Catering to Multichannel Consumers

Are retailers providing what buyers want?

eMarketer, September 8, 2008 — Consumers in the US surveyed by Opinion Research Corporation for Sterling Commerce want to get more value from retailers through multiple shopping channels.

Over one-half of respondents (56%) wanted the option of having merchandise delivered to their home or available for in-store pick-up after purchasing online.

Ciao Bella—in Your Grocer's Dairy Case

How friendly media attention helped a Little Italy gelato shop move from being a restaurant supplier to a premium supermarket brand

BusinessWeek, June 9, 2008 — Ciao Bella was once content to produce generic desserts. The maker of premium gelato and sorbet sold its wares mostly in bulk to restaurants that served them as unbranded "home-made" ice cream. Retail was just 10% of the company's business in 2000 and the least profitable part. The last thing Ciao Bella wanted to deal with was the logistics of shipping pints of frozen ice cream to far-flung stores. "We fought the growth of retail," says Deborah Holt, the company's vice-president for marketing.

But today Ciao Bella sells through 4,000 retailers accounting for half of its business.

A Virtual View of the Store Aisle†

Kimberly-Clark and Others Track Shoppers in New Ways; Finding Huggies on the Shelf

Wall Street Journal, October 3, 2007 — Using a new tool developed by Kimberly-Clark Corp., a woman stood surrounded by three screens showing a store aisle, a retina-tracking device recording her every glance.

Asked by a Kimberly-Clark researcher to find a "big box" of Huggies Natural Fit diapers in size three, she pushed forward on a handle like that of a shopping cart, and the video simulated her progress down the aisle. Spotting Huggies' red packages, she turned the handle to the right to face a dizzying array of diapers. After pushing a button to get a kneeling view of the shelves, she reached forward and tapped the screen to put the box she wanted in her virtual cart.

Kimberly-Clark hopes these virtual shopping aisles will help it better understand consumer behavior and make the testing... continue reading

Why Deere Is Weeding Out Dealers Even as Farms Boom†

Some Veteran Retailers Feel Betrayed By Shift; 'We Are Not a Family'

Wall Street Journal, August 14, 2007 — For more than a century, Deere & Co. has relied on dealers to sell its iconic John Deere tractors and other farm equipment. Deere dealers like to brag that they "bleed green," the company's trademark color.

But even as the farm boom helps Deere harvest record profits, dozens of North American dealerships are getting sent out to pasture, including some that have passed through families for generations. Chief Executive Robert Lane says times have changed. In an age when tractors use satellites to track the location of every seed, he says, dealers must match the sophistication and size of agribusiness customers.

Coke Goes for a Good Old Cup of Joe†

As CMO, Tripodi Will Go Back to Basics, Focus on In-Store Efforts

Advertising Age, July 30, 2007 — After years of veering among different high-profile marketing executives, each of whom proselytized about a different high-minded marketing concept, Coca-Cola Co. has gone back to fundamentals.

P&G's Global Target: Shelves of Tiny Stores†

It Woos Poor Women Buying Single Portions; Mexico's 'Hot Zones'

Wall Street Journal, July 16, 2007 — Every day, Martina Pérez Díaz spends about five hours sewing 70 pairs of black loafers by hand for a wage of 120 pesos, or about $11. When she wants to wash her hair, she walks to her local tiendita, or "small store," to buy a 0.34 ounce, single-use packet of Procter & Gamble Co.'s Head & Shoulders shampoo. The price: two pesos, or about 19 cents. "That I usually can afford," she says.

Shoppers like Ms. Díaz factor heavily into P&G's plan to conquer more of the globe. The consumer-products giant has a goal of increasing total sales by 5% to 7% annually over the next three years.

Best Buy Moves to More Mobile Selections†

Chain Expands Choices for Handsets and Plans; Ringing Success, So Far

Wall Street Journal, July 12, 2007 — Like most of its rivals, Best Buy Co., the largest independent U.S. electronics retailer, used to sell just a small selection of cellphones with subscription plans from Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp. and AT&T Inc.

But late last year, the company decided to expand its offering to include more carriers and many more phone choices.

Shop Online, Spend Offline

Big box stores benefit from online shopping

eMarketer, July 11, 2007 — Consumers who shop online for digital cameras and TVs spend 10% more on in-store purchases than consumers who do not search online, according to survey sponsored by Yahoo! Search Marketing and conducted by ChannelForce. Shoppers were interviewed when entering big box electronics stores like Best Buy and Circuit City.

A reason to skip Starbucks

CEO Patrick O'Dea tells Fortune's Matt Boyle how tiny Peet's can challenge the giant of the specialty coffee industry

FORTUNE, June 12, 2007 — Despite the ubiquity of Starbucks, only about one out of six Americans drink specialty coffee on a daily basis, according to the National Coffee Association. To Patrick O'Dea, that smells like opportunity.

How H-P Reclaimed Its PC Lead Over Dell†

Shifting Battlefield to Stores was Key; Help from Vera Wang

Wall Street Journal, June 4, 2007 — Hewlett-Packard Co. is riding high today as the world's undisputed leader of personal-computer sales, but that's not how Todd Bradley found things when he joined the company in 2005.