Cover Story

It was November 2008. The headline in Newsweek asked, “Is The Mall Dead?”

The accompanying article painted a grim picture, pinning diminishing mall traffic on retail cannibalization, the repopulation of cities and assorted other problems.

Americans have an ongoing love affair with brands. Threaten to take away their Dawn dishwashing detergent or their Kleenex and you'd better be ready for a knock-down, drag-out fight: Those items, along with Bounty paper towels and Crest toothpaste, are among the products shoppers choose most often when they roll their carts up and down the supermarket aisles.

Creativity is a hallmark of the retail industry, and retailers have continued to demonstrate just how inventive, resourceful and imaginative they are over the last 18 months – no small feat given the financial challenges experienced by businesses and consumers alike.

Have you begun vetting the VIM nations?
While Vietnam, Indonesia and Mexico have been somewhat obscured by the shadow cast by the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations, all offer varied and undeniable opportunities for retailers pursuing global expansion.

Boris Planer, research director for macroeconomics at Planet Retail, insists that despite difficulties in the global economy, there continue to be several trends and developments that point to growth prospects and provide reasons for retailers to invest in the VIM markets.