HAPPY NEW YEAR?

   As we flip our calendars and move into a new year, take a moment to consider what kind of year you want.  For me, Happy isn’t the best adjective for what I seek.  How about you?  Let me suggest some others.

   Heady: Make 2013 potent, even intoxicating.

   Hearty: Let your year overflow with meaty challenges that, as you overcome them, each makes you better.

   Helpful:  May you find ways to help but also allow yourself to be helped.

   Historic: Let the year ahead prove noteworthy and memorable.  “Remember 2013?  Now, THAT was a year!”

   Healthy: May your health and that of your loved ones be hale.

   Heartfelt: Be earnest, even passionate, in whatever you undertake. 

   Humorous: Laugh at yourself and your circumstances – not others – and encourage others to do the same.  Life’s too short to take it all too seriously.

   Handmade: Craft and mold the year into what you want.  Get your fingerprints all over it. 

   Hospitable: Pick your friends – but not to pieces.  Even when you vie with rivals, compete without being a jerk.

   Hardworking: May you do work worth doing and do it with gusto.

   However you choose to describe the new year, make it your own.  Just as no two people are alike, so too are no two years alike.  Best wishes for your own, personal, one-of-a-kind New Year.

PEOPLE ARE THE BEST P-O-P

   As shoppers crowd their local malls these days, basking in holiday spirit as the late Andy Williams croons “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” over the PA, some retail associates want to rip the speakers out of the walls after hearing that song dozens of times a day. For many of them, it’s the most dreadful time of the year.  

   And that’s a problem.  Retailers’ success or failure hinge on successful holiday sales.  How well they prepare, arm and treat their own employees can have a bigger impact on their corporate performance than having the best price on the hottest products.

   Retail clerks work longer hours, interact with more anxious, time-pressed shoppers and face more demands with a whirling array of special offers and discounts this time of year.  It’s not easy to keep a smile when you’re standing at a cash register for eight or 10 hours with a never-ending line of shoppers laden with too many packages and too little patience.

   Display and fixture designers, producers and installers can’t stop some crabby shopper from jumping down a sales clerk’s throat but we can – and DO – make the shopping AND selling experience better by presenting products effectively, helping the shopper find what they want and improving the retail environment.  As an industry, we make it a more wonderful time of the year for all.

   And, when you’re out shopping, take a moment to be extra kind to the people ringing up your purchases.  They can use some extra Christmas cheer this time of year.

HOLIDAY SEASON DASH

   Black Friday has traditionally been the start of major holiday buying but it has crept into what some now call Gray Thursday – Thanksgiving Day.  Did you shop in-person or online on Thanksgiving?  If you did, you joined 28% of all American shoppers who shopped before midnight Thu.  Over the entire weekend, three-quarters of all Americans – men, women & children, young and old - shopped.  Holy Kris Kringle!  Read more about it here. 

   Shopping has become a blood sport in American culture where people vie for the best deals, scramble for the hottest products and scheme to “win” at shopping.  Can you image anyone going to such lengths 30 years ago? 

   Throughout the year, displays and fixtures silently but effectively present products and services that shoppers may consider for purchase.  During the holiday season, though, retailers and brand marketers turn to megaphones – TV & radio ads, print campaigns, email blasts, online pop-up ads – to get our attention and possibly win our wallets in spite of knowing that 70% of all purchase decisions are made in-store.

   Not unlike the recently-ended political season, I hear people wishing for more civility, lower stress and less strident communications.  But, just like politicians, marketers know: noise works.  And, as long as we respond to that noise and vote with our dollars, we’ll keep getting it.   

INSOURCE TO BE IN SYNC

The Atlantic magazine features an article this month that highlights the transformation in thinking at one of America's greatest industrial powerhouses.  GE has remade their Appliance Park (KY) facilities to return much of their appliance manufacturing from other countries to the United States.  They're doing it because it makes economic sense.

The same benefits that accrue to a GE benefit buyers of custom store fixtures and point-of-purchase displays, too.  Chasing the cheapest labor has costs.  Too many consumer package goods companies, retailers and fixture producers have learned this the hard way.

We see more store equipment destined for North American stores with "Made in America" today and expect to see more because (a) transportation costs have grown; (b) Asian labor rates have climbed while American labor rates have stagnated; (c) American workers are objectively the most productive in the world; (d) project time lines are compressed and will only become more so; (e) US manufacturers have invested in labor-saving technologies and processes, e.g., Lean, to reduce costs as a matter of survival; (f) non-labor factors of manufacturing - raw materials, energy, space, equipment, capital - are relatively plentiful and affordable in North America; and (g) seamless coordination makes for better outcomes.  Insourcing lets us better synchronize and meet the needs of retailers, CPGs, designers and manufacturers.

North American manufacturers can compete with anyone in the world - and are only getting better.

SHOPPING IS HELL

William Tecumseh Sherman knew war firsthand and famously declared, "War is hell."  Many modern shoppers see Black Friday - the Friday after Thanksgiving in the US - as a hellish ordeal fraught with too little sleep, too many choices and too many people jostling others seeking the best deal.

Shopping this upcoming weekend takes on some of the sophistication of battle strategy and tactics.  Shoppers gearing up must marshal their resources (savings, credit cards, coupons, Christmas lists, troops, transportation), deploy their forces - Aunt Jane camps out at Big Box Mart while Cousin Jim waits in line at Mega DIY World - establish lines of supply, e.g., When will we eat? Who's bringing the coffee?, and even synchronize their watches and calendars to be sure that they can coordinate all activities without missing a beat.

Though I love stores, spend time in them a lot and thoroughly enjoy studying the psychology of shopping behavior, I choose to remain out of the line of fire and away from the trenches this weekend each year.  I leave the field of battle to the more tenacious, determined and battle-hardened professional soldiers of holiday sales.

As you think of me in the rear echelon this weekend, recall the words of Dwight David Eisenhower:  "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because (s)he wants to do it."

CHIEF SALES OFFICER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Mike Lauber

Tusco Display

Phone:  (740) 254-4343 x225

Fax:     (740) 254-4839

Email:  mrlauber@tuscodisplay.com

Web:    www.tuscodisplay.com

TUSCO DISPLAY NAMES TONY FERRANTE CHIEF SALES OFFICER

GHADENHUTTEN, OH; November12, 2012 – Tusco Display, manufacturer of award- winning custom fixtures and permanent displays, has named Tony Ferrante as its Chief Sales Officer.   Serving as the top client relationship officer, Mr. Ferrante will be responsible for profitably growing Tusco Display’s share of the custom fixture and permanent display market. 

Mr. Ferrante comes to Tusco Display after serving as Sr. Vice-President, Sales & Marketing for Garick, LLC, a manufacturer and distributor of sustainable natural resource products found  in the consumer and professional lawn & garden markets.  Prior to Garick, Mr. Ferrante has held senior sales & marketing positions with Rubbermaid, Wayne Dalton, Trex, Berkshire Hathaway and Lebanon Seaboard.  Ferrante has consistently delivered superior results primarily through:  dozens of successful new product introductions, developing new channels of growth, and recruiting and building high performing teams.

“Tony brings a unique perspective to Tusco Display given his broad experience in the consumer goods, building materials and  lawn & garden categories.  We look forward to leveraging Tony’s category strength, retail channel experience, and his success in building high performing sales organizations,” says Tusco Display chairman Mike Lauber.

Mr. Ferrante has an MBA from Case Western Reserve University and a BS in Industrial & Systems Engineering from The Ohio State University.

About TUSCO DISPLAY

For over 60 years, Tusco Display has been an award-winning designer and producer of custom fixtures and  permanent displays. Tusco Display works with brand marketers, agencies, retailers and other display companies to build a brand's retail presence and deliver superior sales results in-store. The company’s vision is to be the most reliable, nimble producer of custom fixtures and permanent displays in North America

- END -

CONSUMERS, SHOPPERS OR JUST PLAIN PEOPLE?

Steve Schildwachter's recent piece deserves wider play so I'm posting it here.  As we think about influencing behavior in-store, it's worth recalling that we're dealing with people with varying degrees of Retail IQ, different tools, e.g., smartphone, and a variety of shopping goals.

MORE RETAIL IQ

   Are you curious, observant and persistent in your shopping habits?  If you are, chances are you are adding to your Retail IQ on every shopping trip. 

   Do you like to explore new stores or wander down different aisles in stores you know well?  These are signs of a healthy Retail IQ.  Do you pick a checkout lane at a grocery store based on the length of the line, the skill of the bagger or the number of items in the carts of those ahead of you?  Do you even think of ANY of those factors?  People with higher Retail IQs observe the subtle differences.  And great retailers manage those factors.

   What type of stores do you frequent?  Barbershops or beauty salons?  Hardware stores or Hallmark shops?  Claire’s or Costco?  Quick-service restaurants or self-service gas stations?  Wherever you go, be aware of the messages and methods employed to influence your decisions.  What happens in those stores doesn’t stay in those stores – some of it goes home in your trunk!

   There’s no magic formula to calculating a Retail IQ and it varies from store to store, format to format and shopper to shopper.  It also varies widely between producers of point-of-purchase equipment.  If you buy or sell displays or fixtures, consider the Retail IQ of those with whom you work, too.  They can make the difference between a smart investment and one that pays poor dividends.

WHAT'S YOUR RETAIL IQ?

   We all know them.  Perhaps you’re one, too.  They are the Smart Shoppers: people who know retail stores inside out.  Best store for double coupons?  Best place to find 2% milk on sale?  Nikes in narrow widths?  What time is Extreme Couponing on TLC this week?  Where are the pimentos?  (midway down Aisle 7 on the right on the top shelf)  These people – OK, they are most often women – are Shopping Savants.

   Few people have the time, talent and patience to aspire to that level of shopping supremacy but we all have a Retail IQ.  What’s yours?

   Do you know how to best navigate a store to find what you need and want?  Do you understand how a store uses discounts, coupons, weekly specials, shelf position, special displays and other techniques to prompt you to notice it, try it and come back and buy it again?  Do you know when a “sale” doesn’t actually save you money?

   Retail IQ has little to do with education, career or gender.  Your Retail IQ has more to do with observing, learning and applying what you learn in retail environments. 

   Next time you visit a store, ask yourself, “How is this store moving me around, presenting product choices and shaping my purchase decisions?”  The better you understand how a store (and its brand partners) unites you with their products while separating you from your money, the higher your Retail IQ.

RETAIL AS THEATER

   Imagine attending a live performance of some great play or musical.  Many things make it great.  The script must engage the audience.  Actors must know their lines, hit their marks and play their parts well.  The theater surroundings themselves must be comfortable, sight lines clear, lighting and sound right, seats comfortable.  Costumes and props matter, too.

   Stores are like theaters, don’t you agree?  The products are the scripts and actors the staffs.  The store environment is like the theater building itself.  Costumes are the packaging.  And the props?  They are what our industry provides to “set the stage,” to highlight the action and to help make the entire experience compelling.

   Consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies want their products to have a good, long run.  When they bring together the right Product, Price, Promotion and Place – the proverbial Four P’s of the marketing mix – magic happens.

   Display and store fixture designers and producers play a pivotal role in two of the four P’s: Promotion and Place.  If shoppers are drawn to a product, can find it easily and see it attractively presented, the probability of purchase increases dramatically.

   When the show must go on (and we know that it must), great displays play a part in the mix.  Marketers that miss this critical point don’t play well in Peoria and have short runs.

COME TO HER SENSES

Most brands and retailers sell inanimate objects.  Tusco Display markets no puppies, no goldfish, no hydrangea.  Instead, our displays and fixtures sell tools & tires, sporting goods & spices, cosmetics & calendars, food & flooring, shoes & services, paint & apparel, baseball bats, ballcaps & bathroom fixtures.

   Anecdotally, we know that pet stores that sell kittens find that their “inventory” moves quickly.  Why?  In part it’s because these animate objects create an emotional connection with shoppers.  Meow.

   Those connections most often arrive through a shopper's senses. A sensory connection with a shopper can be tough – but powerful.  This is where physical stores have a massive advantage over their online brethren.  Retailers and brands can appeal to more of a shopper’s senses.  When she touches that towel, a connection happens.  When she smells that fruit, she’s emotionally engaged.  When she tastes a sample, hears the music or sees the HDTV image, she’s drawn into a relationship with the product.  And if she likes what she perceives, she’s more likely to buy.

   When we come to her senses, we’re actually in the relationship business, building connections at the point-of-purchase.  Move over, Dr Phil.

OLYMPIC DREAMS

The Olympics captivate us, don’t they?  We marvel at the feats, strain to see our nation’s athletes compete, hope for success.  None of us may expect to compete at that level but we can still learn from it.  Here are a few ways to apply Olympic lessons to our lives.

1.    Persistence pays.  How many stories did we hear of athletes overcoming tremendous odds to succeed?  Look no farther than the Paralympics which start this weekend for more such inspiring stories.

2.    Set goals.  If you don’t know where you’re going, what you’re trying to achieve, how will you know when you get there?  How many athletes reached London without explicitly making it their goal?

3.    Feed your passion.  Dreams are not enough; passion pushes people to perform.  Just “keepin’ on keepin’ on” doesn’t lift your game to winning heights.  Find your passion then feed it.

4.    Teamwork trumps talent.  Think of the sand volleyball duo of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings.  There may have been better, younger, faster athletes across the net but no better team in the history of the game.  Their teamwork was their advantage.

5.    Have some fun.  Performance takes a great deal so you better build in some fun or what you’re doing will become drudgery.  

None of us may be Olympians but we can all be champions.  

At Tusco, we had a client who needed some in-store equipment in their London flagship store.  Their Chinese supplier had failed them.  Our team sprang into action, went to Olympic lengths, worked around the clock and met this emergency need in record time.  We helped our client win in London.  We received no medal but we showed our mettle.

James "Cash Mob" Penney

Poor ol' JC Penney can't buy a break lately.  They hired Ron Johnson from Apple to revitalize their marketing.  They quickly settled on an approach to remake the customer experience with a thoughtful approach to pricing and periodic sales.  But their sales are well below forecast and they have suspended their earnings guidance for investors based on a sizable sales volume drop.

Retraining customers who have grown up only buying on markdown has been neither easy nor swift.  And it's not being done in a vacuum - competitors are gleefully licking their chops at the prospect of carving off JCP shoppers for themselves, especially during the crucial Back-To-School period.  

As their website proclaims, "Over 110 years ago, James Cash Penney founded his company on the principle of treating customers the way he wanted to be treated himself: fair and square. Today, rooted in its rich heritage, J. C. Penney Company, Inc. is re-imagining every aspect of its business in order to reclaim its birthright and become America’s favorite store." 

When was the last time you visited a JCPenney's store?  See for yourself what they are doing.  I think that you'll find the merchandising much improved, their pricing indeed "Fair and Square," and their approach to brand curation - from Sephora to Levi's to Liz Claiborne - a far cry from what JCP has been doing or what most other retailers are currently doing.

If you believe that they are now headed in the right direction, consider being part of a slow-rolling Cash Mob to save James Cash Penney's namesake chain.  Sure, they aren't the typical target for local support but supporting a company that's trying to shake up the retail world with more straight-forward pricing seems a worthy project to me.

THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON SHOPPING

...and it's not very smart.

Most people who shop know the silliness of some pricing.  From BOGO deals to the .9 cents on every gallon of gasoline we buy, we know that pricing plays many roles: it implies value, it encourages behavior ("Buy me!"), it provides context.

The Atlantic's Derek Thompson shows us some of the ways in which we as shoppers are led - and sometimes misled - by pricing tactics.  http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/07/the-11-ways-that-consumers-are-hopeless-at-math/259479/

STORES CAN DO BETTER

   According to a Motorola Solutions survey released in June, 75% of US retailers believe that developing a more engaging in-store customer experience will be critical to their business in the next five years. A significant proportion of them expect to provide personalized product details, based on previous behavior, to a shopper’s smartphone.  In fact, retailers believe that 42% of sales will come from online, mobile, and social commerce sites in the next five years, says the report.

   Though retailers appear to understand the need to customize the in-store experience to better appeal to shoppers, a high proportion seems unable to do so. Three-quarters of retailers said they don’t know when a specific customer is in the store and 85% cannot customize a store visit. Additionally, 89% are unable to connect customers’ activities online with what they do in the store today.  This is a problem – and an opportunity.

  Big box stores, for instance, wring their virtual hands about showrooming and the like but in fact have tech tools increasingly available to make the shopping experience more powerful, more relevant and more successful. Here's a link to a nifty example.

   Our clients continue to make the shopping experience more effective and satisfying for shoppers, sometimes with some stunning technologies.  At Tusco Display, we love the challenge of helping them accomplish this.

CONSUMER INTERACTION AT THE POINT OF PURCHASE IS ALIVE AND WELL

Despite the fact that internet sales are way up over this time last year or even in the last three years, people are still attracted to and interact with point of sale and are willing to do so even at the expense of their own pride and dignity. Australian snack maker Fantastic Delites prove that human interaction at the point of sale can be accomplished with nothing more than a big red button, a video screen, and some music.

Obviously I am over simplifying things and if this experiment wasn’t a staged publicity stunt it further underscores the notion that point of purchase advertising and displays are not going away or even on their death bed. Watch the video and let me know if you think bricks and mortar retail are going to dry up and go away anytime soon in the comments section.

 

Here at Tusco Display we continue to see hands on innovations and ingenious customer interactions as an evolving trend in consumer behaviors and continue to create point of purchase displays that excite, inform, and compel shoppers to buy your products today, not Next Day Air or 2nd Day Ground shipping.

MEASURED v UNMEASURED

POP as a medium has long had a chip on its shoulder.  Marketers, retailers and producers know that it moves product but it's never been considered a "measured medium" by the advertising community.  As brands and retailers strive to connect with shoppers, where better to do so than where 92% of the money is actually spent:  in-store!

The accompanying article today from Ad Age highlights the growth of "unmeasured" media relative to traditionally measured media.  People want a return on their advertising and promotion investments.  We had a client ask about this just last week.  They knew from matched store tests that they got a 29% increase in product sales in stores where they used our custom store fixtures v stores with stock fixtures.  To both our client and us, the measure of any medium is the impact on sales.

ORGANIZED BRAVERY

On this day 68 years ago, tens of thousands of Allied troops landed on Normandy and began the march to Berlin to end World War II.  As anyone who has read history, spoken with a survivor of D-Day, or watched "Saving Private Ryan" or even "The Longest Day" knows, many brave men fought and too many perished.  We should never forget.

I thought of that day as I read a recent post from marketing phenom Seth Godin.  I append it here.

GREENWICH VILLAGE RETAIL

Here's a fascinating look at a microcosm of American retail.  The author shares a touching review of "creative destruction" in this iconic place.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/magazine/can-mom-and-pop-shops-survive-extreme-gentrification.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp

The times, they are a-changin'...

THE IKEA MAZE

I got a kick out of this article and thought you might, too.  There's really little that's truly revolutionary about what this Big Box does - grocery stores have used the "racetrack" for years, after all - but recognizing the psychology involved helps us understand both how we shop and how we sell.

NOT JUST METAL BENDERS

   The Tusco Display story started over 60 years ago when we printed advertising signs.  Producing the metal substrates on which the signs were printed came next and we became metal benders.  Along the way, the business morphed into industrial sewing, stadium seating, storage tanks and eventually the production of permanent displays and store fixtures.
   Today, we produce products in fiberglass and various plastics, we work in wood and laminates, and we even dabble in fabrics and graphics.
   We still bend lots of metal, of course, to produce displays and fixtures as well as everything from aluminum fire truck doors to stainless steel control cabinets, tandoori ovens to bingo machines.  But the heart of what we do is far more than cutting, bending, welding and coating metal.
   We are mental benders.  We help consumer packaged goods (CPGs) companies – many famous name-brands – effectively present their wares in retail environments throughout N America.  We help them connect with shoppers.  We influence stores to carry products and shoppers to buy them.  We help shoppers find what they need and want.  We understand, design and produce to meet the needs of the CPGs, their retailer partners and shoppers.
   Understanding how people interact in-store, how they approach purchase decisions, how they are attracted or not attracted to products in stores is far more of what we do today than simply printing signs or building shelves.  Tusco helps create in-store inspiration.

IN-STORE MATTERS

   The Point of Purchase Advertising International trade association has conducted some major new research in at-retail shopping behavior.  In spite of the advent of on-line shopping, smart phones and loyalty programs, one surprising fact emerges:  people still make the majority of their purchase decisions in the store.
   POPAI’s 2012 Shopper Engagement Study hired a respected research firm, supported by major retailers and global brands, to determine how American shoppers actually grocery shop.  Using sophisticated technology and in-depth analysis, the study finds that “today’s in-store decision rate has reached an all-time high of 76%.”
   Does this suggest that we don’t know what we plan to buy when we go shopping?  Of course not.  Instead, it documents that most of us make many decisions while in the store.  Perhaps we switch package size or brand, perhaps we generally plan to buy something but specifically decide when we’re in the aisle.  Whatever the case, what happens in-store matters. 
   The message for marketers and retailers alike?  If you don’t put your brand on ‘display,’ you’re less likely to put your brand in the shopper’s basket.  It’s the “point of purchase” for a reason – and we have proof.

RIFF ON SETH

Seth Godin is a web powerhouse, a brand unto himself.  He recently wrote about online v in-store  retailing in a post you can read here.  One disagrees with Seth with trepidation because this guy thinks deep thoughts and has proven highly successful in influencing others with those thoughts.


But Seth's missed an important aspect of retailing.  He suggests that "end caps and promotions and speed tables and other interactions will not be there because they are in the direct interest of us the shopper, but because they were placed there by the retailer to help generate income."  


He goes on to say, "Online merchants have done an extraordinary job of honestly presenting relevant information and drawing a bright line between editorial and merchandising. Which means that they’ve given up a huge amount of power. Since online merchants can’t make a particular item sell, they have far less leverage. They make up for it by selling everything, indifferent to which item you choose. In short, they’ve traded their power to you, the customer, in exchange for volume."

Though some power has been ceded by the merchants, I believe that many consumers would prefer if the online world exercised a bit more power than they sometimes do.  And this is where in-store can beat online almost every time.  I go to that dress shop or that bookstore or that salon because (a) they know me and (b) they curate for me.  Yes, yes, I can read reviews and do my own searches and spend loads of time delving into my options and evaluating them but what I really want is for that merchant to know me and serve my best interests.  The ones that do this well win.

RETAIL EVOLUTION

   When we think about how retail continues to evolve, many people fixate on e-tail vs retail, clicks vs bricks, digital vs analog.  Though Amazon no doubt gets a lot of attention in places like Bentonville AR, more than nine out of ten dollars are still spent in stores.  Bricks click in part because they never stop changing.
   Dollar General has opened some new DG Market stores that offer fresh food as well as their standard stuff.  Drug chains are doing the same, especially in areas underserved by grocery stores.  RiteAid has announced that they’re revitalizing all of their 4700 stores this fiscal year.  NYC drug chain Duane Reade (part of Walgreens) is transforming their 250+ stores, too.  Gap is brightening their stores – and seeing results.  JCPenney hired CEO Ron Johnson away from Apple store last year and is making sweeping changes to their stores, pricing, merchandise and almost everything they do. 
      We live in a dynamic, ever-changing world.  Retail knows that it adapts or dies.  Changing a store’s footprint or location can be costly, time-consuming and difficult but revitalizing the floor plan, graphics, lighting and fixtures to upgrade, refresh and revitalize can work well and quickly.
      Effective at-retail marketing may change the perception of any product or brand and determine success or failure.  Same goes for retailers.

THE BIGGEST RETAILER

Can you name the most dominant retailer of the 20th Century? Wrong. It was the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company or A&P. From humble beginnings in NYC before the Civil War, A&P grew to 200 stores by 1900, hit $1 billion in sales in 1930 and was the largest retailer in the world from 1915 until 1965. In a Dec 2010 Wall Street Journal editorial, they said that "A&P was as well-known as McDonald's or Google is today" and that A&P was "Wal-Mart before Wal-Mart."

Why bring them up? They emerged from bankruptcy last month as a privately-held – and much smaller company – than they once were. Though still a major food retailer on the East Coast, A&P long ago fell behind newer, bigger and bolder retailers like Walmart, Target and Aldi.
Unlike A&P, successful retailers stay attuned to shopper interests and make investments in their retail environments to meet the needs of shoppers today. We may be fundamentally loyal people but we are not afraid to find better value in the ways we buy our necessities of life. A&P lost that edge to other formats and approaches.

Successful companies like Tusco Display have changed too to remain attuned to our clients’ current needs with broad, modern capabilities, highly-responsive systems and up-to-date knowledge of consumers, shoppers and the way they buy. We don’t plan to dominate retail of the 21st Century but we DO have the means to help our clients dominate their in-store channels and serve their shoppers better than ever.

What Advertising Actually Works?

Advertising Age just published an article entitled Young Consumers Switch Media 27 Times An Hour. In it, the author writes: "It's every advertiser's worst nightmare: consumers so distracted by a dizzying array of media choices that they no longer notice the commercials supporting them. And its time might be closer than you think. A recent study found that consumers in their 20s ('digital natives') switch media venues about 27 times per nonworking hour - the equivalent of more than 13 times during a standard half-hour TV show."

Marketers are flummoxed. If these consumers aren't consuming their ad messages, if they surf away, avoid or - horrors! - ignore the messages, how can they be reached by marketers? Here's a thought: reach them when they want to be reached. Reach them when they are in search-and-buy mode. Reach them in-store.

Marketers who invest in the only space where the money, the motivation and the products co-exist tend to sell more product. Duh.

THE DINER

  I had breakfast in a small-town diner recently and found it fascinating to see the living, breathing POP on display.  Have you noticed it, too?  In this case, the points of purchase were the servers.  The wait staff greeted regulars – including the town cop – by name and bantered with them. Genuine affection, honest conversation and bold opinions were on full display.
   Most of the diners knew what they wanted but staff made suggestions.  "Honey, I'm out of sour dough. How about Texas toast instead?"  "Why don't you try our scrabble today.  Guarantee you'll like it."  “You look like you need coffee, hon.”
   The staff knew their products – heck, they even made some of them themselves – and knew their customers.  They provided cheery conversation, social commentary and fresh-brewed stimulants. They checked back often and handled everything with aplomb.  This was good, old-fashioned selling.
   Selling works best face-to-face, person-to-person. But you can’t expect to find it in every retail setting because it's expensive, inconvenient and requires both product knowledge and communication skills.  Can you imagine having someone seat you at the grocery store, take your order and collect your shopping list of items in your cart for you?  When one-on-one selling and highly-personalized service aren’t practical, displays are the next best thing.  And they don’t expect a tip.

DYNAMIC

GlobalShop, North America’s largest showcase for anything that happens in stores, happened two weeks ago. Attendance registrations were up 11% over 2011, a promising sign of renewal and growth in our industry.

I have attended these events for years. My, how times have changed! The events have become better-attended, more educational and more international. Ours is a vital, dynamic industry.

Why is our industry so dynamic? First, people buy in stores. Yes, yes, more and more online buying occurs but still 92%+ of every American consumer dollar in spent in a store, not online or through the mail. Stores matter to both buyers and sellers. It remains the only place where the shopper, product and mindset to buy coexist simultaneously. Instant gratification!

Second, while we serve the largest consumer packaged goods companies in the world, ours is a deeply entrepreneurial industry. Companies large and small compete on the basis of creativity, responsiveness, execution and value. Competition drives dynamism.

Third, buying and selling is rapidly evolving. Technology-enabled shoppers surf for information, seek & share recommendations and comparison shop. Online and in-store are converging. Stores deploy new technology to communicate and employ data-mining technology to predict and spur purchases. In-store dynamically unites consumers with the products they need and want.

The oil and gas industry is having a dynamic impact on our eastern Ohio region but in-store dynamism spans the globe. Ours remains a great industry with great opportunities.

PSST, YOU ON AISLE 5!

Some 30+ years ago, retailer loyalty cards came into existence and with them the dream that, one day, marketers could know your habits, what you buy and thereby figure out how to sell you more. That dream has quietly become reality. Powerful computing algorithms and clever marketers today know you, your purchase habits and preferences, and are working overtime to attract your attention.

Charles Duhigg has written a new book about it all. Articles in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and a host of magazines trumpet The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. It’s fascinating stuff – and a little scary.

No one likes to feel manipulated but everyone wants to be understood. Like Norm Peterson in the long-running sitcom Cheers, you want people to know you, even greet you by name, when you enter the store. You want the store to have what you want when you want it. Getting to know us through our purchases histories helps stores have the things we want, at prices we’re willing to pay, when we want them. It’s win-win, right?

One counter argument is that we are inherently private people. We don’t want just anybody to know us. We want to decide who knows our likes, dislikes, preferences and purchases. And that’s our right, right? Sure. But we give away some of that right when we respond to incentives offered by marketers and retailers to share information. When we do, we win discounts and lose a little privacy. By the numbers, it appears to be a trade many willingly make.

DON'T BELIEVE IT

So, 2012 will be the Year of Customer Satisfaction. According to a recent survey, retailers are determined to invest in the latest "widgets, gadgets and advanced links" to woo and soothe their customers. Read some highlights here.

I don't believe it. Neither should you.

Technology investments are vital. Online and m-commerce initiatives are important. But making the store environment cleaner, less cluttered, easier to navigate, properly staffed, comfortable and filled with the right products attractively displayed should be THE priority if shoppers are indeed the #1 priority. Who's watching the store?

Executing at the in-store level - where an average of 70% of actual purchase decisions are made - needs more attention. For most retailers, however, it's a zero-sum game: money and attention spent here won't be spent there. Diverting attention to the detriment of the store environment hurts the customer shopping experience. And that's bad business for any retailer.

WHY WE BUY. REALLY.

I’ve written recently about the acronym ZMOT: Zero Moment of Truth. Popularized in 2011 by Google, it refers to the fact that shoppers often – and increasingly – research new purchases before they go online or to a store to potentially buy.

A new study builds on the idea that we welcome influence from other sources – reviews, suggestions from friends, even overheard comments from strangers. Is it because we don’t trust our own ability to decide? Whatever the reason, a study from Opinion Research was recently highlighted in a Fast Company magazine article by Martin Lindstrom.

One of the key findings: 61% of shoppers checked online reviews, blogs and other online customer feedback before buying a new product or service. Even when people know that some of these reviews aren’t accurate or objective, they value these sources. Why?

Shoppers are hungry to get the “right” value: price, product availability, effectiveness, packaging attractiveness, quantity, social satisfaction and so on. Though seeking opinions of others gets easier all of the time, the decision to buy will remain with the shopper to make and s/he will most often make it in the store, in the aisle, at the shelf. The path to purchase is important but the point of purchase is pivotal.

FEED YOUR HEAD

Few of us would purposely skip a meal, let alone fast for an entire day. We need to be fed to function. The same logic applies to our minds.

During a recent meeting with our sales team, I asked them to consider what they feed their heads. Are you feeding yourself information to enhance the value you deliver to your clients? Are you continually learning what’s new, what’s relevant and what’s changing in our industry? Are you stoking your curiosity and starving complacency? Are you paying attention to what’s affecting your clients, prospects and competitors? What are you reading, watching and hearing?

Just as you know that a diet of Twinkies, cookies and energy drinks isn’t good for you, consider the quality and variety of what you feed your mind. Watching sports or sitcoms, reading comic books or People and listening to music are all innocent diversions but don’t consume those things to the exclusion of meatier, more nutritious fare.

Learn. Grow. Improve. What you feed your head becomes the fuel that propels your career and your life. The right diet makes all the difference.

Three Observations on 2011 Retail

Others will comprehensively comment on chain closings, product hits and misses and results by various categories and specific retailers. Instead, here are a few observations on the year just past.

1. It was a good year. Overall, retail sales grew 6.5%, according to the US Dept of Commerce. That’s the best growth in over a decade. Holiday sales grew 4.1%, more than the 2.8% predicted by the National Retail Federation as recently as Thanksgiving. Auto sales contributed significantly by jumping 10% in 2011. Consumer confidence grew after several years of severe weakness.

2. ZMOT matters. Both consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and retailers recognized that the “zero moment of truth,” when people search, seek opinions of others and explore purchase options before even going out to buy – online or in-person – is crucial to success. You must win the ZMOT before the first moment of truth (at the store) or the second (when the consumer uses the product). ZMOT gained great currency in 2011.

3. Bricks meet clicks. For 15 years, people have forecast the end of bricks-and-mortar stores at the hands of the Internet. That’s hooey. Shopping remains a visceral, social and even entertaining activity that meets peoples’ needs. Smart phones, QR codes and mobile marketing only made the retail experience better in 2011.

Shopnocentrism

I'm guilty. Are you? When I think about "at-retail marketing," I think about North American retail environments like Target or Toys'R'Us or Kohls. By contrast, for much of the world, the photo to the left is retail reality.

The photo came this morning from a friend living in Accra, Ghana where he visited the famous Makola Market on a slow, post-holiday shopping day. Normally, people jam every square inch of the area selling or buying products.

What common elements of in-store advertising do you see? People stake out there real estate - literally - like we do here. They present their wares in an attractive, user-friendly way. Some of the stalls offer umbrellas to make it easier for shoppers to tarry on a sunny day. Another guy takes "mobile" to a new level with a four-wheel cart for getting his wares up closer to the shopper. There are few POP displays per se but, then again, each stall is manned by a seller who can capture the shopper's attention, answer questions and suggest purchases, something that must often be accomplished without a shopkeeper in the Western world. This difference aside, color, product variety and depth, signage, presentation - it's all here.

Wherever people buy and sell products, those of us who work in this broader world can learn. Be aware of your own shopnocentrism. Whether an outdoor market or the indoor bazaar of Herald Square, the precepts of effective point-of-purchase advertising are universal.