Blogs
3 Ways To Connect With Centennial Shoppers
Much has been said about the importance of engaging millennials. But while brands and retailers would be wise to continue focusing on millennials, another...
Post Type blog
Blogs
In Praise Of Vizio
The following is reposted with permission from The NPD Group Blog. News last week that LeEco, a China-based TV, smartphone and media conglomerate, is...
Blogs
Pokémon Go Showcases Augmented-Reality Explosion In Retail
The tremendous popularity of Pokémon Go (20 million daily users in the U.S. alone) is driving gamers out in droves to capture creatures in...
Blogs
The Shift in Data Ownership Has Begun
The regulatory environment for digital organizations that handle their customers’ data—that is, pretty much all organizations—is poised to get more challenging, thanks to sweeping...
Blogs
How To Mobilize Your Website
Today’s world is increasingly mobile first. Eighty percent of all internet users own a smartphone, and 60 percent of global mobile consumers turn to...
Blogs
How Do I Know Something’s Missing, If It’s Missing?
The times they are a changin’, especially in audio. Audio technology is experiencing higher-resolution bandwidth-size portability, delivery is faster and easier both with streaming...
Blogs
How Physical Retailers Can Cash In On The IoT Boom
The Internet of Things (IoT), the tech trend that’s bringing network connectivity to everyday physical objects, is growing rapidly in popularity. But the boom...
Blogs
Get Smart: What Retailers Need To Know About Selling Home Automation
Smart home products are rolling out to the masses as consumers look for ways to simplify their daily lives. Even though major commercial security companies...
Blogs
11 Real Costs Of A Corporate Data Breach
Security breaches cost a lot of money. In the U.S., the average data breach costs $5.4 million. The average cost, globally, of a compromised...
Blogs
IoT Devices Raise Consumers’ Security Concerns
The IoT era is already here. Devices that record various data metrics and then adjust either how they operate (thermostats and cars) or the...
Blogs
Smartphone Insurance Is The New Auto Insurance
It’s no secret that device dependency is here to stay. Consumers expect pretty much everything to be available via mobile device, whether it’s their...
Blogs
How Cash-Back Incentives Can Deliver Big Bucks For Big Brands
Not too long ago, consumers were skeptical of online shopping, preferring to go to brick-and-mortar stores rather than giving out their credit cards online....
Another View
CES: ‘Nobody Goes There Anymore; It’s Too Crowded’
At the end of June, just about six months after CES 2016, Vault Consulting reporting that the show hit a new attendance record: 177,393....
Blogs
How Technology Helps & Hurts Financial Literacy
It’s no secret that technology is a driving force in support of literacy. Study after study has corroborated this constructive connection, showing that computer-based...
Blogs
The Best Gadget To Have In A Zombie Apocalypse
You never know when a zombie apocalypse is coming down the pike. So as scribes of technology, and in keeping with the old scouting adage...
Blogs
How To Optimize Your E-Commerce Site
Selling online is not only smart, it’s essential; as TWICE reported last month, online orders have finally surpassed in-store purchases. But simply having an...
Blogs
The ‘P’ Word
Warning: The following rant has nothing at all to do with consumer electronics or appliances. I’m mad at Donald Trump. No, he never flunked...
Blogs
What All Retailers And Brands Can Learn From Amazon
We often hear of retailers struggling with competing in “the Amazon era” — the current e-commerce market that includes the online giant. At DealsPlus...
Blogs
Challenges Of Fiber Networks Persist For Nontraditional ISPs
The recent announcement about Google Fiber’s acquisition of Webpass, a 13-year old Internet service provider focusing on businesses and residential connections, brings into focus...
Blogs
Printers Are Evolving To Meld Millennials’ Physical & Digital Worlds
Accustomed to the freedom and flexibility of the digital mobile experience, millennials have paved their own wide path through adolescence and adulthood, and have...
Another View
In Appliances, Sears’ Pain Is Independents’ Gain
Even though electronics/appliance retailing is an industry where change is rapid, there are always some that won’t believe it and say something like, “There...
Blogs
Ode To The Flip Phone
I remember getting my first cellphone like it was yesterday. It was my 15th birthday and the phone I was thrilled to receive was dumb,...
Blogs
Why Beats Got Billions And Others Don’t
Companies are gobbling up one another so often these days that most acquisitions go by without a second thought. Sure, the entire world stood...
Blogs
For What It’s Worth
When Sports Authority filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, the plan was to close a third of its stores and make a...
Blogs
How Retailers Can Avoid Getting Scammed
Online retail is hot, as consumers and organizations are increasingly turning to their computers and the Internet to buy products and services. Indeed, out...
Blogs
Broadcasters’ Perspective: We’re On Our Own On ATSC 3.0
Tom Butts, editor in chief of our sister site, TV Technology, lays down a convincing case for cooperation on the ATSC 3.0 standard among...
Another View
What Comes After Amazon In CE Retailing?
The TWICE Top 100 CE Retailers Report, based on 2015 calendar year sales, is available today, and while the list is not surprising –...
Another View
Top 100 Shows Continued Innovation
In the years I’ve worked at TWICE, the most difficult and contentious report this publication compiles and presents each year is the Top 100...
Blogs
Multiroom Audio Systems Poised for Growth
Since the introduction of connected music systems, the market, in general, has struggled to generate momentum. These connected music systems include Internet-connected A/V receivers,...
Blogs
Strike Two For Staples And Office Depot
Let me get this straight: It was OK for Office Depot and Office Max to merge, but Staples couldn’t join the party. Hmmmm. What...
Blogs
Staples, Office Depot: The Gloves Are Off
If the presidential campaign has done anything, it has reinforced the notion that politics makes strange bedfellows: For over a year now, archrivals Staples and...
Blogs
Why Social Media Buy Buttons Have Failed
Our society is increasingly moving toward the kind of push-button living seen on “The Jetsons.” Need a healthy dinner? An outfit for an upcoming...
Blogs
Why ‘Can I Help You?’ Is Wrong
I recently facilitated a selling skills seminar for a large group of retail sales managers and salespeople. I was amazed at the responses in...
Another View
Masters Cellphone Ban Is Over the Top
Visiting Augusta National Golf Club during Masters Week, which I mentioned in my last blog, is like going back in time. The venue and...
Blogs
Four Smart-Home Myths Retailers Need to Dispel
Smart-home products are rolling out to the masses as consumers look for ways to simplify their daily lives. According to a recent survey from...
Another View
White Goods Get a Black Eye From ‘Friday’ Sales
I was on a road trip last week, crossing off a bucket list item with three friends visiting the Augusta National Golf Club during...
Blogs
How To Give a Presentation Without Freaking Out
Attendees often ask me after I’ve delivered a speech or facilitated a training, how I got so comfortable speaking in front of groups. This is...
Blogs
The Impact Of APIs From Smart-Home Platform Providers
Any device maker and app developer can offer an API to their partners; however, smart-home platform providers play a unique role in the ecosystem...
Blogs
Why The Internet Of Things Must Begin With An Internet Of People
Up until a few months ago, I was still somewhat agnostic about the current practical value of the Internet of Things as a game...
Blogs
Encryption And Security Debate Important For The Nation
Here’s Gary Shapiro’s take, as president/CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), on the government abandoning its court request to force Apple to circumvent...
Blogs
How Dealers Can Cash In On Mobile
The secondary smartphone market has expanded exponentially in the past few years. Whereas in the past, consumers held onto old smartphones, it’s now the...
Blogs
How To Strengthen MAP Compliance
Retailers are constantly deploying newer and cleverer ways to circumvent minimum advertised price (MAP) policies. These disruptive technologies include encrypting online prices to dodge...