In a decision that presumably defies the wishes of some of its investors, Dick’s Sporting Goods last week said it would “significantly” reduce new store openings in the years ahead in order to avoid paying more for rent then they would a few years from now. According to CEO Ed Stack, Wall Street doesn’t necessarily like the company’s patience and focus on the long term and not just the next quarter or two.  However, some experts on the RetailWire BrainTrust praised Dick’s Sporting Goods.  “Stack is right that Wall Street won’t necessarily like it, but Wall Street doesn’t like negative comps either and over-building stores is a sure way to get them.” said Mark Ryski CEO of HeadCount Corporation.   Read the article

To enhance segmentation efforts, The North Face last year introduced a new “consumer territory model” strategy to define the many ways consumers are experiencing its brand. RetailWire BrainTrust Experts offered advice to lifestyle brands and retailers working with customer segmentation approaches, citing common missteps in such schemes. “Occasionally brands get so carried away with brand stuff that they lose sight of executing in a way that delivers meaningful business results,” says Mark Ryski, CEO & Founder of HeadCount Corporation.  Read the article

While obituaries are regularly being written about traditional malls, outlet malls by all indications are thriving. According to a March 21 report in The Wall Street Journal, “Surprise: Outlet Malls Are Hot,” the venues are still seeing high levels of occupancy and income gains. Over the last five years, sales at outlet malls have doubled to about $50 billion, according to Green Street Advisors. “Outlets are not immune to the challenges of traditional malls, however, they do enjoy a slight advantage,” said Mark Ryski, CEO of HeadCount Corporation. Read the article

Store-within-a-store partnerships are designed to be a “win-win” for both brands, but they can be tricky to execute well in the real world of retailing.  The numerous possible pitfalls in such relationships makes the success of the JCPenney-Sephora partnership, which began in 2006, all the more remarkable. “This is a classic example of ‘cool by association'”, says Mark Ryski CEO & Founder of HeadCount Corporation. “The only caution for Sephora is that a close affiliation with JCPenney could hurt their image — as cool as Sephora makes JCPenney, the flip side is that JCPenney may make Sephora seem less cool,” he says. Read article

For retail stores that utilize camera-based traffic and conversion programs, the key to a successful program is acquiring data that can be trusted and is accurate. HeadCount Corporation, a company that specializes in traffic counting and optimizing data, believes that without confidence in the data, managers will question the traffic counts instead of applying the insights to improve performance. Read the article

“Pickup Discount” is a new program at Walmart that gives customers a price break for ordering select items online at Walmart.com and picking them up in one of the chain’s 4,700 stores. “Marc Lore and team have rightly targeted the high cost of shipping and turned it into an opportunity for their stores,” said Mark Ryski, CEO of HeadCount Corporation. “While some customers will still want home delivery, many Walmart shoppers will appreciate the additional discounts.” Read the article

With brick-and-mortar retailers declaring bankruptcy at an alarming pace in 2017, some industry observers have been questioning one of retail’s most commonly used measuring sticks: same-store sales. A recent article explored whether the same-store sales metric should give way to more inclusive measurements such as “same trade area,” which accounts for all sales, regardless of purchase channel, that are made within the influence area of a given store. Read the article.

HeadCount’s Mark Ryski spoke to our listeners about important measuring points in a business. Perhaps surprising, comparing “same day last year” is not a fair measurement. Mark shares his years of experience dealing with traffic counts and conversion rates. Mark explains why these measurements are important to those of us from the small business world. There is a lot to be learned from the individual who wrote, When Retail Customers Count and Conversion – The last great retail metric.  Listen to the podcast.

As a store operator, there are a million things you need to know, but there’s only a few you must know. Store traffic is one of them. Your store traffic is a precious, non-renewable resource — treat it like one and sell more. In his first essay for Merchandiser, the leading expert traffic and conversion analytics starts the process of showing you how it’s done.  Read the article

While retailers are still releasing their holiday season earnings reports, it’s likely that the overwhelming majority lost physical store traffic to online channels, including their own. Rising e-commerce sales are taking a big bite out of retailer brick-and-mortar revenues — a wide-ranging problem yielding a range of perspectives on two key questions.  Here are eight of the most provocative and insightful comments from retail experts, including Mark Ryski, CEO & Founder of HeadCount Corporation.  Is online’s cannibalization of in-store sales becoming a bigger problem? Are retailers with a major physical presence making the right adjustments? Read the article