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.