Reasons Why Many Startups Fail

Posted on November 15, 2017 by bermanevansretail

Starting a new business is often much harder than startups realize. For many reasons why many startups fail. To the extent possible, they must be avoided.

Look at three of these posts about starting a new business:

 

Reasons Why Many Startups Fail

Some startups succeed spectacularly. And we know Facebook as an obvious example. Back in 2005, Accel Partners made a $14.8 million investment in “thefacebook.com”. As a result, the firm made a whopping $5.6 billion return. This amounted to 378 times the original outlay. More often than not, however, startups tend to fail and they fail brutally. CB Insights found that 70 percent of upstart tech companies fail, along with 97 percent of seed crowdfunded companies.”

“CB Insights also analyzed a selection of startup post-mortems. This helped to paint a picture of where founders and investors go wrong. The following infographic shows the top twenty reasons that startups tend to grind to a halt. Goods or services not serving a market need appear in the first position. Not all ventures manage to attract lucrative investment like Facebook. In 29 percent of cases, they just run out of cash. It’s also important to have the right people on board. And pressing on without the right team is the third most frequently cited reason for startup failure.”

 

Now, take a look at Statista’s infographic.

Starting a new business is often much harder than startups realize. There are reasons why many startups fail. Check out the list from Statista.
 

Posted in Career Useful Information, Careers in Retailing, Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 8: Putting It All Together | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Segmenting Holiday Shopper Behavior

Posted on November 14, 2017 by bermanevansretail

Although many people now begin their holiday shopping early, others do not. Segmenting holiday shopper behavior is important for retail success during the holiday season.

According to Dani Cushion,  Chief Marketing Officer of Cardlytics, there are four holiday consumer shopping segments:

  1. Steady Shoppers — “Instead of one big shopping event, they prefer to distribute  holiday spending throughout the season. This segment often buys from several retailers, online and in-store. They pick out gifts as they come across them. This segment accounted for the most spending, 46%, in 2016.”
  2. Early Birds — “They aim for efficiency and get their shopping done early, usually at fewer stores. While they made up only 10% of holiday spend last year, retailers need to reach this segment to capture the initial holiday spending that is critical to reaching overall holiday sales goals.”
  3. Black Friday Shoppers — “While these shoppers are declining year over year, they still accounted for 16% of spending in 2016. In addition to standing in line for in-store sales, this segment also likes to get their holiday deals online.”
  4. Last-Minute Shoppers — “With their spend growing 8% year over year, this is the fastest-growing shopper segment. It accounted for 28% of all holiday spending last year. Unsurprisingly, these shoppers really like to get their gifts online.” 

 
Click the image to see Cushion’s “how to engage” tips for each segment. 


 

Posted in Global Retailing, Online Retailing, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Holiday Season 2017 Shopping Tips

Posted on November 13, 2017 by bermanevansretail

Every year, we offer a list of holiday shopping tips intended to help shoppers avoid overspending their budgets. Below are our holiday season 2017 shopping tips  in the form of an infographic.

As we have noted befores, the holiday season starts earlier each year. Thus the date for this post has been moved up. In 2012, our shopping tips were published on December 10. This year, the post is on November 13. Why? Many retailers have already launched their holiday shopping campaigns. Virtually no large retailer is actually waiting for Thanksgiving or Black Friday to begin their marketing campaigns.

 

Holiday Season 2017 Shopping Tips

So, here are our 2017 shopping tips as a checklist. Click the infographic to see a larger version.

By applying ALL of the tips in the infographic, you will be a much better holiday shopper. Start shopping now. Do not wait until Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or just before Christmas. Do not shop for all gifts at one time. Buy them as prices drop for each big-ticket item. Do not be fooled into thinking that retailers offer discounts (“sales”) on all the products that they promote. Some products are at their regular selling prices. Be flexible and comparison shop for the best deals. And try not to rely on impulse shopping. Stick to a shopping list.
 
Here are our holiday season 2017 shopping tips  in the form of an infographic.
 

Posted in Global Retailing, Online Retailing, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments