Future of Retail

The news is looking good going into 2010. Retail Forward is reporting the same-store sales for December (excluding Wal-Mart) increased 3.0%. This number comes from a sales-weighted composite of 32 retailers. Department stores stores sales did lag, but they did have higher sales over last year while apparel and accessory stores did better than average.

Who is the big winner in all of this? Well, Amazon.com. They did cut into some of the sales from stores. Numbers show that more than half of all households shopped at Amazon.com during the holidays.

“The trend through the holidays is now pretty clear that shoppers are moving toward stronger spending into 2010. But it’s also clear that some cautiousness will persist and that s pending will remain uneven across categories and retailers,” said senior economist at Retail Forward, Frank Badillo

Maybe it’s time for more retailers to pull out their business models and take a cue from Amazon.com’s playbook.

Quote Of The Week

“We’ve seen, really across the store, improving results. Part of it seems to be better merchandising, part of it seems to be improved execution, and part of it is just momentum — once people start going to a store, they tend to return.”

~ Eric Bosshard quotes

Target + Wii

Trying to not only drive sales, but to create hype Target has teamed up with Nintemdo to put Wii kiosks outside of store entrances to ppromote their Wii Fit Plus. The kiosks will appear at 9 stores between  January 16-31. Read more.

Ebay’s Fourth Quarter Revenue

Ebay posted its fourth-quarter revenue of $2.4 billon. This shows a 16% increase over the same period last year.

“We delivered a strong fourth quarter with double-digit revenue growth driven by exceptional performance at PayPal and turnaround progress and momentum in our core Ebay business,” said Ebay resident and CEO John Donahoe. “PayPal significantly expanded its presence globally and, for the first time, processed more than $20 billion in total payment volume in a quarter. Gross merchandise volume and sold items accelerated for the third consecutive quarter. We are starting 2010 with significant progress against our three-year growth strategies for PayPal and Ebay and a clear focus on our priorities going forward.” Read more

Return Of The High End Customer?

2009 was the year of the discounters. However 2010 may be the year for the come back of luxuary goods. Shoppers are becoming more confident and with the Dow Jones industrial average up 25% high end stores may see their customers return.

“We started to see the luxury segments show better performance at the end of the holiday season, and I suspect that will be the area that will be the strongest in 2010, in part because that was the hardest hit during the last recession,” said Michael Niemira, chief economist and director of research for the International Council of Shopping Centers. Read more

Read more

Summer/Spring 2010 Women’s Trends

Boy Shorts and Hot Pants:

Hem lines are getting shorter. This years trend is for the more fashion forward, confident girl since the hem lines all but disappear. Although it may be questionable if anyone other than lady Gaga is wearing it there is no denying it that they were all over the Spring 2010 catwalks.

Warrior Armor:

Military meets tribal. Keep on the look out for metal plating, tunics, leather, and chain-mail insporations.

On the sales floor: Mix soft, flowing fabrics with the rough, warrior look.

Merchandising Tip OF The Week: Empty Walls

Even though lower levels of inventory coming into the stores the sales floor shouldn’t reflect that. Maintaining full displays in the first and second positioning on the floors should be a standard, but don’t forget the walls especially the top row if items are double hung.

Walls are meant to be merchandised to capture the customers attention and draw them into the pad. So making sure that the top rows are merchandise aren’t empty, but most importantly look full are important. Usually there is a tendency to stuff the bottom arms, where the customer can reach, full of product and leave the top arms empty or with one item only. It makes sense from a connivence stand point, but neglected top rows can kill even the most amazing wall. There are a few tricks that can be used to make the top row appear full:

1. Space out five or six items on an arm- This creates depth and gives the perception that the bar is more full than it actually is.

2. Change the size of the bars- Changing 12” arms to 4” or 6” hooks creates less empty space. This way the bar only needs two or three items to look full.

Who Is My Customer?

In the times of economic downturn everyone is fighting for the same limited dollar from their customers. It’s also a time of hardship for employees who may fear pay cuts, layoffs and the prospect for searching for a job in this economy leaving many front line employees feeling a lack of moral. Typically customers will shop at stores that they trust and feel comfortable in so it has never been so important to make sure that customers are walking away with a positive experience. After all 80% of all purchases come from 20% of the customers shopping.

The proof of customer loyalty is in the pudding. Many companies can do when consumer spending is on the rise, but when the market turns retailers that have focused on retention of their loyal customers tend to be able to stabilize and survive. However one of the most important things for a retailer to remember is who their customer really is.

Remember the age of your customer. Teens many love designer clothing, but doesn’t always have the means to afford it. Whereas a more mature customer may have the funds, but want something more age appropriate. As designer Oscar de la Renta puts it “I have customers from age 20 up to I don’t know what. When I’m designing clothes, I’m not thinking about age. I’m thinking about the women who have the ability to buy the clothing.”

Knowing your customer, their needs, their wants, and their habits can be the key when bringing product into a store. Knowing what the customer will buy and serving their needs may be the difference between selling a dress for 25% as compared to 75% off.

This also comes into play with spending those important advertising dollars. This year saw an increase in advertising through social networking. Although this was a great success for many however if your core demographic thinks tweeting is something a bird does looking to Twitter for a marketing tool isn’t the option.

Quote Of The Week

“Reduce the layers of management. They put distance between the top of an organization and the customers.”

Donald Rumsfeld quotes (American Secretary of Defense)

Merchandising Idea

Creative way to set a display by using a wooden box.