I wrote this as a guest blog post for Reachify, a business intelligence platform for the buyers and sellers of software. Much of it also is relevant for vendors selling physical goods, not just technology products. It's published on their blog now.

My reactions to recent news that's been widely shared.

Let's make retail connections. Have an opening? Looking for a job? I know of roles and candidates.

Personally and professionally, I love stores. But in the past three days alone, I've observed too many of them failing on the basics.

As the food shopping space anticipates innovation coming from Amazon/Whole Foods, here's my grocery tech wish list.

Let's make retail connections. Have an opening? Looking for a job? I know of roles and candidates.

Customers may or may not realize that when they're shopping online with multi-brand retailers, some of the product doesn't touch the retailer's hands and instead is sent directly from brand to end-user. This has benefits for all parties, as well as customer experience implications.

Twice last week, fashion startup founders asked me for ideas about how to tell the story of what they're building without relying on paid digital marketing or having influential friends. Here are some ideas.

Let's make retail connections. Have an opening? Looking for a job? I know of roles and candidates.

Among the many retailers who will "competitive shop" Amazon Books, I think most will say they don’t want their stores to look or feel like Amazon. But, taken more granularly, some of Amazon's individual tactics can provide inspiration.

Let's make retail connections. Have an opening? Looking for a job? I know of roles and candidates.

I've been out and about in New York over the past three days and, without intentionally embarking on a channel checking tour, I've found myself making a lot of mental notes about the experiences I've had.

Last week, I kicked off #GoodNewsRetail, a means for sharing what's new and hopeful in the industry. Here are a handful of #GoodNewsRetail items shared on Twitter last week.

What’s new and interesting? What looks good? What’s unproven but sounds like a good idea we should keep an eye on? I’ll use #GoodNewsRetail to share these finds on Twitter and Instagram and I hope you will, too.

Nike is doubling down on the 12 markets that will provide 80% of the brand's growth over the next 2.5 years. To many companies, this would mean focusing ad dollars in those markets and maybe sprucing up some area stores. But for Nike, it means more. 

It's painfully easy to think of retailers who aren't doing well right now. Handy trackers even help us keep track of bankruptcies and store closures. But there also are bright spots I love watching. Here are some companies doing well right now and why I'm excited about them.

As company after company has filed for bankruptcy or announced mass store closures, I'm reminded both of my question about how retailers are measuring stores and my ideas for how retailers can use stores to enhance the customer experience. 

Regardless of whether retailers are thinking about either of these topics, there are obvious ways to leverage existing stores to drive sales in any or all channels.

I read many - probably too many - articles about retail. More than any I’ve seen recently, last week’s The New Yorker article, "Why J. Crew's Vision of Preppy America Failed", nails so much about retail today. 

A few weeks ago, I announced the pre-launch of my new retail business, Box The Party. As the landing page says, I want to help people eliminate Pinterest party fails and create Instagrammable everyday celebrations at home. Despite the chatbot hype, I believe there's an opportunity in human-to-human interaction. So it's no coincidence that Box The Party's minimally viable product - which launched last week - is all via SMS.