Retailers Harness Digital Media for In-Store Experiences, Product Sampling†

Also Re-evaluating How to Deliver the Sunday Circular Through Mobile, Web

Advertising Age, March 19, 2008 — When it comes to retail spaces, marketers have perhaps the best opportunity to tie digital-marketing experiences to physical-marketing experiences. And marketers are experimenting with morphing circulars into mobile formats, implementing social media into in-store experiences and using technology to promote product sampling. In some cases, these technologies can be considered media in their own right.

Big Names in Retail Fashion Are Trading Teams

New York Times, March 8, 2008 — It’s free-agency season in American fashion.

Isaac Mizrahi, the everyman’s fashion oracle, is about to leave behind his wildly popular cheap-chic clothing collections at Target to be the creative director for Liz Claiborne, the stalwart shopping-mall label.

Dana Buchman, a longtime favorite of customers at upscale stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, is decamping this fall to the budget-conscious Kohl’s.

And Tommy Hilfiger, a constant in department stores like Dillard’s and Bon-Ton for two decades, now says he will sell his clothes only at Macy’s.

Over the next year, an unusually large group of famous clothing designers, motivated by lucrative deals, plan to shift their retail allegiances, in many cases abandoning stores... continue reading

Upwardly Mobile Stationery

It's a brutal market, so why does Staples think it's a good time to go upscale with office supplies?

BusinessWeek, March 6, 2008 — On one side of the Staples in Needham, Mass is the office supply chain's past. Plain manila folders, stacked in generic blue boxes, are $6.29 for 100. Six aisles away, on the other side of the store, lies what Staples (SPLS) hopes is its future: A dozen file folders, made of thicker stock and decorated with black-and-yellow stripes, are displayed on a faux mahogany table, like sweaters at J. Crew (JCG). They don't have price tags. Instead, a discreet sign on the table reads $6.99 for a dozen.

Staples is trying to take mundane office supplies upscale. Inspired by high-end stationery chains such as Crane & Co. and Papyrus, a new private-label brand, dubbed "M by Staples," features spiffy leather journals, several lines of stationery, business card... continue reading

Pace-Setting Zara Seeks More Speed To Fight Its Rising Cheap-Chic Rivals†

Wall Street Journal, February 20, 2008 — Zara stores have set the pace for retailers around the world in making and shipping trendy clothing.

Now Pablo Isla, chief executive of parent company Inditex SA, says Zara needs to speed up.

As rivals catch up, Mr. Isla is attempting one of the fastest global expansions the fashion world has ever seen, opening hundreds of new stores and entering new markets.

New Marketing Style: Clicks and Mortar†

Web-Style Testimonials Hit Traditional Retail; Cherry-Picking Praise

Wall Street Journal, December 21, 2007 — Among the new features that stores are trotting out this year to help shoppers decide what to buy: testimonials from other customers. Taking a page from the e-commerce world, companies including Cabela's and Staples are featuring endorsements from shoppers in their product displays. People who visit one of Cabela's 26 stores can see a sign for a Texsport combination fan and light.

Latest Luxury: The Store Concierge†

Retailers Kick It Up a Notch To Coddle Affluent Clientele

Wall Street Journal, December 20, 2007 — Not long ago, Mark Krug, a concierge at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, dealt with a panicked hotel guest who had arrived at 10 p.m. in an irreparably ripped pair of pants.

The executive had an important business meeting the next morning and needed new slacks to match his suit jacket. Mr. Krug knew exactly what to do. He dialed the cell phone of the concierge at the Dallas store of luxury retailer Barneys New York. The concierge, Gary Jackson, who goes by the name Jackson, opened the locked store, scooped up some potential selections and brought them to the hotel by 11 p.m.

"It made us look good and it gave Barneys fantastic customer loyalty," say Mr. Krug. "I call what Jackson does 'making magic.' "

Magic Shop

Are your frontline employees going to save or kill your most important quarter? At Apple, nothing is left to chance

Fast Company, November 1, 2007 — Day one at my new job. Sporting white headphones, I am plugged into a computer watching Ridley Scott's awe-inspiring "1984" Macintosh ad, reviewing the company history, and getting pumped up about my new workplace. Like most of my coworkers, I'm already a loyal fan of the company, so starting this job will take my interest to the next level. I'm working as a Mac specialist at the Apple Store.

What happens between now and Christmas is the most important time for a very large sector of our economy: The National Retail Federation predicts almost $475 billion will pass between customers and merchants this holiday season, and whether such notable brands as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Gap (NYSE:GPS), Home Depot (NYSE:HD), Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), and many others think... continue reading

Wal-Mart Era Wanes Amid Big Shifts in Retail†

Rivals Find Strategies To Defeat Low Prices; World Has Changed

Wall Street Journal, October 3, 2007 — The Wal-Mart Era, the retailer's time of overwhelming business and social influence in America, is drawing to a close.

Using a combination of low prices and relentless expansion, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. emerged from rural Arkansas in the 1970s to reshape the world's largest economy. Its co-founder, Sam Walton, taught Americans to demand ever-lower prices and instructed businesses on running a lean company. His company helped boost America's overall productivity, lowered the inflation rate, and strengthened the buying power for millions of people. Over time, it also accelerated the drive to manufacture products in Asia, drove countless small shops out of business, and sped the decline of Main Street. Those changes are permanent.

Today, though, Wal-Mart's... continue reading

Cross-Media Case Study: Rock 'n Roll Is In Their Jeans

Lucky Brand's tour bus hits the road - and the cyberhighway

MediaPost Publications, September 24, 2007 — There's David Lynch's psychological thriller Lost Highway, AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" and America's 1970s hit "Ventura Highway."

Each evokes a certain nostalgic jag. And then there's the rock 'n roll tour - think Almost Famous. Lucky Brand Jeans manages to tap into a groovy 1960s-'80s vibe, while injecting a contemporary edge via its DenimHighway.com initiative, a grassroots marketing/party/brand campaign that invites consumers to interact with the brand outside retail.

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.