Viewpoint

In 2015, Walmart has been throwing some surprising curveballs: pledging to raise wages above federal mandates; opposing the Arkansas religious freedom law; and delisting Confederate-flag-adorned items from its website. 

The first time I ordered from Peapod.com, I wound up with about $150 in free groceries – and a check for $1,000.

Think about it: There’s no shortage of emails, blogs and websites repeating reports about the revolving door of industry executives or looking down from the heights of some C-suite.

While building the curriculum for our new Path to Purchase Leadership University over the last six months, we here at the Institute have spent a lot of time considering the concept of “shopper marketing,” in both the pragmatic and philosophical senses.

The good news, after a winter of Ebola scares and measles outbreaks, was a report released March 10 by Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) that definitively discredits homeopathy.

Serving as a judge in the Shopper Marketing Effies has become an annual highlight for me personally.

When we first launched the

Shopper marketing now commands 15% of the overall marketing budget, according to results from

Some final thoughts as we wind down the year in shopper marketing

“Do you ever get the feeling that there’s something going on that we don’t know about?”

A few years ago, while at the podium at a shopper marketing event, I was suddenly interrupted mid-sentence by a loud beeping sound from my pocket. It was an app alert on my smartphone.

Whenever I discuss the effects that marketing has on me personally, I make sure to qualify the remarks by noting that I generally am the