The Next Chapter in Community Banking: Test & Learn in a Hyper-Localized Economy

The Next Chapter in Community Banking: Test & Learn in a Hyper-Localized Economy

National scale can win the cost game in retail banking. But in today’s world of consolidation, margin pressure and digital sameness, local relevance wins the strategic advantage. This isn’t nostalgia for “your friendly good old hometown bank.” It’s disciplined,...
Main Street Re-imagined: Winning customers online and in store through storefront strategy

Main Street Re-imagined: Winning customers online and in store through storefront strategy

Since Y2K, conventional wisdom suggested that e-commerce would steadily diminish the role of the physical storefront. Yet even as digital platforms command a growing share of transactions, we’ve noted that physical locations remain indispensable. The storefront now...
Let it snow, but don’t let a frozen marketing budget derail 2025 goals

Let it snow, but don’t let a frozen marketing budget derail 2025 goals

6 ways to optimize marketing ROI during economic uncertainty Depending on whom one asks, anywhere from 30 to 35 percent of North American firms plan to increase marketing budgets for 2025 – apparently the lowest number to do so of any region in the world. Why the...
To Train, Retain and Sustain: 8 Tips for slowing notoriously high retail employee turnover rates

To Train, Retain and Sustain: 8 Tips for slowing notoriously high retail employee turnover rates

The following is the second article in a 3-part series called “Attention Shoppers… The Competitive Strategy Approach to Addressing the Elephant in the Room of the Retail Crisis: The Customer Experience” While Black Friday 2023 may not have been a “bah humbug,” it was...
Is Self-Checkout a Self-Imposed Hardship on Retail and Grocery? 8 Ways to make self-checkout a net-positive for staff and customers

Is Self-Checkout a Self-Imposed Hardship on Retail and Grocery? 8 Ways to make self-checkout a net-positive for staff and customers

The following is the first article in a 3-part series called “Attention Shoppers… The Competitive Strategy Approach to Addressing the Elephant in the Room of the Retail Crisis: The Customer Experience” The news about retail challenges is getting hard to ignore. This...