Diva’s heading back to San Francisco this month—woo hoo! Why, you ask? Well because DDI Magazine’s fifth CitySCENE networking event will take place in San Francisco on May 23, 6 p.m.-8 p.m. at The Westin St. Francis, at 355 Powell St. In case you haven’t been to a CitySCENE event yet, Diva has the deets: CitySCENE is a series of local networking events across the country designed to bring like-minded peers from the retail design industry together for casual conversation and cocktails—and it’s free to attend!

The event, which first debuted last May in San Francisco, returns for a second stop in the lovely Bay Area, and not to mention at a lovely location (Diva loooves The Westin St. Continue reading →

Like this is a newsflash (?): Women are increasingly shopping online, but still make purchases in a store. (Note Diva J’s April 10 post.)

But, here are some stats to back up what we already suspected, plus a few more nuggets from the second annual “SheSpeaks/Lippe Taylor Women’s Buying Behavior Index.” The study collected the responses of 2,152 women over the past two months to get a handle on buying habits and forecast purchasing trends of American women.

Among the findings: When asked which method they use most to research products, 71 percent chose laptops, 18 percent selected mobile/tablet, while 6 percent preferred browsing in a store. Continue reading →

Do you need help training shoppers how to buy? During the GlobalShop keynote session on Monday, April 16^th, Herb Sorensen, Ph.D. said that training shoppers is not the problem.  “The reality is there are problems with the way people try to sell.”

Continue reading →

Diva loves retail design. Diva loves Chicago. Combine those two, and Diva is jumping up and down with excitement! GlobalShop 2013 takes over Chicago this year, from April 16-18, and Diva will be there with her BFF DDI Magazine to see it all. Speaking of DDI Magazine, Diva’s friends over there are throwing a fun pre-show gathering on April 15 dubbed RAP (Reader Appreciation Party). Consider it your pre-game to GlobalShop!

Taking place Monday night, April 15, from 7 p.m.-9 p.m. at EPIC in Chicago, the DDI RAP is a private, sponsored event (translation: vendors/manufacturers are only permitted as sponsors) that brings together the retail design industry for a couple hours of cocktails, conversation and fun. Continue reading →

Here’s a little news flash that could lift retailers’ bottom line: U.S. shoppers will pay a 10 percent to 60 percent premium for goods made in the good ol US of A.

Wanna know more? Here ya go:

More than 80 percent of U.S. consumers and, perhaps more surprising, more than 60 percent of Chinese consumers say that they are willing to pay more for products labeled “Made in USA” than for those labeled “Made in China,” according to new research released by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a private company with 78 offices in 43 countries.

In September, BCG surveyed more than 5,000 consumers in the United States, China, Germany and France regarding their attitudes toward the value of the “Made in USA” brand and their actual buying behavior. Continue reading →