Amazon Go stopped the world in its tracks. The Dec. 5 introduction of Amazon’s revolutionary convenience store looms among the most surprising and compelling retail announcements in recent memory.  The idea leverages technologies previously synonymous with self-driving cars, including computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning. Mark Ryski, Founder, CEO and Author of HeadCount Corporation says “This is what the future of convenience/self-serve retailing looks like. Transaction friction caused by long checkout lines or malfunctioning self-checkout technology is the bane of shoppers — Amazon Go has the potential to truly solve this problem. However, like all technology, there are concerns.” Read the article

Macy’s is setting up shops promoting its off-price Backstage concept in 45 of the chain’s full-price stores in time for Christmas. Will the addition of Backstage shops inside of Macy’s help lift overall store performance over the short and long run? According to Mark Ryski CEO & Founder of HeadCount Corporation “The addition of Backstage won’t hurt Macy’s, but it’s hard to say if it will help. Macy’s should measure traffic and conversion rates in Backstage vs. the main store in order to determine if Backstage is merely drawing from existing Macy’s store traffic or if there may be some incremental traffic gain. Conversion rates are also key”.   Read the article

With just a week to go until what has been called “the most family-friendly holiday on the calendar”, RetailWire’s ongoing discussion about retailers closing for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday is an interesting read. George Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of RetailWire has posed interesting questions related to this retail initiative.  Mark Ryski, one of the retail experts asked for his opinion, emphasizes the “hard to quantify” benefits of a more engaged and motivated workforce.  Read the article

If it’s true that consumers today are more into experiences than simply buying products off of shelves, than Apple may be onto something with its new generation design focused on transforming its locations into something akin to ‘town squares.’ “I think it’s important to realize that Apple doesn’t rely on its retail operation to drive the company’s enormous revenue or profit,” said Mark Ryski founder and CEO of HeadCount Corporation. “This enables Apple’s retail operation to evolve its store concept in ways that very few, if any, other retailers practically can.”  Read the article

Industry forecasters are calling for a merry and bright 2016 holiday season. But is the optimism on target or off-base? Following a flurry of forecasts, eight experts offer provocative and insightful comments as part of Retail Dive’s ongoing coverage of the 2016 holiday shopping season.  As part of his comment, Mark Ryski encouraged retailers to consider their store traffic as a precious, non-renewable resource. Read the article

In an attempt to determine the best way to deliver the same level of in-store service to online customers, Saks has turned to in-store associates. Saks has placed a box in the lower-left corner its home page that encourages online browsers to “Start A Conversation” and “Connect With A Sales Associate.”  Rolled out earlier this year after a long test, the tool was recently profiled by The Wall Street Journal.  Retail Wire recently explored this new ‘online browser’ approach with their panel of retail experts.  Mark Ryski, CEO & Founder of HeadCount Corporation shared a few reasons the approach might be problematic. Read the article

Heat mapping uses security camera images to illustrate hot and dead zones in a retail store. Ostensibly heat mapping helps physical stores approximate how e-commerce sites track detailed shopping behavior through mouse clicks. And (so the theory goes) it helps retail stores improve sales.  But does it actually work? Is it really worth the effort?  Is it the ‘equalizer’ as some claim it to be?  To help answer the question, RetailWire asked its BrainTrust Experts to provide perspective on the following question:  What are the benefits and limits of heat mapping as a tool for understanding in-store shopper behavior? Are the comparisons to tracking online shopping behavior reasonable?  Mark Ryski, one of the experts to weigh in on RetailWire was also quoted in Forbes.  Read the article

Retail statistics show that store foot traffic is declining in 2016. There are plenty of theories about why: it’s the mass movement of shoppers to online; it’s changing consumer preferences; it’s the weather; it’s those pesky, hard-to-figure-out millennials who would rather hunt for Pokémon than bargains at the mall. As someone who has studied brick-and-mortar store traffic trends for more than 20 years, Mark Ryski CEO & Founder of HeadCount Corporation knows it’s not unusual to see year-over-year store traffic declines of 5, 10 and even 20 percent or more. When you put this in absolute terms, it can be startling. So, do retailers need to increase foot traffic? Read article

As Jim Quinn of The Burning Platform describes in his compelling and disturbing article, The Retail Death Rattle, the decline in retail traffic may be a result of more obvious and, ultimately, troubling reasons. As someone who has studied brick-and-mortar store traffic trends for more than 20 years, I believe that Jim’s apocalyptic conclusions may be directionally correct.  As retail traffic analysts, my team and I analyze store traffic from thousands of retail stores across North America monthly, and it’s not unusual to see year-over-year store traffic declines of 5%, 10% and even 20% or more. When you put this in absolute terms, it can be startling. Read the article