Alice.com, a new e-commerce site, is trying to put a dent into those weekly trips to Target or Wal-Mart. BusinessWeek has more: Instead of buying the goods from manufacturers, marking up the price to make a profit, and then selling them--the traditional retail model--Alice makes no money on the sale of the goods. The manufacturer sets the price, while Alice handles fulfillment and customer service, passing along …
Want To Drink For Free? Shop For Mens’ Clothes.
According to The Wall Street Journal, men are purpose driven shoppers who like to get in and get out. To combat that behavior, some high end retailers are popping tops and getting dudes to chill. By offering in-store drinks, a growing number of retailers are trying to get men to shop more like women, who often linger and browse, buy items on impulse, and return time and again to a favorite store. The recession is …
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Concepts Killed At The Cash Register
I like working on retail accounts. It's a straight up game where you always know the score. You do "X" and bing, it works. Or the other, you do "Y" and it bombs. Retail is also a bellwether. If the economy is suffering, retail suffers. If it's booming, people are in stores buying product. According to The Wall Street Journal, the sectors falling fortunes have forced several retailers to curtail their experimental …
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Studying Shoppers
Looking for insight into how brands can entice frugal shoppers, Susan Berfield of BusinessWeek sat down with environmental psychologist Paco Underhill, author of Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping and Call of the Mall: The Geography of Shopping. In the written piece for BusinessWeek, Berfield takes Underhill to a Whole Paycheck where he sees much that meets his approval in the way of signage. We walk by a small …
Build Trust And Prosper
There's drive-to-web and there's drive-to-retail. For a handful of smart retailers, a good blog can do both. Chris Anderson of Wired examines the trend: We've been through lots of experiments in giving companies a human voice, few of them successful. Paid pitchmen and celebrity endorsements. Awkward commercials featuring the aw-shucks CEO. Quirky corporate styles and creation myths. In the end they all feel as …
Yo, This Widescreen TV Has Blood On It. Can You Reduce The Price?
You may have heard that Black Friday was a particularly dark day for Wal-Mart. A contract worker at a Wal-Mart store on Long Island was trampled to death in a stampede for low priced merchandise. Consequently, …
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For Circuit City, It’s Lights Out
I called it. From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Circuit City announced plans Monday to close 155 stores, including all 16 of the electronics retailer’s metro Atlanta locations. The company will also close stores in Macon, Warner Robins and Athens. The store locator on the Circuit City Web site now lists only three stores within 100 miles of Atlanta — Rome, Columbus and Chattanooga, Tenn. The company said in a …
Haggling Over Price And Cheapening A Brand
With the economy taking a dive, many consumers are now trying to haggle for everyday items--much like the way car buying has traditionally been. The Chicago Tribune has more: Their ranks are growing. Half of consumers surveyed in April by BIGresearch reported they have started haggling over auto repairs and appliance and electronics purchases. More recently, nearly 60 percent of Britons surveyed said they are now …
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Retail – The Place Where People Buy Things of a Branded Nature
I find it refreshing to read John Wilkins' prose on the opportunities in retail. To maximize retail’s potential, marketers need to develop a deeper understanding of the visual, physical, and interactive aspects of the shopping experience. Unlike traditional media, which is linear and one-directional, the store is an explosion of stimuli. Retail is an opportunity to tell a story, to drive trial-and-repeat purchases …
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Unusual Retail Signage
Fairly Honest Bill's is a used furniture place on MLK and Burnside in Portland. Bill wants to let you know where he's coming from before you enter his environment. …