At the turn of the millennium, the retail industry was aglow with technological and operational possibilities. The internet was seen as a platform for both selling things and making merchandising and fulfillment processes more efficient. Data processing power and storage capacity was growing dramatically, an improvement that cut analysis time from weeks down to hours.
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. has, for the second time in five years, entered Chapter 11, a return that likely presages the death of one of the legendary names in the history of mass market retailing. The decision to seek bankruptcy protection one Sunday last month marked the end of the latest effort
While retailers’ marketing and innovation staffs and capabilities have expanded dramatically over the past 20 years, their investments haven’t always kept pace with the market research advances that fuel national brand success. And retailers vary in the degree to which they leverage the most sophisticated market research approaches available. Big data provides unique value but
