Management

While Black Friday has long been viewed as the traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season, getting the frenzy started on Thanksgiving is a rather new development. A development that I find sad.

Increased online sales, more temporary stores and guarded optimism about the season are leading some retailers to expand their workforces more than usual for the holidays.

President Barack Obama plans to announce an initiative today that links companies including Gap and United Technologies Corp. with community colleges for programs aimed at boosting the job skills of American workers.

Satisfying customers and increasing sales go hand-in-hand for retailers. That's one reason why so many employ mystery shopping programs to gauge their customers’ satisfaction. And while mystery shopping has been a retailer mainstay for decades, technology and resource innovations make it easier for today’s retailers to get deeper and broader feedback from the people who know it best — actual customers.

Understand Web users -- Drive customers to your Website -- Show results. It57;s the name of the game! With this responsibility also comes increasing pressure to prove the effectiveness of your online strategies.

Most major American retailers plan to hire the same number of temporary holiday workers as last year, according to a survey by a top industry consultant, underscoring that store chains continue to view the coming season with caution. Still, the annual Hay Group survey found that more than one-fifth of respondents expected to hire more seasonal help than in 2009, a sign that store chains aren't expecting shoppers to hibernate this winter, even if they fail to fully resume free-spending ways.

In a session at last week's eTail East conference in Baltimore, Archie Miller, senior manager of web design and development at consumer electronics retailer Crutchfield, detailed how his company uses in-house testing to learn about consumers.

To me it's simple: Make it easy to speak with me or my business goes elsewhere.

Target Corp. on Tuesday defended the use of its new freedom to spend money on political campaigns as employees and gay organizations criticized a $150,000 donation that will help a Minnesota GOP gubernatorial candidate who opposes gay marriage.

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) announced this morning that the six-month search for its next CEO has ended, with the appointment of Larry M. Kimmel as the global trade association's new CEO.