General Retailers

Are site expansion targets an illusion? It’s hard to say precisely how many multi-unit retailers fall behind on their 10, 20, 50, or 100-unit growth targets each year, but it’s probably fair to say that it’s quite a lot. All savvy business owners set a high bar for themselves and yet no matter how diligently they run the numbers, development always seems to lag 25-50% behind of what’s expected. Why is this?

In case you haven’t noticed, big-data is now quite literally driving industry and causing major disruptions along the way. Uber has all but obviated the taxi industry, and Air Bnb is Uber’s hotel counterpart; both companies rely on highly automated, data-driven platforms that are shifting economy and infrastructure in major ways. And while these integrations have not been totally seamless, it’s clear that the world is ready for some fresh takes on antiquated industries.

Real estate is a laggard when it comes to adapting to change, says SiteZeus EVP of product development Chuck Cooper. He arrived at this conclusion after more than 30 years of developing software for real estate and other industries. Now, his Tampa, FL-based company, founded by brothers Hannibal and Keenan Baldwin in 2014, wants to help industry players find ideal locations to choose from by crunching large amounts of statistical data.

The 21st century is upon us, and it’s here sooner the you imagined: Real estate site selection just took a huge leap into the future, and you might have missed it: Artificial intelligence is taking over the industry. Up until now, the commercial real estate industry hasn’t adopted new technology as well as others have. Even stodgy insurance companies now use big-data modeling to calculate “insurance credit scores” on hundreds of millions of customers. And even the notoriously backward-looking legal industry has hired IBM’s Watson, a deep thinking supercomputer, on as a paralegal. But commercial real estate?…

Join us this year as we kick off the 2016 Restaurant Finance & Development Conference. Hannibal Baldwin, our Co-CEO & Co-Founder will be opening up the conference November 14th to introduce our newest data partner UberMedia.

Starting a new retail business can be exciting and challenging at the same time; it’s difficult to know where to focus your efforts first. As you prioritize what steps to take action on, remember these five pillars of building a successful retail business.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made its way into many aspects of our lives, even into toys for kids like Anki’s Cozmo which resembles a roboticized Ewok. But as things go, AI isn’t just for devices, it’s made and continues to make it’s way into eCommerce and is out there working to determine what to sell to you, how you shop and ensure you have a good shopping experience.

Has ecommerce gobbled up brick and mortar? To answer that, let’s start with a brief history. EBay exploded onto the scene in a big way in the nineties and shattered some very long-held beliefs: Would people trust online commerce? You bet they would...

As consumers shift their apparel, beauty and accessories purchases to online, store traffic continues to decline. In August, year-over-year instore traffic dropped 6.6 percent, according to RetailNext. For fashion apparel retailers who may not have a strong e-commerce presence, the ongoing drop in traffic is a paramount concern — especially heading in the fall the holiday shopping season.

Every seasoned restaurant owner or manager knows that where there is growth, once stood a significant risk. No booming business entered the game, be it opening a new location, a menu makeover, or a completely new brand, with 100 percent confidence.

Whether you’re an eye-roller or an enthusiastic participant, Pokémon Go is a game that’s difficult to ignore. It does have a lot going for it: nostalgic yet advanced, simple but strategic, and although played on phones, the game incorporates the user’s surroundings to an extent we haven’t really seen before. The “Go” sets the game apart from all others that have come before, Pokémon or not: you simply can’t catch Pokémon while sitting still.

Check out our newest resource for restaurateurs: Which site is taking a bite out of your revenues? Remember that special entree that you decided to stop serving last summer? The one that made all of the cooks groan and which all the servers decried because they had to use a tray to carry it out?…