2011! Hopefully you have had a great start to the new 11 year. In the gloom of January we amused ourselves by finding not 10 but 11 trends for 2011. And, we added some ideas on how you can capitalize on these upcoming trends.
Here's the first five:
#1 - Consumer Price Sensitivity
As the recession drags on, customers are still looking for a deal. Pricing of product offerings need to be just right. Fair pricing is fine, but customers are expecting to stretch their dollar, and have retailers to assist them through bargain basement prices.
What can you do?
Time to revisit your price strategy. Look at your profit margins and consider how you might be able to increase sales by lowering margins and focusing on volume. This works best in supplies and stationery product groups, as well as seasonal merchandise. You can also connect with dollar store wholesalers (there are many), where some informed and well considered low price point items can lure customers into your store.
#2 - Grim days in Cotton Prices
Did you know that raw cotton prices increased by 91% last year? We are certain that this price spike will not be covered by wholesalers, but passed on to retail buyers and ultimately the consumer. Since all those Ts and sweatshirts are made of cotton, expect that your price points will need to rise to accomodate the manufacture price increases.
What can you do?
This might be the time to distinquish yourself from competitors. Consider sourcing garments made from other fabrics, such as rayon. You can really step apart from the crowd by sourcing garments made from recycled materials. Although expensive in the past, now might be the time to introduce them to your customer base.
#3 End of Baby Boomer culture.
Baby Boomers may wax glowingly over Sixties and Seventies culture, but now is the year for Gen X and Gen Y to go all nostalgic. Those in the alpha generation are taking over the culture cues in movies, music and fashion. So, expect lots of plaid to make its way back as "grunge nostalgia" hits. The upcoming release of "The Smurfs" animated movie is another example of the culture power from these demographic groups.
What can you do?
Time to reintroduce plaid into your product categories, and take a fun risk by stocking up on some Smurf like merchandise. Or Yogi Bear merchandise. Noticed how much the new Yogi movie has done at the box office?
#4 Death of the movie rental store.
The neighbourhood movie rental store is dead. Blockbuster is on its last legs, and everyone seems to have adopted Netflix and RedBox as the way to rent movies. Now movie rental kiosks are a common site at many retailers like WalMart and most grocery store chains.
What can you do?
Ride the wave. Consider setting up a movie rental kiosk in or around your store. It's a great, inexpensive way to provide a new and convenient service to your campus customers! Plus it's an easy product entry. Simply provide the space and power in your store and the rental company does the rest. Not a huge profit generator, but a great new service while drawing customers into your store.
#5 The Campus Invasion
A number of national retailers have been wooing the college store customer on campus through pop up stores, campus events and promotions. Now WalMart has plans to open a store within a college campus community. With retailers looking to increase market share, the college campus commuinty is suddenly of interest. Look for more retailers to follow WalMart's lead as the next few years play out.
What can you do?
Campus administrators get all gaga when companies like WalMart come to their door pitching ideas. Time to brush off your presentation on the VALUE of the college store on campus, and focus on how large mass merchants can really hurt the store (and college) bottom line. If you have not talked to your boss about the college store contribution to operating revenues, scholarshps and student life, now if the time to do so.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Reusable Canvas bags - Boon or blight?
How may reusable canvas bags do you own for your shopping excursions? Me? I have a bunch. More than I need. Some in the trunk of my car, thinking that would be convenient, but generally forgotten when I hit the grocery store. Another multi-branded selection on my coat rack that I actually use. If I look in one of my ubiquitous junk closets, I'll find more of those pesky canvas creatures.
And, I'm not the only one. Retailers roll out the canvas bag at a frightening rate these days. One national retailer says that they sell 35 million canvas bags a year. They are available at almost every retailer (including 7-11 convenience stores). Retailers love them both for their environmentally sustainable message, as well as a new marketing message, branding the retailer's message and logo for all to see.
I started to wonder if all these tote bags were a good thing. Soon I realized that I am not the only one.
First is the sheer quantity of canvas bag offerings. I don't need 3 dozen reusable bags. They are reusable! they don't really wear out, and even during my greatest shopping binges I really don't need that many bags at any one time. So, like promotional T-shirts, the canvas tote bag has become clutter. I don't need or want any more.
Then, a 2009 study is released. Indicating that nearly two-thirds of reusable bags tested contained some bacteria, including fecal intestinal bacteria! I don't know where your bags have been, but I can assure you that MINE have not been invaded with any fecal intestinal bacteria. That because I now wash and dry my canvas totes obsessively since hearing of this study. In the washer and dryer they go. I hope I don't have to buy an autoclave for all my Target and WalMart And Safeway totes.
As soon as I finished sterilizing my auto parts store totes ( howI ended up with some of these puppies was a sad story of failed windshield washers in a seasonal monsoon), and feeling confident that I could put food items in my newly cleansed safeway totes, came news that they may contain lead!
Lead! The blight of offshore product importation. National chains such asLuluLemon, Sears, Winn-Dixie and others have had to stop selling, recalling or offering refunds on their lead infused totes. Personally I'm not worried about any lead in my totes. Food doesn't stay in them very long, and I can't image myself licking or chewing on the bags anytime soon. So I'm safe.
Finally, no matter how free of lead and bacteria my tote bags are, my sense of environmental stewardship was recently attacked by reports that reusable bags might not be as green as we think. That's because, like everything else, they are manufactured offshore - mainly China. They are made from a mix of recycled and non recycled plastics, and then shipped thousands of miles to happy consumer junk closets. Hence, the carbon footprint utilized to manufacture these unused totes is fairly large.
So i've resigned myself to the canvas bag woes. Maybe I can reduce my guilt by just not using any bags of any kind. I'll carry my groceries one by one to the car. Or, shop at costco and grab an empty cardboard box. And, when I'm not doing that, ill refuse any more reusable canvas totes from everyone.
Who knew shopping bags were such an issue? It's a minefield of choices I say. Gotta go though. My autoclave if ringing.
Monday, November 29, 2010
The post Turkey Leadership Sensation
Now that this year's Thanksgiving has come to an end, we are pretty sure that you have returned to work relaxed, belly full, wallets empty, and ready to take on your job with gusto! With that in mind, we have noticed a few bits and pieces that could help in motivating your team, improving your leadership and of course, adding some fun into the workplace.
Mr Rogers and Management Advice
Most of us can remember Mr. Rogers. From PBS, Mister Rogers Neighborhood ran on TV from 1968 to 2001, offering a safe and sane TV show for millions of children over the year. Much maligned and mocked, It seems that there is some advice for the workplace in Mr. Rogers approach, and you can read about it HERE. it is a summary of an article from a recent issue of Fast Company.
We liked one of the five management tips best: "Be Consistent in who you are, and what people should expect. We think this is especially important in the campus world, and for retailers to stay focused on their core products and values. Although the desire to snag trends is important, staying focused on your history, and your core mission creates an environment of customer trust and satisfaction.
Speaking of Values...
Have you ever spent what seems like an endless amount of time with staff and bosses hashing out your mission statement, core values and the like? After you wordsmith and hammer out some pithy statements, what happens next? They often become just words on the page, added to annual reports or appearing on the staff bulletin board.
What about sharing these values with your customers? We stopped for a burger at the restaurant chain "Red Robin" recently, and were intrigued by how this restaurant gets their message out. They have printed their core values on the back of drink coasters and the check envelope. There are four values; Honor, Integrity, Continuing Seeking Knowledge and Having Fun. They call it "Living the Core Values", and the descriptions are well written. It suggests that this might be a good place to work, or at least someplace you might want to come back for more meals.
We liked the core value of "Having Fun". As Red Robin sees it, fun is about staying fresh, vibrant and always willing to seek out and learn new things. Value number two is good as well. Integrity. Empower people to do the right thing and they will.
We think it is smart and clever. Does it work in campus retail? We think so, if you took your values and printed them on receipts, receipt holders or displayed them individually throughout the store. A way to share your values with your customers.
Cyber Monday and Holiday shopping.
A few surveys gave us pause last week as the media looked at workplace, employees and holiday shopping.
The first survey asked 100 large company IT managers how they handled employees shopping on line during work hours. 44% said they now block popular online shipping sites to combat "time theft", especially at this time of the year. Most employees admit to shopping on work time, but under estimate the time they spend online, or argue that their activities are during break times.
We thought it is something for managers and supervisors to keep an eye out as Cyber Monday rolls along.
The second survey (one commissioned by Ebay), was intriguing as we had just not thought that much about it. Their survey showed that 6 percent of workers admitted to calling in sick in order to Christmas Shop. 20% of the respondents had considered doing this.
It is not a large percentage, but it does give one pause, and, as always it's something for people supervisors to keep watch on during the holiday shopping frenzy.
Can Campus Retailers.....Connect?
There was a recent article in NACS Campus Marketplace about Assumption College (Worcester, MA) that we liked. Presumably this store has an employee by the name of "BookstoreJosh". In a fit of creativity, they have created two YouTube videos to promote the bookstore, both as a place with more products than textbooks, and a fun place to hang out.
Now many stores have done similar on YouTube, but have generally been a bit flat and boring. YouTube by committee, without much spark. Assumption and BookstoreJosh have gone the other way, creating fun and friendly videos that highlight the store in a positive and enthusiastic vein.
We like video #2 best, with it's campy batman theme music and focus on the bookstore as a campus community center. "The Bookstore....we've got time" is the tag line, and while we would have nixed the "window shopping" line, we enjoyed the focus on using the store's Mac demos for "time wasting activities"
Good job, and we are waiting for the next chapters in the Assumption College Bookstore video library. You can see the whole video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pSYPErEULc&feature=related
Mr Rogers and Management Advice
Most of us can remember Mr. Rogers. From PBS, Mister Rogers Neighborhood ran on TV from 1968 to 2001, offering a safe and sane TV show for millions of children over the year. Much maligned and mocked, It seems that there is some advice for the workplace in Mr. Rogers approach, and you can read about it HERE. it is a summary of an article from a recent issue of Fast Company.
We liked one of the five management tips best: "Be Consistent in who you are, and what people should expect. We think this is especially important in the campus world, and for retailers to stay focused on their core products and values. Although the desire to snag trends is important, staying focused on your history, and your core mission creates an environment of customer trust and satisfaction.
Speaking of Values...
Have you ever spent what seems like an endless amount of time with staff and bosses hashing out your mission statement, core values and the like? After you wordsmith and hammer out some pithy statements, what happens next? They often become just words on the page, added to annual reports or appearing on the staff bulletin board.
What about sharing these values with your customers? We stopped for a burger at the restaurant chain "Red Robin" recently, and were intrigued by how this restaurant gets their message out. They have printed their core values on the back of drink coasters and the check envelope. There are four values; Honor, Integrity, Continuing Seeking Knowledge and Having Fun. They call it "Living the Core Values", and the descriptions are well written. It suggests that this might be a good place to work, or at least someplace you might want to come back for more meals.
We liked the core value of "Having Fun". As Red Robin sees it, fun is about staying fresh, vibrant and always willing to seek out and learn new things. Value number two is good as well. Integrity. Empower people to do the right thing and they will.
We think it is smart and clever. Does it work in campus retail? We think so, if you took your values and printed them on receipts, receipt holders or displayed them individually throughout the store. A way to share your values with your customers.
Cyber Monday and Holiday shopping.
A few surveys gave us pause last week as the media looked at workplace, employees and holiday shopping.
The first survey asked 100 large company IT managers how they handled employees shopping on line during work hours. 44% said they now block popular online shipping sites to combat "time theft", especially at this time of the year. Most employees admit to shopping on work time, but under estimate the time they spend online, or argue that their activities are during break times.
We thought it is something for managers and supervisors to keep an eye out as Cyber Monday rolls along.
The second survey (one commissioned by Ebay), was intriguing as we had just not thought that much about it. Their survey showed that 6 percent of workers admitted to calling in sick in order to Christmas Shop. 20% of the respondents had considered doing this.
It is not a large percentage, but it does give one pause, and, as always it's something for people supervisors to keep watch on during the holiday shopping frenzy.
Can Campus Retailers.....Connect?
There was a recent article in NACS Campus Marketplace about Assumption College (Worcester, MA) that we liked. Presumably this store has an employee by the name of "BookstoreJosh". In a fit of creativity, they have created two YouTube videos to promote the bookstore, both as a place with more products than textbooks, and a fun place to hang out.
Now many stores have done similar on YouTube, but have generally been a bit flat and boring. YouTube by committee, without much spark. Assumption and BookstoreJosh have gone the other way, creating fun and friendly videos that highlight the store in a positive and enthusiastic vein.
We like video #2 best, with it's campy batman theme music and focus on the bookstore as a campus community center. "The Bookstore....we've got time" is the tag line, and while we would have nixed the "window shopping" line, we enjoyed the focus on using the store's Mac demos for "time wasting activities"
Good job, and we are waiting for the next chapters in the Assumption College Bookstore video library. You can see the whole video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pSYPErEULc&feature=related
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