With the help of volunteers and sponsors, our vision is to eradicate hunger within the families and individuals in the DuPage County area. We are dedicated to providing food for the hungry, educating the donor community about existing needs, and supporting advocacy efforts for the hungry. We also work hard to encourage volunteerism and the sharing of resources.

It was between 2007 and 2008 when companies started to look at social media, not just as “something young people do,” but as a business channel; an opportunity for a new type of interaction with customers and an innovative way to generate leads. At this point, Facebook built Facebook Pages, which allowed any entity to create a Business Page on Facebook. In addition, Facebook expanded its advertising capabilities and continued work on developing its Mobile App.

Social Media Automation, however, is a fairly new concept, primarily because of how new Social Media is in general as a business tool. Recent feature updates such as Messenger and the deployment of Bots present both opportunities and threats, not only to a customer’s experience but also to a brand’s reputation.

On the webinar, Brandon talked about how companies are using customer lifetime value to win, serve, and retain customers today. He also presented best practices for overcoming the data and organizational challenges typically associated with lifetime value. Finally, he revealed on how to get started with lifetime value.

Forrester Research report The New Paradigm Of Retail states, “Today’s shopper knows more about the product than store associates do, has a broader online selection with filtering tools, and can close the purchase more easily on their own with online product upsell options. Retailers must adapt to regain a customer experience.”
1 Future growth for retailers depends on the retailer’s ability to adapt to the customer’s preferences. We have identified four “Retail Strategy Influencers” that pave the way to growth.

Staying relevant is the key to surviving in today’s world. The world is advancing at a phenomenal pace. How do you keep up with, harness, and leverage the vast amount of information available to you?

The hectic holiday season is done, and seasonal results for retailers are positive. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), “holiday sales during November and December 2017 increased 5.5 percent over the same period in 2016 to $691.9 billion as growing wages, stronger employment and higher confidence led consumers to spend more than had been expected.”  And the continued outlook for retailers remains promising. Devon Wylie, CEO of retail industry event CRMC, points out that “most in our network of brick and mortar, retail CRM marketers are telling us that they are hopeful that in-store activity will remain strong in 2018.”