Clicks v Bricks

Do "clicks" now get the same level of respect that "bricks" do among retailers who have both traditional and online retail assets? That's a question posed by Allison Enright in her Sept 21, 2011 column in InternetRetailer. Frankly, I think that she asks the wrong question.

Whether it's a catalog or a kiosk, a website or a store aisle, a phone app or a direct-response mailer, they are all THE point of purchase. When a retailer starts parsing sales between channels, their brand and their message can get lost.

Worry less about how shoppers access you. Instead focus more on being the same responsive, enabling purveyor of what shoppers want when and where they want it. That's point-of-purchase marketing. As shoppers click away in the aisle, the difference between clicks and bricks grows smaller and more irrelevant with each passing day.

Tasteless Tomatoes

Marketing guru Seth Godin posted something today that rang true with me (as his posts often do). Just as in the case where his local supermarket "stocks waxy, tasteless tomatoes from Chile and Mexico and Florida" when local produce is truly amazing this time of the year, too many marketers today deliver "good enough." They've abandoned delivering truly memorable, valuable and inspirational products and services. This isn't universally true, of course, as patrons of Nordstrom, Zappos, Ritz Carlton and even little guys like Bread Head Bakery can attest.

As a company that helps marketers present wares in hundreds, even thousands of stores, we can fall prey to the same malaise. It's tough to wow when you're using the same tools for the same products in a c-store, supermarket, drug store and mass merchant.

Finding the wow on a budget is the trick. When you do, though, marketing magic happens.

WHERE'S THIS ECONOMY HEADED?

In the wake of a shaky summer, the US consumer confidence index has reached its lowest point since 1980. Though mortgage rates are at a 60-year low, few houses are selling and many people are still coping with home values below their mortgage values. News reports today claim that the American family income has dropped for the third year in a row – to roughly 1996 levels (in inflation-adjusted terms).

Things are tough out there, right?

Yet, many area manufacturers continue to hire and invest in their businesses. Tusco Display recently opened a new facility in New Philadelphia. In a Tuscarawas County Chamber of Commerce survey of 43 of our larger manufacturing concerns, 26 of them plan facility or workforce expansions. And we’re on the cusp of a natural gas boom here that will bring many new businesses, people and dollars to our regional economy.

Why the disconnect? It’s two-fold. First, people are still hurting from the Great Recession of 2008-9 and feel insecure. They lack confidence to take risks, e.g., switch jobs, buy a home, start a business. They are playing things close to the vest. They’ve learned from past excesses.

Second, both federal and state governments are making many changes that make us uneasy. From ObamaCare and debt ceiling brinksmanship to SB5 and restructuring state agencies, change makes people uneasy. We like stability and predictability, things in short supply these days.

Times will improve and we will not see a repeat of 2008. Until people see it, feel it and believe it though, our lack of confidence will impair our ability to take advantage of the opportunities before us. At Tusco Display, we’re moving forward with confidence.