Retail

CGT Editor Alliston Ackerman gives you a sneak peek into the trends and topics discussed in this month's issue.

Beauty isn't everything. But don't tell that to this group of companies, who are making steady sales gains with innovative health and beauty products and business strategies.

It's a similar story every year for this highly regulated, highly scrutinized industry. The trend continues toward innovating nicotine products, with British American Tobacco leading the way.

Overall, the economy still wasn't looking pretty in 2010, but it wasn't completely ugly either. Most of the consumer goods companies on CGT's Top 100 list made modest sales gains. A few leapfrogged the competition. Yet, many others were still fighting an uphill battle.

Kenneth Cole chose the Zmags CommercePro platform, seeing a 500 percent increase in page views, 100 percent increase in conversions, and more than 40 percent lift in order sizes for retailers worldwide.

The manufacturer partners with Retail Solutions to drive insights from data at five retailers in North America.

The acquisition of DemandTec is expected to extend IBM's Smarter Commerce initiative by adding cloud-based price, promotion and other merchandising and marketing analytics. At the same time, the deal is in line with a trend across many industries wherein the lines between merchandising, marketing, commerce and supply chain are blurring.