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Research

Featured below is a compilation of original research reports produced by Women in Retail Leadership Circle (WIRLC); WIRLC’s sister brand, Total Retail; and NAPCO Research, a division of WIRLC’s parent organization, NAPCO Media. This research is offered to WIRLC members as a benefit of membership.

Members Only Resource

Rehumanizing Business - A Forbes Ignite Guide

Business Strategy | Research

Each of us, no matter what industry we work in, no matter our title, or even whether we have a job, is undergoing a radical re-evaluation of our relationship to work and how it defines us as a person. Forbes Ignite, with the assistance of our strategic partners at UK-based communications firm, Eulogy, assembled a cross-industry task force of diverse leaders and changemakers. Our mission was to conceptualize new ways that organizations can embed strategic empathy within their everyday communication and decision making. The goal is not to create more meaningless metrics or corporate “initiatives” that waste people’s time and die on the vine.

Members Only Resource

Global Gender Gap Report 2021

Research

This year’s report aims to keep the focus on consistent measurement of gender gaps while providing new data to point to emerging and concerning trends in the labor market so that we can proactively address them. We're delighted to feature in this report a special collaboration with LinkedIn and Ipsos, which have provided unique data and new measures to track gender gaps.

Members Only Resource

2021 Tech Trends Report

Research

Our 2021 Tech Trends Report is designed to help you confront deep uncertainty, adapt and thrive. For this year’s edition, the magnitude of new signals required us to create 12 separate volumes, and each report focuses on a cluster of related trends. In total, we’ve analyzed nearly 500 technology and science trends across multiple industry sectors. In each volume, we discuss the disruptive forces, opportunities and strategies that will drive your organization in the near future.

Members Only Resource

The Mom Success Factor

Executive Professional Development | Research

With gender equity progress at risk due to the COVID-19 health crisis and childcare shortages, WerkLabs set out to understand more about the value of keeping moms within the workplace. Via a survey administered to 500+ working professional women, WerkLabs quantitatively measures the value-add of moms as colleagues and managers. Irrefutably, the presence of moms in the workplace results in a more positive employee experience, greater workplace inclusivity, heightened productivity, and an increase in retention.

Resource

Retailer Readiness: COVID-19 In-Store Safety Index – Part 2

Business Strategy | Research

The outbreak of COVID-19 forced the temporary shutdown or reduced operation of many brick- and-mortar retail stores. When government restrictions relaxed, retailers reopened stores with new measures to inform and protect shoppers. According to a recent Acxiom survey, most shoppers (54 percent) won’t return to stores until the government says the outbreak is contained. It continues to be crucial for retailers to take precautions to ensure consumers are protected and comfortable shopping in their stores. Between mid-July and early August 2020, NAPCO Research conducted an in-store review of 100 top retailers’ COVID-19 measures based on 29 unique criteria, including signage, safety messaging, traffic, technology, and friendliness/experience. The resulting report highlighted the top performing retailers, emerging trends in COVID-19 readiness, best practices for retailers, and the main areas for improvement. To evaluate their progress in the months since, an identical follow-up assessment was conducted in mid- to late December 2020. This report will reveal the results of this second assessment, including comparisons between the results of the first and second rounds.

Resource

2020 Merchant Gift Card Omnichannel Evaluation

Business Strategy | Research

For the fourth consecutive year, NAPCO Research, in conjunction with Blackhawk Network, executed a comprehensive review of the state of merchants’ gift card offerings. However, unlike the previous three years, the 2020 review included an assessment of retailers’ e-commerce/digital, mobile, and in-store gift card offerings, providing a truly 360-degree view into the consumer gift card purchase and recipient experience. Why make this change in methodology? First, consumer behavior has been trending toward omnichannel — i.e., engaging with brands across multiple channels, such as stores, online, and mobile, often in the same purchase journey — for some time now. Interacting with brands across channels during the purchase journey, whether the item being sought out is a gift card or some other product, has become commonplace for consumers. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the COVID-19 global pandemic, which upended the retail industry and fundamentally changed the way many consumers shop, rapidly accelerated this trend.

Members Only Resource

Corporate Equality Index 2021

Research

As the national benchmarking tool measuring policies, practices and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) employees, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI) is a primary driving force for LGBTQ workplace inclusion. Data from the CEI tells the story of nearly two decades of year-over-year growth in the adoption of these critical policies and practices indicative of employers' commitment to equality.

Members Only Resource

State of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Fashion

Research

The State of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Fashion report builds upon the CFDA and PVH’s co-authored 2019 industry briefing Insider/Outsider: Inclusion & Diversity in the American Fashion Industry. Together, the CFDA and PVH continue to partner with the industry to build a future that’s better for business, better for creativity, and better for people....

Members Only Resource

2020 Retail Industry Year in Review

Business Strategy | Research

The 2020 Retail Industry Year in Review summarizes many of the developments and obstacles that retailers faced last year, as well as forecasts and considerations for 2021. We closely examine innovations in technology around contactless payment systems, as well as workplace safety issues related to COVID-19 and vaccines. We also provide updates related to merger and acquisition activity, insurance coverage, The California Privacy Rights Act, and more.

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