Dr. Selbert Helped Plan Our Vision
Last May we invited Dr. Roger Selbert to speak at our semi-annual store conference. This was an important time for our company as we were trying to understand and move towards multi-channel retailing. 2007 started the process of a new 3 year strategic plan and I really felt the need to have an objective voice in this area speak to our people regarding the changing retail landscape.
Dr. Selbert really delivered a targeted view into the future of retail and was able to drive home the implications for our company. It was a great balance of real world examples and statistical back up for his talking points. His presentation really helped re-inforce the groundwork we had done and positioned us well to start executing our plan.
Kenny Larson
Slumberland Furniture
EVP Sales & Marketing
Filed Under Customized Forecasting
Buy American
Is the time right for a retailer to establish a purchasing/sales strategy along the line of Sam Walton’s “Buy American” program? Are American consumers ready to buy “Made in the U.S.A.” goods? How would a retailer market such a program?
It would be almost impossible to establish and maintain such a strategy. Almost nothing is made wholly in one place anymore. There are foreign components in most every product made anywhere. (It’s called cross-border production sharing, a trend I identified some 20 years ago.) We live in a truly global economy, with outsourcing, fracturing and subcontracting.
The keys for retailers and consumers are quality, utility and affordability. Those features will trump patriotism, or even previous reputation, every time, in any product, from cars to shampoo.
Consumers have relationships with companies, providers of goods and services, and retailers. With countries? Not so much. With their own country? Of course. But again, it is virtually impossible to stick to wholly American goods exclusively. A recent book author tried this and failed–the book was called “A Year Without China.” Read it and see.
Filed Under Business Strategies
Baby boomer women
Do you think Ann Taylor’s move to sell the high-end Collection line is good for the brand? Will it confuse customers? Do you think Ann Taylor is properly addressing the challenges of a moderate-to-better chain introducing more upscale items?
Ann Taylor has identified and is going after one of the wealthiest and fastest-growing (hence lucrative) demographic market groups in America: baby boomer women. Two recent books provide the what, why and how: PrimeTime Women (Barletta), and
1. In the next decade, women will control two-thirds of the consumer wealth in the United States.
2. Many Boomer women are well established in their careers and at the peak of their earning potential.
3. Within the next decade, many Boomer women will not only continue to earn income but will also be managing inheritance windfalls from their parents and their husbands.
4. Even in traditionally “male” product categories, women are responsible for more than half the purchases.
5. In 2004, women age 35 to 54 represented the highest proportion of Web surfers, compared with both male Boomers and all members of younger generations.
6. Companies owned by women account for 30% of America’s small businesses – 6.7 million strong and counting.
7. Almost seven in 10 women over age 35–about 68%–say that the older they get, the more they enjoy trying new things.
Four facts to remember when targeting the boomer woman:
1. She is loyal to companies, not brands.
2. She is technologically savvy.
3. She still feels young.
4. She wants to be empowered.
Looks like Ann Taylor has found its sweet spot.
Filed Under Consumer Behavior
Speaking Dates
Dr. Roger Selbert will be speaking to the Connecticut Bankers Association this month at a
Filed Under Upcoming Appearances
Interviews
Dr. Roger Selbert was interviewed recently on http://www.hispanicmpr.com (Hispanic marketing and public relations). The interview, which may be listened to online or downloaded for podcast, covers Dr. Roger’s chapter “Hispanic Projections” in the recently published book, Hispanic Marketing and Public Relations: Understanding and Targeting America’s Largest Minority (Poyeen).
In his chapter Roger summarizes and analyzes forecasts for the US Hispanic market — including size, rate of growth, patterns of dispersion and buying power. According to Dr. Selbert, Hispanic consumers will control over $1 trillion in consumer spending by 2010, making the group far larger, growing far faster, and wielding far more spending power than most retailers are generally aware. There are also relatively unknown, yet significant and growing sub-segments of the Hispanic market, including the affluent, multi-generational households, and business owners.
The key to marketing to the Hispanic market? There are many keys, as there are many Hispanic markets. Dr. Roger believes best growth prospects are to be found in the great waves of young, US-born and educated, primarily English-speaking, second and third generations that will swell the ranks of US Latinos in the coming decades. How best to reach them? Depends on your offering. Dr. Roger is available for consultation.
Filed Under Upcoming Appearances
What about scent?
Fragrance is as much a marketing tool these days as logo and a jingle, reports Forbes magazine in a company profile of ScentAir Technologies. Examples: Sony aerates Sony Style stores with a vanilla-and-mandarin aroma to put shoppers in a spending mood. Doubletree Hotel guests get a whiff of chocolate-chip cookie scent at the front desk. A sugar cookie fragrance is puffed into model homes. Procter & Gamble use smells to attract shoppers to in-store displays.
At the Hard Rock Hotel in
Smell is an incredibly powerful marketing and merchandising tool. According to the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, smell has a greater impact on purchasing decisions than all other factors combined. If something smells good, in other words, the product is perceived as good. And there is nothing like the appropriate scent to induce the brain’s neurons to scream, “I want that! Buy that now!”
Filed Under Lifestyle & Culture
How do retailers tie into the music trend?
Today’s leading retailers, from mass merchants and department stores to specialty and lifestyle boutiques, are savvy users of music and musical artists to enhance brands, marketing, sales and profits. Retailers such as JC Penney, Gap, Armani Exchange, Nordstrom, Sears, Target and Wal-Mart are signing musical artists for multi-platform campaigns that include advertising, in-store and online music sales, personal appearances and performances, and the creation of in-store musical environments that enhance the shopping experience (and boost sales of all products).
Wal-Mart launched a national original music performance series, Soundcheck, earlier this year. Participating Soundcheck artists record in-studio exclusive performances and interviews, which are played nationwide in Wal-Mart stores on TV and HDTV screens as well as on the retailer’s web site. The artists’ respective albums receive extra attention in Wal-Mart stores and online, where downloads of tracks sell for 88 cents each. The comparable Nordstrom program is called Silverscreen.
Filed Under Lifestyle & Culture
What is “click-to-call”?
Click-to-call is a customer service that allows visitors to a retailer’s web site to enter their telephone number in a field and request to be called immediately (or in 5, 10 or 15 minutes). The service is not that widespread yet, but those retailers that do feature the service say that it enhances customer satisfaction and increases sales. Among companies offering the service are Amazon, Sears, Continental, Hermes, J. Crew and Esurance.com.
Retailers that feature a well-designed click-to-call option direct callers to “one-stop” agents who have all of the caller’s information in front of them on their computer screen. They are able to tell from which section of the web site the customer is calling, and are able to answer questions about completed or contemplated purchases.
Because of the rapid growth of Internet-based phone services offered by companies such as Vonage and Skype, shoppers will soon be able to connect with a retailer directly from their computer. This will save money and time, provide convenience, and enhance customer satisfaction. The click-to-call trend is sure to accelerate.
Filed Under Communication Strategies
Is going multi-channel worth the bother?
Retailers are increasingly leveraging their presence across channels — catalog, web, stores, call centers and kiosks — to increase their share of the customer’s wallet and expand across consumer segments. Recent studies of consumer shopping behavior indicate that multi-channel shoppers show a significantly higher value and frequency of purchase than single channel shoppers. Over 65% of online shoppers also use catalogs, and 60% of retailers find multi-channel customers more profitable than single channel buyers.
Retailers face several challenges as they attempt to integrate their web, call center and catalog operations with the full-line store business, according to an Infosys Technologies report. These challenges include unaligned organizational structures; disaggregated merchandising and inventory management; uncoordinated customer operations; and disparate, multiple database and enterprise management technology systems.
To meet these challenges, multi-channel retailers have developed strategies that begin with a customer centric perspective, and that build an organization structure to support change. Implementation of these strategies involves a complex organizational change process, and an IT strategy that supports common merchandize hierarchy, centralized order management capability and centralized customer and inventory databases.
According to Infosys, an integrated multi-channel retailing strategy entails significant change in organizational structures, business processes, staffing, technology, supplier relationships, and customer relationship management. Multi-channel retailers should aim to deliver a seamless customer experience and harness synergies for cross-channel collaboration, concludes the report. Retailers that do this successfully will garner increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, and grab a larger share of wallet and increased profits.
Filed Under Merging Operations
What’s the ultimate customer service goal?
Multi-channel contact integration is the ultimate customer service/support goal. That’s because it fosters consolidation and standardization of customer service, which means efficiencies and consistency for retailers. But contact integration remains elusive to many retailers. It can be an overwhelming challenge to consolidate contact information across in-store, online, mail, and telephone channels. So says Frank Shooster of Global Response, a call center and customer support firm, in a recent issue of Internet Retailer.
One strategy for achieving multi-channel integration is funneling customer service communications to outside agents (but there’s a risk that consistency of service may suffer). Another tactic is crafting a customer service strategy that provides a combination of self-help tools and personal service across all channels, which helps customers obtain the answers they need effectively without feeling pressured. In either case the biggest challenge is maintaining a consistent style among all contact points.
Multi-channel contact integration must be a strategic policy goal of management, not just a tactical or operational goal. It is also much more effective to plan and execute an integrated policy from the get-go, than to patch together separate sets of policies, procedures and practices. A unified view of every customer across channels is difficult to achieve, but ultimately, will prove financially rewarding.
Filed Under Customer Service