CSA’s State of the Industry: 2013

Posted on September 7, 2013 by bermanevansretail
Chain Store Age has just published its 2013 “State of the Industry” issue.
Click the image to see the special section on the status of retailing. Lots of things are happening. Included are data on the top 100 retailers. The report starts on page 19.

 

Posted in Global Retailing, Online Retailing, Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 4: Store Location Planning, Part 5: Managing a Retail Business, Part 6: Merchandise Management and Pricing, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer, Part 8: Putting It All Together, Social Media and Retailing, Technology in Retailing | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

An Innovative Starbucks Collaboration

Posted on September 6, 2013 by bermanevansretail
Starbucks has often been an innovator, going back to the days when it introduced free Wi-Fi into its stores.
So, the recent launch of its new Starbucks Refresher fits right in for the retailer.
As Nielsen reports:
“A product launch is a critical time to drive awareness and brand favorability — even more so when focusing the launch on a specific market. Starbucks, the world-leading specialty coffee brand, teamed up with SheKnows.com, a women’s media platform and one of the largest online lifestyle networks, for the launch of its all-natural energy drink, Starbucks Refreshers. Starbucks turned to SheKnows.com to connect with an ideal audience for its launch: the influential mom.”
“Using Nielsen Online Brand Effect’s collaborative platform, Starbucks and SheKnows.com were able to log into the same system and work together on campaign brand performance in real-time, yielding an 11.3 percent lift in awareness among consumers exposed to the campaign. SheKnows.­­­com was identified as among the top one-third of publishers in the Starbucks media plan, which led to an incremental budget increase of 12 percent.”
Click the image to read more.

 

Posted in Online Retailing, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 6: Merchandise Management and Pricing, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer, Social Media and Retailing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Guitar Center Makes Sweet Music

Posted on September 4, 2013 by bermanevansretail
For years, Guitar Center has been a standout in the music instrument industry. It now has well over 200 stores; and despite its name, the retailer carries a wide product assortment. It is also a master of multi-channel retailing.
As Jonathan reports for Multichannel Merchant: “If any retailer knows about delivering a great customer experience in a complex omnichannel world, it’s Guitar Center. The $2.3 billion company manages multiple retail brands targeting diverse audiences, including Musician’s Friend and Guitar Center. The company operates popular E-commerce sites MusiciansFriend.com and GuitarCenter.com, as well as stores across the U.S. Guitar Center has embraced customer feedback to improve the shopping experience in its stores and online, as well as via mobile, call center, and catalogs. Taking its customers’ feedback to heart to improve every step of the shopping experience, Guitar Center has consistently scored highly on the OpinionLab Customer Feedback Index, obtaining a median score of 570 in the last three months and ranking near the top among omnichannel retail brands.”
Click the image to read more.

 

 

Posted in Online Retailing, Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 4: Store Location Planning, Part 5: Managing a Retail Business, Part 6: Merchandise Management and Pricing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments