Shifting market conditions and increasing competition continue to hit pressure points for retailers as a whole.  Grocery is no exception.  The age of omni-channel is well underway providing more options for consumers.  New store formats seem to pop up on a regular basis.  Shopper loyalty hangs in the balance and all signs point to its continued erosion.  Intercontinental competition is about to escalate.  



One approach to overcome some of these challenges is…

In a recent interview on WGN, Bob Mariano, the CEO of Roundy’s was asked the question “What makes a great grocery store?” His response focused on customer care: “A great grocery store is made up of great people that care about their customers and go out of their way to make them feel appreciated.” Today, Mariano’s competes against global companies like Trader Joes and others and plans to merge with The Kroger Company in late 2015.   But they still regard themselves as…

How many times a day do we ourselves, or hear someone else, utter the phrase “Google it”? It’s hard to imagine that a phrase so ubiquitous and universally understood has been around for less than two decades. The word “Google” has become synonymous with online search, and when we think about why this, it’s because Google yields the most relevant, comprehensive results, quickly. Essentially, it has changed the way we find and interact with content and information.

We’ve seen the…

Organizations are struggling with a fundamental challenge – there’s far more data than they can handle.  Sure, there’s a shared vision to analyze structured and unstructured data in support of better decision making but is this a reality for most companies?  The big data tidal wave is transforming the database management industry, employee skill sets, and business strategy as organizations race to unlock meaningful connections between disparate sources of…