A SAMPLING of my recent commentary on RetailWire:

• How should retailers raise prices to offset tariffs?

  

  One relevant lesson from the world of price optimization may be that pricing is a portfolio-based discipline. Some items are more sensitive than others and retailers need to make informed decisions about where to find margin and where to sacrifice it. There may be good reasons to swallow some ...

• Do treasure hunt experiences provide the key to discounters’ fortunes?

  

  I feel the need to echo Paula (again!), as her observations about "the cost of running a physical establishment" reveal that she understands far more about the economics of retailing than The Balance. Of course the costs of running stores are partly offset by their distribution efficien...

• Is Crazy Cazboy’s pricing too crazy or just crazy enough?

  

  A fascinating side effect of the digital retailing trend is the flood of returned items that need to be inspected, re-furbished and re-flowed back into inventory at a cost that exceeds the expected margins. Looks Like Caz has tapped into this trove of reclamation center merchandise and built a re...

• Did Walmart just one-up Amazon on next day deliveries?

  

  So many wrinkles to this move in the speed-of-delivery chess match between Walmart and Amazon: First, I feel certain that the next-day promise from Walmart was not a knee-jerk response to the Amazon announcement last week. Certainly the counter-measure has been long in the works, waiting for ...

• Will Schick parent’s acquisition of Harry’s create a ‘next-generation consumer products platform’?

  

  I view this deal as more additive than synergistic. By that I mean Harry's younger, hipper shoppers will overlap very little with Schick's and Wilkinson's older guard. On the other hand, the combination could lead to critical-mass distribution power for Edgewell, as Wilkinson is sold in Walmart a...

• Will Walmart’s new online pet pharmacy and vet clinics draw more pet parents?

  

  I think Walmart is well-positioned to win big in this category and become a top-three purveyor of pet products and services, just as it has in the prescription eyeglasses category. The playbook was written roughly 28 years ago. It was at the peak of the one-hour optical boom then led by Lenscr...

• What can we learn from the Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play recall?

  

  What was the fault? In a word, DELAY. This product had a fundamentally flawed, ultimately dangerous design concept. If probably should never have been brought to market. It certainly should have been recalled following the first infant death a decade ago. Falling back on carefully-worded safety i...