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Carving out a good reputation is good business, and Amazon.com has carved out the best street cred this year. The brand tops the 2013 Harris Poll Reputation Quotient (RQ), edging out last year's most reputable company, Apple, which rolled into second place. The Walt Disney Company, Google, and Johnson & Johnson complete the top five.

The distinction has tangible benefits. Harris found that six out of 10 U.S. consumers take a company's reputation into consideration before spending on products or services.

So how does the online retail leader do it? Warm fuzzies and a clear vision for the future play a role. Harris outline's six areas that build reputation and influence consumer confidence, and Amazon.com beat out competitors in two of them. 2013 leaders by dimension are:

• Social Responsibility, Whole Foods
• Emotional Appeal, Amazon.com
• Financial Performance, Apple
• Products & Services, Amazon.com
• Vision & Leadership, Apple
• Workplace Environment, Google

The companies that make Interbrand Design Forum's list of Best Retail Brands define the retail ecosystem and determine where it's going, says Justin Wartell, Interbrand Design Forum's managing director. Walmart holds the top spot for another year, while Macy's bloomed in brand value by 62 percent and climbs the list by nine slots. Amazon's brand value grew by 46 percent and moves into the number four spot. Stores that fell off the list are Toys "R" Us, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Advance Auto Parts.  Jez Frampton, Interbrand’s global CEO, adds, “It is these exceptional brands that start new conversations, innovate new models, and inspire us all to participate in the cultural experience we call shopping. They are the ones that truly drive demand and create desire." The Best Retail Brands report ranks the top 50 U.S. retail brands by brand value, as well as the top retail brands from around the world. See the brands, overviews, articles, interviews, applications and methodology, and find downloads in the in-depth report.

In one of Interbrand's interviews, Express CEO Michael Weiss talks about what a good brand does. Learn from the best with Interbrand's report

Make your brand trustworthy. That way, consumers who are sick and tired of making decisions will stick with you in 2013. That's one of 12 insights for the year outlined in a recent Fast Company report. Others include investing in technology to help your employees do more, helping customers maintain what they have vs. planned obsolescence, and beefing up human interaction. The report urges brands to get used to chaos and contradictions to please today's consumer.

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Sometimes less is more, sometimes more is better, but sometimes more is just more. ARE member King Retail Solutions outlines how retail real estate is changing in its report The Face of Retail is Changing: The Incredible Shrinking Expansion. "From the beginning of time up until, oh about five minutes ago, growth (success, expansion, and market domination) for a retailer was pretty cut and dry ... More space was more sales and that was that," the report notes. But technology use has changed how retailers use space. KRS points to ways retailers can repurpose vacant space to create a new kind of growth, one that blurs traditional boundaries and encourages brand experiences.


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Each of The World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Retail pulled off an impressive feat to earn a spot on this prestigious list. Each is unique and each offers insight into the ever-changing world of retail. Topping the list, Nike redefines itself with goods that keep its brand fresh and revenue rising. Its Flyknit and FuelBand entice followers and maintain its "culture of true believers," states Fast Company in its findings.

Brick-and-mortar stores fill second, third, and fourth place by integrating technology and customer service in the shopping experience. Burberry's London flagship wows shoppers with elaborate visual effects: RFID chips on some products trigger LCD screens to play info tailored to that item as the customer walks by with it. Sephora is rolling out a color detection tool that gives shoppers buying foundation an exact skin-tone match. See all the cutting-edge ideas that are shaping the future of retail.

60 Years of Chloé | Bob Recine's Windows from Barneys The Window

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of French fashion house Chloé, Barneys New York commissioned hairstylist/artist Bob Recine to create unique window displays. Five mannequins are clad in dresses designed by former Chloé designer Karl Lagerfeld. Recine took each dress as inspiration for unique hair sculptures. Get inside Recine's mind in the video at left.

More Barneys videos:

Watch how the window was made

Watch the making of window celebrating Christian Louboutin's 20 years

In its Breakout Brands report, NRN dishes on emerging concepts in the restaurant industry. The association reveals the hot concepts that are "drawing crowds, making money and, in some cases, winning the attention and financing of big companies and private equity firms." Fifty brands are profiled, with breakout factors denoted by icons for easy trend spotting.

To whet your appetite, the concepts range from artisan pizza to Italian street food, from grilled cheese to gourmet comfort food, from veggie concoctions to a protein focus. Get a cup of tea, sit back and sample them all.

A.R.E. DREAM Team Member Ken Nisch of JGA points to the "personal emancipation" of the shopper, a new consumer psychology focused on personalization and customization, as one of the biggest trends kickstarting the 2013 retail "reboot." As retailers of all types and sizes try to meet these new consumer attitudes and expectations, a variety of trends have emerged in the retail industry, Ken notes in a recent Chain Store Age report. From mix-and-match merchandising and flash sales to storytelling and community involvement, this reboot is all about giving power to the consumer.

See more of the 2013 trends Ken has identified

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RSR offers its take on NRF's Big Show in New York in this video recording of a webinar. The experts talk about: the changing role of the store from a destination to a node on the supply chain new ways of addressing price what's moving to the cloud new visual technologies being brought into the stores solutions for customer experience stumblingblocks the emphasis on interactivity the maturation of proximity marketing video analytics and more

Shoppers want their smart devices to help them make smarter purchase decisions. So they look to their mobile devices for product info. They want it accessible in the store, at a moment's notice, and up-to-the-minute accurate, according to a new study by ad agency Moosylvania.

"We found that when it comes to buying most goods and services, speed is beyond the essence," said Norty Cohen, founder and CEO of Moosylvania. "They are researching reviews, comparing prices, photo sharing and making purchases in seconds and prefer doing so equally online and in-store."

The Shopping Experience in a Smartphone World found that 80% of shoppers want mobile-accessible product info in the physical store. Other findings:

Consumers already see brick-and-mortar locations and online stores as extensions of one another. 65% might be willing to consult their phone instead of a store associate for product info. 57% buy more items in a single transaction in-store than online.

America’s leading manufacturers see consumers moving toward discount and multi-channel for their shopping. They point to a narrowing gap between the top four power retailers, Walmart, Target, Kroger and Costco. And they envision Amazon challenging the incumbents as a power retailer of the future, according to their rankings of the top movers in the next 15 years in Kantar Retail’s 2012 US PoweRanking report.

Walmart is still predicted to top the list, but was 2.3 points down from last year to 51.9% while CostCo was up 0.7 points to 22.1%. Amazon saw an increase of 9.3 points, placing it fifth. Dollar General's debut on the top 10 list with a score of 6.6% is further evidence of the manufacturers' expectations of strong discount performance in the next 15 years.

Target hit the bullseye in “Innovative Marketing and Merchandising,” easily beating Walmart despite the latter gaining 1.4 points since last year.

Almost as easy as pulling a restaurant out of your pocket, dining areas may one day be found in your local C-stores. Convenience Store News predicts the rise of the convenience restaurant in 2013. "Aside from focusing on their foodservice programs, stores that have the space will seek to become more of a gathering place for customers to sit back, relax and enjoy," the report notes. Find this and other top C-store predictions for the year on csnews.com.

In a related trend, another report notes the growing partnerships between restaurant chains and C-stores.

GlobeSt.com's Ian Ritter recently caught up with the Stan Johnson Co.'s Ed Breslin, who reveals why net lease retail is attractive and which retailers are expanding.

It's official. Design matters. For U.S. consumers, the store environment affects not only their perception of a retailer, but also their purchase decisions for grocery, apparel and home goods, King Retail Solutions found in a recent survey.

An astounding 99% feel the store environment contributes to overall quality of a grocery store. Two-thirds of Gen X and Boomers and 72% of Millennials said the store environment trumps customer service in their decision on where to go to stock the pantry.

For the home goods segment, 98% feel the store environment contributes to overall quality and 97% believe that a retailer with a superior store environment cares about them. It makes them feel good, too; 59% say it elevates their status to buy home goods in a store with great decor, layout and aesthetic.

For apparel stores, the design must speak to shopper comfort; 97% say the comfort level affects their dwell time. Again, the environment is more important than customer service — to 71% of shoppers. And 67% probably just want to be seen in a great store or tell their friends where they picked up their new threads; they say purchasing in a great environment ups their status.

Quality. Caring. Prestige. Comfort. Just a few of the results of great store design. Oh, yeah, and higher sales.

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Five Guys is a leader among US burger joints. So says a new study by Market Force Information. The research firm surveyed 7,600+ consumers about their QSR preferences. The fave by door count, Five Guys Burgers and Fries was tops among all regions and in four out of five attributes cited, including the one most dear to A.R.E. members' hearts — atmosphere. Smashburger tied for the top ranking in atmosphere. The other traits surveyers asked about were food quality/taste, service, cleanliness, and overall value.

Retailers need to think about how to make the future now, says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst with The NPD Group. The retail expert describes the difference between bricks and clicks in terms of the consumer experience: sensory vs. research. His answer to channel convergence is "platform marketing."

He also discusses the blurring lines between markets — high-end vs. low-end, men vs. women. And in a segment on the teen market, he urges retailers to multi-tier their message since teens no longer have carte blanche with, er, Carte Blanche ... or any other credit card. In the post-recession market, most adolescents must get parental approval for purchases, he explains.

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Which indies are the ones to watch? Inc. magazine has identified them for you. Nearly 200 retailers (many online) made the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. Ever hear of Nasty Gal? Well, you will. The online fashion store focuses on handpicked vintage items, selections from up-and-coming designers, and — as of Aug. 27 — its own line of edgy apparel. Nasty Gal is the list's top retailer, coming in at No. 11 with an eye-popping 10,160% growth (yes, that's a comma, not a decimal). In fact, 24 retailers made the list within a list — the Inc. 500, which this year was the most competitive to date. To make the 500 cut, companies needed a staggering minimum of 770% in sales growth over the past three years.

Not only can companies on the 500|5000 list go on to become well-known brands (think Zappos and Jamba Juice), but as you might guess, not all remain indies. This year, Five Below, which ranked 1327 on the list, filed an IPO. Targeting the teen and tween market, the chain keeps price points below $5. And occasionally, a brand is already well-known beforehand; Michaels, which was privatized in 2007, made the list with 10% growth over the past three years.

California is home to the most retailers on the list at 29, while Florida and New York had 14 each.

Chain Store Age magazine has released the State of the Industry Report and Top100 (see page 20A) listing the largest national retailers by annual revenue. This year's ranking shows 89 retailers had increased revenues from the preceding fiscal year, and 42 reported higher net incomes in 2011 than 2010. Wal-Mart, Kroger, and Costco Wholesale stayed in the top three positions for another year. Those in the top 20 positions shifted only slightly. Others lost ground; GameStop, Menards, and The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. dropped dramatically. The report sites new technologies, increased connectivity, and emerging opportunities for expansion into new markets as key factors energizing the industry.

Future center store formats for grocery will likely need to be smaller, but with more organized backstock and labor to replenish accordingly, predicts a joint study by investment bank Jefferies and business advisory firm AlixPartners. Trouble in Aisle 5 analyzes changes in the food-at-home industry as baby boomers age and millennials mature. High-income millenials are turning from traditional supermarkets to specialty stores for fresh products and to mass merchants for everyday essentials. "The next several years are critical for food companies and retailers to develop lasting relationships with millennials," the report notes. While grocery stores and branded processed food manufacturers are set to lose share, the study points to gains for: mass, specialty (ethnic, natural and organic, fresh-focused) and online retailers; natural and organic and specialty distributors, private-label manufacturers, branded natural and organic manufacturers; producers/distributors of perishable items, and manufacturers that tailor products to specific dietary needs and/or general health-focused attributes.

Ubiquitous touchscreens, interactivity, and bigger and better video walls are among the trends Commerical Integrator found at InfoComm 2012. The annual event showcases 10,000+ audiovisual products and services, from digital signage and content creation to projectors and lighting. CI's report on 15 commercial electronics trends from the show notes that digital signage is becoming interactive with touch screens. Writes Kevin Goldsmith of PingHD, "It suddenly seems expected that a screen should be interactive, and it often makes me smile when you see people touching a regular screen expecting that it should do something." He cites unusually configured screens as particularly attention-grabbing and predicts more touch-less interactive solutions in the coming year. Similar trends were noted by CorporateTechDecisions in its report on 9 digital signage trends from the show.

Flash sales, customization, and adaptation to a changing consumer demographic — these are a few of the fashion retail trends identified by IBISWorld. The research firm predicts that the sector's landscape is being reshaped for good by a slew of changes from smartphone shopping to aspirational consumers. Retailers that don't embrace the changes risk falling out of fashion, warns the new report.