Are Your Customers Passionate About You?

Posted on February 17, 2014 by bermanevansretail
As we know, customer satisfaction alone is often insufficient for generating and sustaining long-term customer loyalty. It is important to exceed customer expectations whenever possible and drive greater customer passion.
Consider these findings from a recent Responsys study of U.S. adults, as reported by MarketingTechBlog:
  • 73% of people want a long-term relationship with companies/brands that reward them for being loyal.
  • Just 32% of people say that the companies/brands that they love only send them offers/promotions in which they have an interest.
  • One-third of people say they have “broken up” with a company/brand because because of poor, disruptive, or irrelevant marketing messages they have received.
  • 53% of people who say they have broken up with a company/brand have done so because they regularly receive irrelevant content via multiple channels.
Take a look at the following infographic to see how to gain more customer “love.”

 

 

Posted in Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

A Great Source of Recent Sales Data by Retail Category

Posted on February 16, 2014 by bermanevansretail
Looking to track month-to-month changes in retail sales by retail category? Then, take a look at the Retail Owners Institute Web site.
The Retail Owners Institute Web site offers free data (in chart form) on the most recent six month sales by retail category. The data reflect sales trends by month in comparison with the prior year and are based on Bureau of Census retail statistics.
For example, here is the most recent chart for clothing and accessory stores:
As we have noted before, the Retail Owners Institute also provides free benchmarking information for 55 retail segments and six measures of retailing performance: profit, gross margin, turnover, debt-to-worth, the current ratio, and return on assets.
Click the image to access the benchmarking data.


 

Posted in Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 6: Merchandise Management and Pricing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Starting an Online Company: A Global Cost Comparison

Posted on February 14, 2014 by bermanevansretail
Thinking about starting an online business? If yes, then costs certainly come into consideration. Before a retail business can be launched online, it typically requires overhead and Web development expenditures.
Recently, Staff.com (“a global employment site that connects companies with talented remote staff “) conducted research into what it would cost to set up a small office and hire 2 Web developers and 1 Web designer in various locales around the world.
Here is an infographic based on Staff.com’s research.

 

 

 

Posted in Global Retailing, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 4: Store Location Planning, Part 5: Managing a Retail Business | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment