticated sweets, savory yogurt and bolder burgers are just three of the inspirational food trends to watch for in 2014 as identified by Campbells Culinary & Baking Institute (CCBI), a global network of highly-trained chefs, bakers and culinary professionals at Campbell Soup Company.

While Black Friday (and now Thanksgiving Day) is the traditional kick off to the brick-and-mortar holiday shopping season, both days continue to grow in importance online. Meanwhile, Cyber Monday reached $1.735 billion in desktop online spending, representing the heaviest online spending day in history.

The consumer products company teams with new mom Fergie on Universal Children's Day and marks the launch with donations to help two million children.

As much as reputation leaders (most frequently the senior communicator, chief marketing officer or the head of business strategy) would like to be able to tell CEOs and board members that everything is under control, the fact is when it comes to stakeholder relationship management, everything is not under control. Although most companies agree that reputation management is important, relatively few have figured out what to do about it.

There is no industry where women play a more dominant role as workers, producers and consumers than the retail and consumer products industry. However, a new report shows that the number of women that sit on the boards of consumer goods and retail companies is not where it needs to be given women's aggregate market impact.