Stores Magazine - October 2007 - (Page 16) trEnDS terized by numerous achievements and industry contributions. He was awarded the National Retail Merchants Association’s Gold Medal in 1973, and served as a director and chairman of the National Retail Federation. Roddick grew The Body Shop from one store in southern England to nearly 2,000 locations in 50 countries. She opened that first store in 1976, selling cosmetics that were all natural in containers that were reusable. Her philosophy — creating products that were as good for the earth as they were for your skin — was considered radical at the time, yet managed to strike a chord with a growing cadre of shoppers. In 2003, Roddick’s contributions to business and charity were recognized when Queen Elizabeth II made her a Dame Commander of the British Empire, the female equivalent of a knight. brands, Microsoft, National Geographic and Google were among the top 10 brand power gainers this year. U.S. brands, generally speaking, slipped in the standings. Among the top 15 global brands in this year’s study, five of six U.S. brands experienced power declines: Coca-Cola, Colgate, McDonald’s, Nike and Pepsi. The steepest drop among all 51 brands in the study was European-based electronics giant Philips. The study was conducted December 2006 to January 2007 among respondents ages 13 and up in 25 countries. Rx for Retention Health care coverage may be a significant tool for recruiting and retaining good employees, according to the latest survey from The Workforce Institute. Conducted by Harris Interactive and sponsored by Kronos, the study found that the benefit 44 percent of employees most want from their current employer is “100 percent health care coverage.” Health care also ranked fourth among the benefits that employees currently have and value most. Other noteworthy work-related findings: many employees do not feel respected by their employer, making this the leading cause of resignation (15 percent). Another 13 percent left their most recent jobs because they felt the employer did not communicate well with employees or seek feedback. Twenty-six percent of employees appreciate feeling rewarded and inspired in their jobs and consider this to be a leading reason to stay with their current employers. Brand Power GFK Roper Reports is out with its annual Worldwide Power Brands study, and the findings suggest that while iconic brands like Pepsi and McDonald’s continue to hold sway with shoppers, foreign car companies are driving ahead at an impressive pace. THE TOP 10 are Sony, Coca-Cola, Nokia, Nestle, Pepsi, Colgate, McDonald’s, Nike, BMW and Samsung. KEY FINDINGS: Top gainers this year include BMW with the biggest increase, Sony, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Nestle. Though they’ve yet to break into the top 15 global 16 STORES / OCTOBER 2007 CORRECTION Financial figures for Belk published in the Top 100 Retailers section of the July issue of STORES were inaccurate. Privately-held Belk’s net sales for the most recently completed fiscal year increased 24.1 percent to $3.68 billion. The year-over-year gain also would have secured for Belk the No. 20 position on August’s Hot 100 Retailers list. WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG
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