Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

You’ve probably used their technologies or shopped in their stores.

How one retailer discovered the secret to expanding from three to 15 stores profitably.

Digital loyalty is a hot topic right now, mainly because store loyalty is a system that's ripe for some technology innovation (all those paper punch-and-stamp cards...so old-fashioned!) and because it can be easier to implement a digital loyalty scheme than launching a full-fledged novel digital payment system--especially for the smaller-sized business, more mom-and-pop than IT geek. It's exactly into this market that Belly is launching today to change everything with a simple iPad. The company's press release notes it "will offer a unique value proposition for small and medium sized businesses by replacing the traditional ‘buy 10 get one free punch cards’ with unique rewards that fit the personality of the business and connect consumers on a much more personalized level." The company was branded as Bellyflop during its pre-startup phase, but today it's rebranding and coming out of private test

%excerpt% Read the original: Perfecting the Halloween Pop-up

Whole Foods is encountering a not entirely unforeseen headache during their first Ramadan marketing campaign: Pressure from anti-Muslim bloggers and internal dissent at their company. A pioneering Ramadan marketing campaign at Whole Foods has turned into a headache thanks to a handful of vocal anti-Muslim bloggers. The Houston Press leaked an internal company email claiming “it would be best” if Whole Foods did not observe Ramadan in-store, leading to widespread blowback from angry customers who supported the promotion.

Japanese citizens rush to the stores to stock up on survival supplies fearing a possible nuclear meltdown and radiation stemming from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Lucy Craft reports.