The items, ranging in price from $7.99 to $499.99 and consisting of clothing, handbags and home goods, were created by 24 Council of Fashion Designers of America designers and include the likes of Tory Burch, Marc Jacobs, Alice & Olivia and Robert Rodriguez. A few weeks back Good Morning America gave shoppers a sneak peek at a few of the items, including a yoga mat in a black and white print from Diane Von Furstenburg that will retail for $49.99, a set of four printed dessert plates rimmed in 18K gold from Tracy Reese tagged at $39.99 and a little girl’s dress from Jason Wu (one of the First Lady’s favorite designers) priced at $59.99.

Target, which has had its share of success with curated designer collections in the past, will surely benefit from the added designer buzz this creates. Neiman Marcus hopes to see masses of people stream through the doors – some of whom never thought they could afford to purchase an item at the high-end retailer. But what really stands out for me is that the two retailers are using exclusive products – not discounts — to drive shopper traffic and lift spending.

I love that two retailers are collaborating. I love that they consider this a “once in a lifetime” occurrence and have made that clear to shoppers. I love that they’ve created retail excitement around product and made it accessible to so many. And I especially love that price is not the first thing they’re talking about.

Over the last few weeks retailers have unabashedly been playing the price card. Hoping to entice savvy shoppers, they’ve offered great deals on hot items and pulled out all the stops with one-of-a-kind bargains. Judging from the results reported to date, merchants have succeeded wildly.

Still, I’ve always believed that if a retailer wants to leave an impression in the shopper’s mind, offering 20, 30, even 40 percent off was not the best way to do it. Having exclusive merchandise and making a commitment to deliver services or a customer experience that is somehow memorable are means of building shopper loyalty without squeezing margins. Do you need to compete on price? Of course you do, but that can’t be the only hand you play.

Consider Toys “R” Us. Earlier this year the toy retailer announced Tabeo, an Android-powered 7-in. tablet designed specifically for kids — and exclusively for Toys “R” Us. With 50 free, pre-installed apps that were carefully selected to entertain and educate children while helping them explore the Internet, Toys “R” Us endeavors to grab a piece of the electronics market that is theirs alone. In the super price-sensitive toy arena, they stand out with exclusive product. It’s not a first for Toys “R” Us: The retailer dubbed the toy authority also sells rare and collector edition Barbie dolls, limited Lego lines and proprietary products.

Banana Republic, which has boosted sales through exclusive partnerships with Mad Men, designer Trina Turk and most recently the Anna Karenina-inspired collection based on a collaboration with the film’s costume designer, has benefited nicely from providing shoppers with items that stand out from the masses.

The Gap Inc. brand recently announced the 12 Days of Joy promotion intended to give customers “something extra” – and to keep the momentum going beyond Black Friday. Banana Republic will give away makeup from Benefit Cosmetics and a 20 percent discount voucher for a Virgin America flight. There is also an opportunity to enter a contest to win one of six Fiat 500 automobiles. It’s not all about exclusive product, but it’s also not all about discounting.

Another interesting strategy some retailers are using to entice shoppers – and keep discounting at arm’s length — is serving up food and drinks. Terrain, a division of Urban Outfitters, recently served lamb merquez and striped bass at two of its shops. JC Penney plans to tap into the entertainment value of food in its new prototype stores by replacing cash registers with coffee and juice bars – even a gelato shop. Banana Republic served hors d’oeuvres and cocktails at the introduction of the Anna Karenina collection, and Ann Taylor’s Loft division hosted Friday happy hours at the Rockefeller Center store in Manhattan during the summer.

Competing on price all the time is not sustainable. Exclusive products, services and enhanced customer experience are terrific ways to entice consumers and to create memories that will be warmly recalled and shared with friends and family.

This morning I attended JCPenney’s Fresh Air presentation where Johnson, along with Michael Francis, the company’s new president, discussed where the department store is headed. After two hours of listening to their plans for rethinking, repositioning and reimaging the JCPenney we know today, I have to say I’m impressed, impassioned by the prospect of long overdue change and – at the same time — impatient with the nearly four-year blueprint outlined.

Among the changes that stand out most will be those around pricing, promotion and personality. On the pricing front, Johnson insists that coupons, doorbuster deals, 20, 30 and 40 percent off and hourly pricing are things of the past at JCPenney. The new strategy, dubbed “fair and square,” consists of three kinds of pricing: everyday prices, which he describes simply as great prices everyday; month-long values, which consist of the most desired products for that month being offered at a single sale price for the entire month; and best prices, items marked way down that will be offered every first and third Friday.

“We think it’s time to reclaim our price integrity,” Johnson says, admitting that the legacy strategy made the company look “desperate. We’re committed to regaining consumer trust.” Prices have been restructured to be more in sync with the actual prices shoppers have paid for items. So, for example, towels that were priced at $10 in the past – and actually sold for a little more than $3 — will now be priced at $4 every day. Ballet flats, priced at $40 in the past, will now be sold for $30. On a month-long promotion, the price would drop to $22; when they need to move the goods out the door, the best price would be $15.

Promotions will be scaled back considerably – from 590 in 2011 to 12 between February 2012 and January 2013. Believing that the customer “lives in a monthly cycle,” JCPenney will rotate promotions on a similar schedule, spending $80 million per month. Ultimately, the goal is to get shoppers in the store once a month.

As to the third front, Francis discussed the reinvention of the brand’s persona. The logo, which has been housed inside a box of some sort for decades, has been reinvented. The box is now more of a frame, and the JCP logo resides in the upper left corner. The design was created to telegraph a new view and to showcase the following attributes: honest, simple, relevant and distinctly American.

Product changes will be ongoing over the next few months, with more overt shifts expected to begin in August. Johnson hints that items will be “less basic, more trend-right – and well-priced.” Look for more partnerships with well-known brands, including recently announced link-ups with Martha Stewart, Liz Claiborne and Nanette Lepore. Beginning in August, JCP will start transforming the store with the opening of in-store shops at a rate of at least two per month. Plans call for building out the shop concept over the next three-plus years, with the goal of having 100 unique shops when the transformation is complete. Inside the shops will be new fixturing and a more precisely edited assortment of product. Soon to exit stage left are rounders jammed with items that Johnson and company admit did little to showcase product.

Finally, Johnson and Francis envision a new spin on the final “P” – place. The blueprint calls for two distinct areas in the store – Main Street and the Town Square. Main Street refers to the perimeter of the store where the shops will be housed. The Town Square, situated in the center of the store, will be a place that “makes the shopping experience better.” Exactly what that means isn’t likely to be known until the first re-imagined store opens next year.

The changes begin February 1 – or 2-1-12 — and will be ongoing for the next four years, says Johnson, who equates the rollout with the time it takes for most students to complete a college education. The ultimate goal is to become America’s favorite store and, while he admits it’s a lofty objective, Johnson also perceives it as an extraordinary opportunity.

Can Johnson make it happen? Will the partnership that Johnson and Francis had at Target be the secret to making this work? Will lightning strike twice? Too soon to say, but I can tell you this: the presentations I heard today were a detailed blueprint for change and a breadth of fresh air in a sea of same old same old. Johnson, clad in tan slacks and a pullover sweater, seemed approachable and forthcoming. He didn’t shy away from the obvious elephant in the room: his relationship with the Apple brand and how it does or doesn’t correlate with where JCPenney is headed in the future. There were no promises for the financial community, but there was an overwhelming sense of the commitment that he and Francis bring to the endeavor.

The department store business has shown signs of renewed life over the last few years, but there isn’t a retail expert or enthusiast who would say things are great. Change is good. Change is long overdue. And while as a journalist I bring a healthy amount of skepticism to the table, I feel pretty good about what the future holds for JCPenney – even if only half the plans outlined today come to fruition.

Unlike the Top 100, which looks at the leading industry performers based on annual retail sales, the Hot 100 ranks the fastest growing retail companies. It’s a fluid list, with the potential to change year after year — and for the most part it has. Since we launched the Hot 100 back in 2006 (based on 2005 financial data), different players have settled in the top spots on the list; there’s a certain amount of cache that now comes with being able to say that your company landed in the top 10.

This year’s fastest growing retailer is Ascena Retail Group — better known by its brands Dress Barn, Maurices and Justice. How great is it to see a company atop the heap that can trace its roots back nearly five decades? (Roslyn Jaffe opened the first Dress Barn in 1962.)

Many years ago I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Elliot Jaffe (Roslyn’s husband), who was instrumental in growing Dress Barn from one unit to more than 800 today. At the time he shared a wonderful story about the punch cards on which data was collected. At the end of the work week he’d bring home the cards in brown paper bags and the Jaffe children helped to sort them. (The business remains a family affair today with son David leading the company as president and CEO.)

Dress Barn, Maurices and Justice are keen examples of a retail company that understands its customer and continues to grow the business by maintaining a razor-sharp focus on what she wants and what she considers important — then delivering that season after season.

The term customer centricity has multiple levels of meaning, but if there’s one thing I hope readers will take away from the Hot 100 list, it’s that the retail companies who are precisely focused on their customer have a leg up on the competition when it comes to growth.

Can you think of an online retailer who has taught the entire industry more about customer centricity and personalization than Amazon – #2 on the Hot 100? Bodega Latina (#6) has a super tight niche, and yet the company is growing as a result of its focus on its ethnic customer base. And at a time when some junior-oriented specialty retail chains are sweating to achieve single digit growth, rue21 (#11) and Zumiez (#12) are leading the pack — growing their businesses by 20.8% and 20.2% respectively. How do they do it? Walk their stores and you’ll see; they truly understand the most fickle shopper there is!

Call me old-fashioned but I believe that retail success begins with understanding customers and catering to them. Technology bells and whistles are great — who doesn’t like a bit of retail entertainment and excitement? But the hallmark of a fast-growing retailer is always going to be rooted in a keen awareness of the customer and a willingness to do whatever it takes to make her happy.

A retailer was easier to define. Think of it this way: If someone said they were going shopping, one had a pretty good idea of what they meant. Obviously that’s not the case anymore. Today, shopping is a multi-channel, multi-dimensional event. It takes place on smartphones and inside pop-up stores that are here one day and gone the next. Innovative and sometimes gourmet foods can be purchased from food trucks. Produce and frozen foods are now commonplace items at mass merchants like Target and Walmart. And music can be purchased 10 ways to Sunday – except, ironically enough, at what used to pass for “music” stores.

The rules have changed: Retail’s business tomes are being rewritten, and the industry, such as we knew it five or even three years ago, has been transformed along with them.

Leading the charge are the Baby Boomers and Millennials. The Boomer generation – the leading edge of which turns 65 this year – is now all about convenience. The same folks that once embraced cavernous superstores and big-box concepts that allowed them to explore everything a product category had to offer, are now leading a move back to small footprint shopping environments and edited assortments. Suddenly, the generation for which more was more has come to terms with the idea that less is okay. Brands are still important, but trust – something Boomers rarely exhibited in their younger years – can make all the difference when it comes to trying new products or testing the private label waters.

Millennials are moving to the center stage of consumerism, poised to rewrite retail history in their own digital libretto. Ever impatient, they are leading the mobile shopping charge — buying goods when they want, where they want and how they want. Social interaction around shopping has reached new proportions thanks to Millennials, and the retailers who push the innovation envelope are winning them over. Millennials love luxury brands (for a price), think games that net shopping rewards are “cool” and are (and will be) loyal to stores that engage their senses and indulge their desire for excitement. And guess who’s first in line to buy the latest, greatest tech gadget? Ignore this group at your own peril.

This year’s Top 100 list hints at the changes that are underway: Check out Amazon’s growth and Apple’s stores’ jump in the ranking as two examples. And who knows what transformative impact the mobile wallet will have over the next five to 10 years?

My advice: Buckle up, because it’s going to be an exhilarating ride.

The top five are unquestionably online rock stars, but I dare say that if I had to pick the websites I shopped most often, I’d probably still be trying to figure out my favorites. Yeah…there are that many.

It’s unfathomable to me how I shopped before the Internet. How could I have been satisfied with the 100-plus stores at Roosevelt Field Mall, my personal shopping Mecca? Now there are thousands upon thousands of places to shop mere keystrokes away. One day, I’m checking out the newest fall handbags at Cole Haan, the next I’m ordering laundry detergent and paper towels from Soap.com. And for some reason, I’m having a hard time resisting anti-wrinkle creams at Sephora these days.

Clearly I don’t have a favorite – I have lots of favorites. How did I get by without Rue La La a few years ago? Whoever the person was who thought to combine the various Gap brands into one website is my personal superhero, and Zappos has saved the day on numerous occasions with speedy delivery of must-have shoes.

Stonewall Kitchen rescued me from embarrassment during the last holiday season (thanks guys). Under Armour’s website gave me the chance to make wishes come true for a son who wanted a stack of cold-weather gear, and Musician’s Friend always seems to come through in a pinch when this non-musically savvy mom is staring at a wish list of items I couldn’t begin to wade through in a store setting.

So there you have it. I’ve got lots of online favorites and clearly have no chance of picking just one No. 1. Let’s just say that online retailing is one of my favorite shopping channels. That works!

There’s Carol Meyrowitz at TJX. Meyrowitz is president and CEO of the off-price retail powerhouse and she’s spent the last two years helping this Massachusetts-based company to out maneuver the recession. Her understanding of the bargain-hunting consumer is unparalleled and she’s been a driving force behind innovation – insisting on the need to educate shoppers and committed to keeping inventories fresh.

Trudy Sullivan stepped into what was arguably one of the toughest jobs in retail a few years back – rescuing the Talbot’s brand. If you’ve been watching the story unfold, you begin to wonder if she had a second career no one knows about in the field of intensive care medicine. Sullivan has managed to resuscitate the brand without reinventing what it stands for; she’s focused her attention on what made this company successful for decades, and has managed to infuse it with her unique 21st century flair.

There’s Kay Krill at Ann Taylor, Jenna Lyons at J. Crew, Laura Sen at B.J. Wholesale Club and the list of women in retail luminaries goes on and on.

STORES recently looked at the role women play on retail boards. To be honest, I believe there should be more women represented on the boards of directors at retail companies. What we learned was that, while there is always room for improvement, our industry is ahead of most others in inviting women to be part of the board. Turns out women executives are being asked, they’re just not always in a position to oblige. Take a peek at our findings and let me know what you think.

Those words kept rattling around in my head as I reviewed STORES Top 100 Retailers list for 2009. Did retailers struggle in 2009? We all know the answer to that question; and certainly the financials bear that out. But the numbers only tell part of the story.

Indeed, there were any number of stories about companies in this industry that seized the opportunity to retrench, reconnect with consumers and re-engineer their businesses — despite the “hunker down and wait of skies to clear” mentality that prevailed among so many other businesses.

Saks, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus showered a bit more attention on their discount chains, catering to a luxury shopper who pulled in the reins on spending. Saks opened four new Off 5th stores last year and two replacement units, and plans call for as many a five to be opened by the close of 2010.

Nordstrom, which currently operates 76 Rack units, opened six new Rack stores for the quarter ended May 1 and recently announced plans for two more by this time next year. Meanwhile, luxury rival Neiman Marcus now operates 28 clearance centers called Last Call and just announced experimentation with a spinoff concept called Last Call Studio stores.

Macy’s “My Macy’s” program continued full steam ahead, despite the wretched economy. Today, Macy’s CEO, President and Chairman Terry Lundgren considers it to be a key driver behind the company’s $23 million profit in the first quarter of 2010. He says the national department store is “better able to anticipate and react to customer needs in each location through ‘My Macy’s’ localization.”

Target delivered a full court press on fresh foods with its Pfresh program; Apple continued to roll out new products that kept shoppers lined up outside their doors; Sears piloted the Marketplace at Sears.com and MyGofer; and both Walgreens and CVS exceed 7,000 units. And the list goes on and on.

Nearly every merchant is happy to see 2009 in the rear view mirror. For those who used the time to reinvent and rethink their business, the future looks bright. Take a look at the latest edition of STORES Top 100 Retailers and see how the biggest retailers in the nation fared in 2009.

On site at NRF’s Loss Prevention Conference, we decided to ask some attendees if there was ever a crime so bold or shocking, that they found themselves scratching their heads. Here are some of the stories they shared:

• I came in one morning and found that a hole had been cut in the ceiling and the safe was stolen.
• The manager received an alarm that the mart adjacent to the gas station had been broken into: it only took 40 seconds to back a car into the window, put a chain around the ATM machine and then drive away… dragging the machine behind.
• We arrived one morning to discover that the security cameras were stolen from the district office.
• I was absolutely dumbfounded to see — not one — but several 72″ plasma screen TVs being carried out the front door. The TVs weren’t tagged so no alarms were triggered, but they certainly weren’t paid for!
• At a sporting goods store I saw a guy scoop up as many baseball bats as possible in his arms and just walk out the front door. It was so shocking to see that it seemed surreal, but it amounted to thousands in losses.

Think you’ve got a story that can top one of these? Bet you do… Share it here.

Using an engaging presentation format that rotated among the speakers, Shamapnade, Agrigi and White kicked off the discussion with a handful of basic strategies. In 2008 and 2009 retailers experienced a sharp rise in the number of special events – a trend they correlate to shifts in the macro-economic picture and the desire on the part of consumers to chase bargains with new vigor.

They outlined four key points to keep in mind – the first being the need to plan for every event. Next, they called for addressing the core issues in the planning process; discussing the time line and the importance of considering contingency plans.

Much of the process is tied to open lines of communication, according to Arigi. “The marketing team needs to get you (LP) looped in quickly and everyone at the table need to clearly understand the scope of the event,” he advised. “The more lead time you have – the better. It’s important to have an event team for each event and each individual needs to know their role.” Arigi is also a fan of post event communications, noting that regardless of how smoothly things may have gone, it’s still important to looked at what worked, what didn’t and why.

Also discussed was the need for retailers to understand and assess the dynamics of the crowd – i.e. WWF enthusiasts looking for autographs versus a blow out sale on skeins of yarn – and to plan accordingly. The three touched on the fact that the role of security is sometime misinterpreted, acknowledging that it’s the job of the loss prevention professional to understand how things outside of the store environment and outside of the realm of planning can affect an in-store event.

“Everyone’s objective is slightly different. Ultimately we’re all hoping for a boost on sales revenue but marketing will measure success by a lift in store traffic, merchants are focused on moving the maximum amount of product and the store manager will want to all of the above – and to keep shoppers happy,” White explained. “The role of loss prevention is first to understand all those objectives; then, to plan for crowd control and plan to have replenishment teams restocking the shelves. If everyone is in sync, the ability to generate revenue is even greater.”

Not to be overlooked in planning for special events like Black Friday is the customer. Wren points out that the customer’s objectives are very different from the retailers. They want to enjoy the experience, not be surprised by the ‘unexpected’ or treated unfairly, and they don’t want anyone to get hurt.

To truly understand what the customer is feeling requires a quick study of the psychology of the crowd – or crowd physics as the presenters defined the subject. In preparing for an event like Black Friday where there are likely to be throngs of people awaiting a store opening, the presenters encouraged attendees to keep these tenets in mind: 1) Humans need one square yard of space around them to control their movement (without it they begin to feel as if their personal space is being compromised). 2) Communication is difficult in large crowds, but is nonetheless imperative. When people don’t understand what’s happening around them, it creates tension. 3) Pressure compounds exponentially. There does not need to be a massive crowd for the situation to become dangerous. A crowd, compounded quickly, can generate the pressure of a Mac truck.

What do they recommend? Here are ten tips to keep in mind.

• Control all aspects of the environment and be prepared to intervene if needed
• Understand the mind-set of the crowd; people don’t panic unless they feel trapped or fearful
• Make sure there is someone – preferably a knowledgeable employee — communicating to the crowd
• Manage the crowd from arrival to departure
• Plan physical barriers and consider segmenting the crowd into smaller subsets
• If someone is not behaving well, have an employee on hand who can defuse the situation
• Coordinate with local law enforcement authorities, sharing event details
• Be prepared to allocate resources in real time
• Have an exit strategy
• Establish clear protocols for conflict resolution and give employees the authority and tools to calm frustrated shoppers

Now just 14 months later Facebook has exploded. Hundreds of retailers have set up Facebook pages and they’re networking freely with shoppers. Though business inside traditional stores slowed, shoppers continued to seek out their favorite brands and coveted retail stores via social networking sites in an effort to keep a finger in the pie. They kept track of events and new store openings and they read with interest when a sale was mentioned. Some played games and some were successful at soliciting and securing shoppers’ point of view on product. All this social networking drives home the value of the relationships retailers have and continue to cultivate with their customers. It also emphasizes just how imperative it is for retail executives to embrace social media and climb this learning curve.

Challenges remain, however. Since each retailer’s business is unique, there’s no formula for how to interact with shoppers. Brand building is key, but there are numerous ways to cultivate loyalty. Ultimately, there are a whole lot of folks trying to determine whether there is a bottom line lift to be achieved from this difficult-to-pin down social media phenomenon.

In the October issue of STORES Lori Schafer, executive advisor to the SAS Global Retail Practice, asks retailers, “Are You Being Anti Social?” She shares her experiences helping retailers get acquainted with social networking, including the emerging role business analysis will play in managing this burgeoning channel. It’s a fascinating read.