Catering to Buyer Personas: Infographic and Video Examples

Posted on June 16, 2015 by bermanevansretail
Virtually all marketers are familiar with — and most apply — the concept of market segmentation. One under-appreciated way of segmenting consumers is through the use of buyer personas, which are composite identities that represent the types of prospects (segments) that a business is seeking.
As Douglas Karr writes for MarketingTechBlog:
“While marketers often work to produce content that both differentiates them and describes the benefits of their products and services, they often miss producing content for each type of person that is buying their product or service. For instance, if your prospect is seeking a new hosting service, one persona may be focused on performance while another persona may be focused on the security features. It’s critical that you speak to both — and often requires that you target each with specific advertisements and content.”
“It’s about reversing your perception. 90% of your visitors are not prospects… so you need to stop making decisions based on everyone and focus on the 10% with potential. Look at your firm from the eyes of your buyer and build content that speaks directly to their motivation for becoming a customer of your brand.”

 

TAKE A LOOK at this infographic on buyer personas from Single Grain, a digital consulting firm.
 

 

Now, TAKE A LOOK at this video on buyer personas from Savvy Panda, a firm that offers custom Web design, SEO & Internet marketing, social media marketing, testing & analysis, training & education, hosting, and more.
 

 

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, Video Clips (non-career) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Smart Merchandiser Video: E-Commerce Software

Posted on June 14, 2015 by bermanevansretail
Efficient and productive assortment planning and merchandise management are complex activities for all retailers — large and small, online and offline, etc.
Fortunately, more and more easy-to-use, moderately priced merchandising software applications are now available.
One firm in this area is Smart Merchandiser, whose software “enables visual E-commerce merchandise management. Consolidate monitoring, editing, inventory, and analytics into one simple tool.” With Smart Merchandiser:
“Gone are the hours spent clicking between numerous programs, databases, and spreadsheets to gain insight on how products are performing. No more cutting up physical catalogs or using expensive graphic design resources to create web page mock-ups. Instead, online merchandising changes can be made real-time in a single interface. Improved Web site layouts, better online customer experiences, and an improved ability to respond to market changes are all just a click away.”
Click here to read more about Smart Merchandiser; and take a look at the video below.

 

 

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, Technology in Retailing, Video Clips (non-career) | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Wal-Mart Improving Its Working Environment

Posted on June 12, 2015 by bermanevansretail
The often-criticized Wal-Mart is launching a number of initiatives to improve employee working conditions and morale — in addition to its recently announced wage increases for lower-paid workers.
As Tom Ryan reports for RetailWire: “Beyond its widely covered wage increases, Wal-Mart is taking several other steps to improve employee morale, including relaxing wardrobe requirements, changing in-store music playlists, and adjusting store temperatures.”
  • “Wardrobe: Stockers and other back-of-store workers will be allowed to wear blue jeans and T-shirts. Service oriented associates can wear black or khaki colored denim. Previously, only khaki or navy pants with a white or blue collared shirt and blue company vest could be worn.”
  • “Temperatures: Store temperatures are being adjusted in answer to complaints stores were too cold or hot.”
  • “Playlist: Wal-Mart Radio, produced by an on-staff DJ and broadcast to individual stores, is being brought back after nine years to add more variety to each store’s playlist.”
  • “Sales incentive: Wal-Mart is bringing back VPI (Volume-Producing Item), a program that enables associates in each store to select hot items to emphasize in talking to customers and in visual displays. Cash prizes will be given for the top VPI on a monthly basis at each store, across regions and companywide.”
Click the image to read more.

 

Photo source: Wal-Mart

 

Posted in Career Useful Information, Careers in Retailing, Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 5: Managing a Retail Business | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments