It’s really not too long back that we all used to communicate via telephone, letters and in person, before the concept of email became common. If has to go anywhere that is not connected via cell phone or the Internet, it can create quite a situation, and I think we really have become too dependent on this technology.
Iconic designer Isaac Mizrahi will be leaving Target to turn around the Liz Clairborne label, which has been struggling for several years. The designer has been at Target for five years and has created a very successful line of home and fashion products there, with his collection sales reaching $300 million each year. Isaac Mizrahi has been named as the creative director of the Liz Clairborne brand and Target was not willing to match the company’s offer to keep the designer for another term. Target itself has been seeing a slowdown in sales, with same store sales falling 5% in December 2007. Its CEO Robert J. Ulrich also announced his resignation at the end of the year.
Online retail continues to remain the most exciting and dynamic part of the retail sector, and as with a lot of retail products, if you’re looking for something like a can crusher, it has become extremely easy to find and buy it online, where you can compare prices, brands, capacity and so on, to find the one that you need. It’s so much better than going from store to store to find the one you like, and if you order from an online site, the delivery to your doorstep makes it so much more convenient as well. You really cannot beat the convenience and cost effectiveness of online retail these days and consumers are really tuning into this method of shopping.
According to a survey conducted by the Digital Future Project at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication, a greater number of Americans are spending time on the internet for emailing, surfing, being part in online communities, and shopping. An estimated 60% of online users over the age of 18 buy products online, usually spending $100 a month. On average these consumers make 36 purchases on the web each year. Also in the report, an estimated 71% of shoppers online said that they browsed products in stores before purchasing them online, and 67% of online shoppers said that their online shopping reduced their shopping at the local markets.
The Digital Future Project surveys the same more than 2,000 U.S. households each year, exploring the impact of Internet technology. Here are some other findings from this year’s report: Each week, 96% of online individuals use e-mail, 71% surf the web without a specific destination, 60% look for news online, 43% search for product information, 38% use online banking or other financial services, 37% use instant messaging, 35% play online games and 25% search for humorous content.
Since we might be heading towards California this summer, I’m hoping to plan a tour of the vineyards of Napa Valley, something I was not able to do the last time I was there. Being able to go on one of these tours will be a fun way to explore the region, I think. The other way to ensure you get to know a wine region is to join one of those wine of the month clubs that make it all so easy to be able to taste the wine from different regions. The Gold Medal Wine Club offers hand selected wines that are not easily available elsewhere and delivers them to your home. Select the kind of package you’d like and you will get to taste a wide variety of domestic and international wines. I think its a pretty cool way to ensure you have a good stock of high quality wine in your home at all times.
I came across a great site yesterday that I wanted to share out here. I write quite often about tactics new and small businesses adopt to try to be successful and this site is full of such resources and is a great place to get all kinds of information on setting up a new business and ensuring its success. WorkZ.com has more than 100 templates, tools and tips on how to create a successful business and it is a worthwhile investment of time to read up on the articles they have on their site. I think the section on forms and templates would be extremely helpful to someone starting out as would be the section on brand marketing and SEO tips. Other helpful areas also include how to use trade shows to grow a business, creating surveys and lots of other helpful articles.
I’ve been really impressed with the level of materials used in trade show displays these days. At the travel and leisure trade show in Dubai last year, I was simply amazed at the attention to detail that almost every company had taken to create. There were screening theaters, double level restaurants, waterfalls, laser light displays, mini golf courses, and even a dinosaur to make things interesting. I was simply blown away by the way these temporary structures did not look temporary at all and how much time and money had gone into creating such an event.
While this holiday season was not too good for most retailers, some of the larger online retailers did see an increase in sales. Sales at ten of the largest online retailers in the US saw a growth of 29% over last year’s figures, according to Chase Paymentech, the company that processes payments for e-commerce sites. Jewelry retailer Blue Nile saw its fourth quarter sales rise by 24%.
Compared to brick and mortar retailers, these figures are very good. According to the National Retail Federation, sales for the months of November and December stood at $469.9 billion, a marginal increase of 3% from last year’s figures. The trade group had estimated that the sector would see a rise of 4% in this holiday period.
Mike Duffy, president and CEO of Chase Paymentech, says “The tremendous year-over-year growth numbers clearly indicate that online commerce is attracting more and more consumers, particularly in a challenging economic environment.” According to comScore, online retail sales rose by 19% in November and December.
One of the big business trends for this year is party planning, a segment that is really becoming more popular as a job option as more and more consumers are going inn for professionally managed parties, right down to personalized invitations such as these first communion invitations. There is a lot of work that goes into creating the right event and for a guest, an invitation is the first point of contact, so the emphasis on the perfect invitation has really increased. There are lots of professional places to go to these days, so you don’t need to worry about coming up with something unique and different by yourself.
Retailers are always trying to mix things up in their endeavor to get customers to spend more money and one of their new tricks this season is to mix new merchandise along with old merchandise that is being offered at a deep discount. According to Dennis Tootelian, marketing expert from California State University at Sacremento, “We’re starting to see stores use deep discounts as a loss leader. Then they’re bringing in more trendy, new merchandise at full price. People with gift cards are more willing to pay that because they feel like the card is free money.”
Since the lackluster holiday season, retailers are looking for fresh ways to attract customers and this one could be quite a successful tactic, and are offering greater discounts than the same time last year. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, last minute shoppers could not salvage a slow Christmas and now retailers are hoping for a post-Christmas binge by shoppers.
Stores such as Target and Mervyn’s are hoping for customers to come in and take advantage of the special markdowns that they are offering. Mervyn’s will even be opening at 6am to move its 60% off clearance items.