Reminder: Know When a “Sale” Is Really a Sale

Posted on December 13, 2015 by bermanevansretail
As we get closer to Christmas, it is more important than ever to know if an item is REALLY on sale. Read this post to learn more. 🙂

bermanevansretail's avatarRetailing: From A to Z

Unfortunately, many retailers misuse the term “sale”. And shoppers are often persuaded that a product is on sale even when it isn’t. [For our holiday shopping tips, pleaseclick here.]
As noted in Evans and Berman’sMarketing in the 21st Century: Price advertising guidelines have been set by the FTC and trade associations such as theBetter Business Bureau. TheFTC’s guidelinesset standards of permissible conduct in these categories:
  • A firm may not claim or imply that a price has been reduced from a former level unless the original price was offered to the public on a regular basis during a reasonable, recent period of time.
  • A firm may not claim its price is lower than that of competitors or the manufacturer’s list price without verifying, via price comparisons involving large quantities of merchandise, that an item’s price at other companies in the same trading…

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Posted in Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information | Tagged , | 1 Comment

How Should Chipotle Deal with All the Negative Publicity?

Posted on December 10, 2015 by bermanevansretail
Chipotle, the trendy fast-food chain, has been dealing with a difficult health-and-safety environment for a while now. It has had to temporarily close some outlets; and it has received a barrage of negative publicity.
Here’s a YouTube video from Bloomberg, which reports:
“Chipotle, reeling from an E. coli outbreak that has sickened dozens of customers, closed a restaurant in Boston following complaints of  ‘gastrointestinal symptoms’ from scores of Boston College students, including members of the men’s basketball team. Bloomberg’s Craig Giammona reports on ‘Bloomberg Markets.'” 
 
In its defense, Chipotle has created a page at its Web site that is regularly updated. Here are some excerpts from its December 5, 2015 food safety update:
“Chipotle’s enhanced food safety program is the product of a comprehensive reassessment of our food safety practices conducted with IEH Laboratories that included a farm-to-fork assessment of each ingredient we use with an eye toward establishing the highest standards for safety. Specifically, program components include:”
“Implementing high-resolution testing of all fresh produce in which a series of DNA-based tests will ensure the quality and safety of ingredients before they are shipped to restaurants, a testing program that far exceeds requirements of state and federal regulatory agencies, as well as industry standards.”
“Initiating end-of-shelf-life testing where ingredient samples will be tested to ensure that quality specifications are maintained throughout the shelf life of an ingredient.”
“Pursuing continuous improvements throughout our supply chain using data from test results to continuously measure the performance of each of its vendors and suppliers.”
“Enhancing internal training to ensure that all employees thoroughly understand our high standards for food safety and food handling.”

 

Posted in Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 5: Managing a Retail Business, Part 6: Merchandise Management and Pricing, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer, Social Media and Retailing, Video Clips (non-career) | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Live Chat Software Adds to the Online Experience

Posted on December 9, 2015 by bermanevansretail

Guest Blogger

Today’s post is by David Campbell, who blogs about customer service trends for ClickDesk live chat and helpdesk software. He is an active freelance writer and his other interests include organic SEO and growth hacking.
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Whether you’re offering an omnichannel solution from your brick-and-mortar store or running a complete E-commerce business, the busiest time of year has already begun. If your product and your placement are strong, converting potential buyers into paying customers shouldn’t be difficult.
But getting conversions on E-commerce sites is harder than ever. What’s the secret to increasing conversion rates this holiday shopping season and breaking your sale records? This is the question of every single online store at this time of this year, no matter how big or small they are or how long they’ve been in business. This post contains a useful answer to this question.
If we figure this out, we can easily implement that strategy into the system, and (in ideal conditions) our conversion rate should increase. There are tons of reasons why Web visitors convert, including pricing, quality of products, ease of use (UI/UX), product warranties and return policies, free shipping, and more; but if you keep these things constant, then the main reason why customers convert is simple: it’s based on how they feel.
When it comes to feeling, the importance of customer service cannot be overstated. There might be many stores offering the same kind of deal that you have on your Web site, but if your customer service is better than others, potential visitors will convert on your site and continue to come back for more.
In talking about customer service, what instantly comes to mind is E-mail, phone, and social media support. However, this is what everyone is doing. How do you stand out from the pack? What you need is something different, memorable, responsive, reliable, quick, personal, and efficient. This is where Live Chat Software comes into play. It serves all of those needs. Plus, new technology has made it possible for any SMB to add real-time support to their website in just a few minutes.
Live chat software lets you communicate with potential customers while they are browsing your Web site. You can help them on the spot, making it far more likely that they will convert into paying customers. If they are not contacting you, you can reach out proactively and help them make better decisions.
There are numerous benefits of having live chat on your website. We recently published a live chat infographic, as shown below.
This is a tried and tested formula and many big brands follow it throughout the year. Enable a live chat plugin on your website and start converting potential customers like a pro. Let’s make this holiday shopping season one for your customers to remember!

 

5-benefits-of-live-chat-software

 

Posted in Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 6: Merchandise Management and Pricing, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer, Technology in Retailing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments