A SAMPLING of my recent commentary on RetailWire:

• Can grocers sell produce without plastic bags and boxes?

  

  Considered in isolation, the proposition of reducing or eliminating plastics from the produce department would no doubt have very few opponents. Under present practice, however there's a handling hangup at the POS for random weight items. Nikki Baird has articulated this well in her comment. T...

• Will Amazon succeed with brand sampling rooted in machine learning?

  

  Sampling has a long and respected history in the retail world as an effective form of persuasive communications that is welcomed by shoppers. Within stores, its pretty much a "spray and pray" proposition with fairly low conversion rates. Think of the food sampling inside Trader Joe's an...

• NRF: Attendees show performance anxiety for 2019

  

  2018 has truly been a "year of living dangerously" for the retail industry, marked by both a fabulous holiday sales result and a softening in the stock market. Against the backdrop of political speech and trade posturing that has heads spinning, it's no surprise that this confluence of ...

• What’s holding back in-store mobile engagement?

  

  I have long maintained that any medium that draws shoppers attention away from the products on display should be regarded with some skepticism. Instant access to product and pricing information has value, but interaction with mobile devices is isolating, even within a public space. In my exper...

• Sears likely headed for liquidation

  

  The cruel joke on Fast Eddie Lampert is that the remaining big box and mall real estate locations in the Sears/Kmart portfolio were plummeting in value while he pursued his machinations. Few were fooled about his agenda to squeeze milk - and blood - out of an aging cash cow. It's astonishing, in ...

• Are dollar stores bad for cities?

  

  While dollar stores do not inspire me to celebrate the greatness of humanity, it's not fair to fault them for thoroughly understanding their business niche and executing against it very effectively. "Selling cheap stuff cheap" is a low-operating-cost model that will naturally tend to...

• Has retail figured out last-minute holiday fulfillment?

  

  It's easy to declare now that we always knew online retailers would master most holiday deliveries, but the outlook was pretty shaky a few years back. The volume surge, uncertain weather, and less experienced seasonal employees are challenges that will always exist, even as systems are refined. ...