Best Practices

The specialty retailer segment has become the story of the haves and the have nots. As news continues to break of store closings and bankruptcy filings across the segment, the members of RIS News' annual ranking of the Top 10 Specialty Retailers continue to show incremental growth.

Temkin Group interviewed over 10,000 consumers for its 5th annual customer experience survey and uncovered that while many retailers are routinely satisfying customers others are missing the mark. See where PetSmart, Amazon, Best Buy, and others ranked.

CGT Editor Alarice Rajagopal gives you a sneak peek into the trends and topics discussed in this month's issue.

Campbell's Culinary & Baking Institute released its second annual Culinary TrendScape -- a trend report tracking the top 10 influential food themes for 2015, including Filipino Flavors, Regional Barbecue and Bread Revival.

In the world of consumer goods, Amway is a rare success story. The company's direct-selling model has been nothing but successful, but this didn't come about by chance. Armed with a structered, yet flexible product development process, and growing network of external partners, Amway and its Open Innovation Team, is well on its way to turning a good business into a great business.

Team members and partners who come with different backgrounds, experiences, attitudes, and ways of thinking, all contribute to a dynamic culture, robust knowledge bank, and innovative thinking.

CGT's Industry Liaison, Werner Graf, provides some lesser-known resources for innovation including how to match your customers' pain points with the right technology, for success.

The innovation engine for many companies is clearly sputtering. While improving consumer insight and portfolio management discipline is a clear necessity, Accenture believes equal focus should be put on improving R&D operations to become more effective and efficient.