Fiona Swerdlow

VP, Research Director

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’Tis The Season For Forrester’s End-Of-Year Retail Holidays Blog Series

Nicole Murgia October 4, 2023
The retail holiday season is already well underway, and to help you prepare for your busiest season, we’re kicking off our fifth annual “Holiday Prep” blog series.
Blog

Enable Site Features That Make Shopping Easy This Holiday Season

Nicole Murgia November 9, 2022
Online holiday sales are expected to grow at a faster rate than holiday sales overall this year. That means retailers must ensure that their websites are set up for success.
Blog

How 50 Retailers And Brands Competed With Amazon’s October 2022 Prime Event

Nicole Murgia October 17, 2022
Forrester examined the strategies that 50 retailers and brands deployed to compete with Amazon’s Prime Early Access Sale. Learn more.
Blog

Retailers: Kick Off The Holiday Season With Our 2022 Guide

Fiona Swerdlow October 6, 2022
Prepare for holiday shoppers with authentic marketing, inventory visibility, value-add info, and other tactics to increase customers’ confidence.
Blog

Introducing The 2022 End-Of-Year Holidays Blog Prep Series

Fiona Swerdlow September 28, 2022
Holiday planning is already well underway, and now it’s all about executing on marketing plans, site adjustments, and other finishing touches online and in-store. Read our insights to help you prep for the 2022 season!
Blog

Retail In 2022 — Highlights From The US CX Index

Fiona Swerdlow August 8, 2022
Results from the US CX Index 2022 show that some retailers were able to strengthen their base of devoted (and highly profitable) customers. Learn more, and how you can do the same.
Blog

The Customer Lifecycle Is The Design Muse To Accelerate Your Journey To Customer Obsession

Lori Wizdo June 29, 2022
Learn how the Forrester Customer Lifecycle Framework helps B2B and B2C business leaders — enterprisewide! — calibrate what are too often internally focused processes instead of the customer’s process and perspective in order to become more customer-obsessed.
Blog

Global Consumers Drive The Market Toward Sustainable Retail

Fiona Swerdlow October 29, 2021
From a long-standing focus on sustainability by companies such as Patagonia and REI to newer initiatives such as Galeries Lafayette’s (Re)Store, IKEA designing for reuse, and Mars’ pledge for net-zero emissions (among many!), retailers and brands are on the path to actively supporting the circular economy. Overall, consumers’ consciousness about environmental, social, and governance (ESG) […]
Blog

Predictions 2022: Retailers Will Compete On “Pre-Loved,” Returns — And New Partners

Sucharita Kodali October 27, 2021
The biggest retail trends of 2022 will involving tapping into the circular economy and using returns to retain customers. Learn more.
Blog

The 2021 End-Of-Year Holidays Blog Prep Series Kicks Off!

Fiona Swerdlow October 6, 2021
Over the coming weeks, we'll advise retailers on holiday prep topics from application security and bot management to consumer “confidence” measures, marketing tactics, and much more.
Blog

Retailers Take Four Of The Top Spots In The US CX Index, 2021

Fiona Swerdlow June 7, 2021
Retailers snagged four of the top 11 spots in the Forrester US CX Index 2021, more than any other single surveyed industry. Discover which retailers soared during a challenging year, and why.
Blog

Thanksgiving Signals That The Holidays Are Kicking Off In Earnest — With A 2020 Twist

Fiona Swerdlow November 25, 2020
Thanksgiving and Black Friday are upon us, so we asked consumers how they’re thinking about holiday shopping. Among US online consumers we surveyed in early November, we found that: Holiday offers are out there — even if not all consumers are ready. Close to half (45%) of US online adults we surveyed hadn’t started thinking […]
Blog

Predictions 2021: Retailers, Brand Manufacturers, And Mall Operators

Sucharita Kodali October 20, 2020
In the wake of the pandemic's deluge of disruption, retailers, brand manufacturers, and ecosystem players such as mall operators are entirely rethinking their businesses, heralding much change ahead. Read what we predict for retail in 2021.
Blog

Holiday 2020 Kicks Off

Fiona Swerdlow October 14, 2020
It’s Amazon Prime Day and Big Billion Days week — a fitting time to kick off Holiday 2020 and Forrester’s annual holiday prep blog series. In the coming weeks, watch for Forrester analyst expert insights about everything from marketing, podcast advertising, and smart post-purchase notifications to US holiday forecast scenarios, “11/11” event analysis, thwarting “grinchy” […]
Research Collection

US Retailers Face Unprecedented Challenges In Planning For Q4

Fiona Swerdlow August 24, 2020
Q4 contributes a significant part of many retailers’ annual revenues and profits. As of mid-Q3, factors like high unemployment, a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, short-term and permanent store closures, and the expiration of the US Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program are making it challenging for US retailers to plan for Q4. We’ve created a collection […]
Blog

Walmart Doubles Down On ‘Save Money. Live Better.’ As It Wants To Help You Shop For Your Next Health Insurance Plan

Arielle Trzcinski July 13, 2020
Recently, Walmart quietly launched Walmart Insurance Services LLC. To better understand and triangulate what this move means for the future of healthcare, a team of Forrester analysts weighed in. Read their takes.
Blog

Future Of Retail 2020: Retail Marketers Face Privacy And Data Ethics Regulations

Fiona Swerdlow May 7, 2020
Forrester retail industry analysts provide insights on how privacy and data ethics regulations will affect retail marketers.
Blog

Future Of Retail 2020: Retailers Test Consumer-Facing And Operational IoT Solutions

Fiona Swerdlow March 31, 2020
To understand how Forrester’s predictions will unfold in the retail industry in 2020, my colleague Madeline Cyr and I interviewed experts within Forrester for our “Applying 2020 Predictions To Retail” series. To understand the internet of things (IoT) predictions for 2020, we spoke with Forrester IoT expert Frank Gillett. Madeline Cyr: In 2020, you predict […]
Blog

Future Of Retail 2020: Retailers Will Create Bold Employee Experiences

Fiona Swerdlow March 27, 2020
To understand how Forrester’s predictions will unfold in the retail industry in 2020, my colleague Madeline Cyr and I interviewed experts within Forrester for our “Applying 2020 Predictions To Retail” series. To understand the employee experience (EX) predictions for the year, we spoke with Forrester Principal Analyst David Johnson, who serves CIO professionals. Madeline: You […]
Blog

Future Of Retail 2020: Retail B2C Marketers Manage Influencers, Marketing Partnerships, And DTC Acquisitions

Fiona Swerdlow March 17, 2020
Principal Analyst Jim Nail and Senior Analyst Tina Moffett weigh in on what's ahead for retail marketers and how retail companies can position themselves for success.
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