Pur-leeeze.
Syda Productions
Forget Brexit or online competition. Millennials are just not consuming with the same fervour as their mums and dads.
Do you know what have your clothes been soaking in?
ET1972/Shutterstock
Dry cleaning isn’t really dry – it uses chemical solvents. Perc, the most common option, has contaminated soil and groundwater and poses serious health risks, but safer choices are emerging.
Store closures in Swansea.
jax10289/Shutterstock.
It’s not just affecting areas in post-industrial decline – retail spaces are closing and losing value across England and Wales.
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The run up to Black Friday is often shrouded in secrecy, which makes buying things on the day a lot more frenetic.
A long line might actually be the quickest line.
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
Don’t despair if, once you’ve gathered your shopping items, you’re met by a single line that looks a mile long. Queuing theory suggests this is likely the fastest way to get you rung up and moving on.
A mascot for Alibaba’s online shopping site Tmall urges customers to buy on Singles Day.
AP Photo/Ng Han Guan
Chinese customers spend billions on Nov. 11. Why, and what does it mean for the global retail marketplace?
The Sears catalog made it easier for anyone to live the American dream.
Classic Film
Sears and other department stores not only changed how Americans consumed but altered the very nature of society and culture as well.
Doomed to fail?
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In almost every city, consumer demand and business diversity had a big role to play.
Do you distrust the companies that profit from the goods and services you buy? Research suggests most of us do.
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Research shows that consumers don’t like it when businesses make money. Why?
It’s tempting to design your own shoes, but it takes time.
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For a while Shoes of Prey could do no wrong. So what happened?
Reacting to what you buy, then predicting what you want to buy.
Shutterstock/nmedia
Artificial intelligence can detect patterns in your shopping behaviour that can help retailers deliver better deals to you, and then suggest things you never even knew you wanted.
Online prices drive offline prices.
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The mere possibility of online competition is restraining prices offline.
Our collections are a part of us and our life story, and the act of collecting holds a certain comfort.
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Retailers have cleverly tapped into the psychological need many of us have to collect, in some cases, mundane everyday items.
What is the future of retail?
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Specific predictions go obsolete fast, but some common themes are emerging – convenience, fragmentation, intelligence, personalisation and experience.
There was an implicit financial exchange between parties.
AAP
The strong reaction to plastic bag bans is because consumers feel supermarkets violated an unspoken agreement.
As seen on a high street near you.
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The challenges facing town centres and high streets are intensifying.
Supermarkets are stocking more of their own brands even as they shrink stores.
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Supermarkets and consumers might gain from more private label brands, but Australian suppliers are likely to lose out.
Woolworths has already announced it will open more smaller stores.
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Several large retailers and supermarkets have announced they are going to downsize to smaller stores.
Despite closures, there’s still room for real life shopping.
Imran's Photography / Shutterstock.com
Bricks and mortar stores can play a crucial component in the future of retail.
An unhealthy diet is now the leading preventable risk factor for disease globally.
Mavis Wong/The Conversation NY-BD-CC
New technologies do not discriminate between the promotion of a healthy or unhealthy diet. It’s how we apply them that matters.