Retail Prophet

1 week ago | retailprophet.com | Doug Stephens

(image credit: Reuters: Nicholas Pfosi)By Doug StephensThis week Harvard University pushed back against the Trump administration’s threats to tie billions in federal funding to unprecedented demands of political and ideological compliance.

1 week ago | retailprophet.com | Doug Stephens

By Doug StephensThis week Harvard University pushed back against the Trump administration’s threats to tie billions in federal funding to its demands of political and ideological compliance. In its letter to Harvard, the Government cited, among other things, the school’s policies of diversity, equity and inclusion in faculty hiring and student admissions protocols, as well as the university’s allowance of pro-Palestinian protests on its campuses.

1 week ago | retailprophet.com | Doug Stephens

By Doug StephensEven before Canada or the United States existed, one intrepid retail company was trading in the wilderness of North America. Founded in 1670, The Hudson’s Bay Company is the oldest joint-stock company in the English-speaking world and largely responsible for pioneering both the North American fur trade and what would become, hundreds of years later, the British colony of Canada.

2 months ago | retailprophet.com | Doug Stephens

By Doug StephensIn December of 2024 amid the usual array of commodity items on Walmart.com, there was one conspicuous product listing that immediately caught the Internet’s attention.

Nov 13, 2024 | retailprophet.com | Doug Stephens

By Doug StephensI can still recall reading Joseph Pine and James Gilmore’s seminal 1999 book The Experience Economy.