Category Marketing
Weekly Sweeps… Snippets For Your VFOGI (Vast fund of general information)
1. Cash-Strapped Consumers Shift Brands
According to a blog from Gian Fulgoni in Ad Age Digital, about 54% of consumers said they bought the brand they wanted most in 2008. By 2010, this had dropped to 45%, and 43% this year. Declines were observed in every category, with the most severe drop (17 points) in over-the-counter medicines and the lowest in the household category (6 points).
If consumers aren’t buying the brand they want most, they are switching brands, says Fulgoni. When a “peer” brand is on sale, 38% in 2011 say they bought it compared to 33% in 2008. But they also turn to a cheaper product. About 19% of consumers switched to private-label products in 2011, up from 14% in 2008.
When downsizing caused consumers to switch to another brand, 14% said it usually did and 54% said it occasionally did. But when asked which cost-controlling action they would prefer, 62% more consumers chose a smaller size over a price increase. Brand marketers appear to be backed into a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” corner.
For more from Ad Age, please visit here. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by eBrand Media Research Department in Advertising, Marketing on November 14th, 2011
Free necklaces and shipping for holiday shoppers?
Retailers are so desperate this holiday season that they’re willing to lose money to get you to spend yours.Take online jeweler Stauer. It’s offering a $249 amethyst necklace for free — provided customers pay the $24.95 it costs to ship it. Stauer will lose money on the deal, but it hopes to reel in new customers who will buy other jewelry.
“In this economy, you have to be outrageous in your offers,” said Michael Bisceglia, the president of Stauer who found that more than a third of customers who took advantage of a similar deal on a $179 pearl necklace in 2009 bought additional items. “You have to shake up the world a bit.”
Not every retailer will go as far as giving away merchandise during the holidays, but many will offer profit-busting incentives. It’s a critical time of year for merchants, which can make up to 40 percent of their annual revenue in November and December. And they’re so worried that Americans are spooked by the weak economy that they’re willing to sacrifice profit for sales.
Nordstrom, for instance, is one of the first retailers to offer free shipping on most orders, no matter how small, even though it could wind up paying $3 to ship a $7 pair of socks. Furniture chain Raymour & Flanigan is allowing customers to go four years without paying interest on their purchases — the longest period it has ever offered — even though it will have to help cover a chunk of those charges itself. And Sears is not only offering to match the cheapest prices customers find online, but the department store chain is giving them an additional 10 percent off the difference.
“You may be making a $1 profit instead of a $3 profit,” Fiona Dias, chief strategy officer of members-only shopping service ShopRunner.com, said about retailers. “But you’re not losing a sale.”
Retailers are nervous about holiday sales because many Americans are cutting back on spending as they grow increasingly concerned about the stubbornly high unemployment rate, stock market turmoil and an overall fragile U.S. economy. In fact, a recent Gallup poll found that eight of 10 Americans think the country is in a second recession.
“Retailers are now scared because some believe they’re in a second recession,” said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group. “And the second recession is hitting them in the biggest shopping season of the year.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by eBrand Media Research Department in Advertising, Marketing, Trend Tracker on October 19th, 2011
Marketers, people are cynical, and hype is not the antidote.
The chorus of marketing voices has become cacophonous to the point where advertisers and their customers have tuned it out as so much white noise or have become hardened against it. We think the following makes sense and will help to separate you from the countless “dog and pony” shows.
1. Conduct a thorough competitive analysis.
• Marketers are becoming smarter, so competitive advantage is harder. Everything is online. It’s never been so easy to see what your competition is doing from a presentation perspective.
• Assess your current competitive situation
• Who are your competitors?
• What are your core strengths/weaknesses?
• What current and emerging opportunities and threats are imposed by the competitive environment?
• Use this information to critically evaluate your value proposition.
2. Explore and test new media.
• When we polled our staff, asking, “What are the most significant changes in marketing technology or tactics from a year ago?” new and emerging media were high on their radars.
• Social networks. Even if you’re not ready for a presence there, go there; find your customers and observe them. Listen to what they’re saying.
• According to a 2007 Deloitte survey of 2,200 U.S. consumers between the ages of 13 and 75, 85% of Gen Xers said they are influenced by someone’s recommendation.
• Mobile Landing Pages and Mobile ad placement. Optimization for mobile will be different than for PCs. Begin to monitor and test now.
Posted by eBrand Media Research Department in Advertising, Marketing, Opinions on February 18th, 2011
Motorola Solutions annual holiday survey indicates Consumers know more than Retail Sales Associates
The latest installment of the Motorola Solutions annual holiday study indicates that the majority of surveyed retail associates believe that shoppers were better connected to consumer information than in-store associates, driven by increasing availability of online shopping tools and mobile phone applications that allow price comparisons, access to coupons and social-networking.
The survey found that retailers that aren’t investing in technology to stay ahead of increasingly tech-savvy shoppers are hurting their own bottom line. 28% of store visits ended with an average of $132 unspent due to abandoned purchases driven by deal-habituated behavior, out-of-stocks, limited store associate assistance and long check-out processes.
| Product Awareness “The shopper today is better connected to product information than store associates… “ (% of Retailers) | |
| Response | % of Retailer Responses |
| Completely agree | 17% |
| Somewhat agree | 38 |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 26 |
| Somewhat disagree | 15 |
| Completely disagree | 4 |
| Source: Motorola Solutions, January 2011 | |
Posted by eBrand Media Research Department in Customer Centric, Marketing on January 31st, 2011