The A-Frame Controversy Whether you call them a sidewalk sign or an A-frame, you’ll find that people either love them or hate them — and the mayor of Madison, WI has decided that he hates them. These signs have recently become a ubiquitous part of the landscape in most commercial areas, and there is no arguing that many… Read More
The Perils of Showrooming Here’s a new retailing term for you: showrooming. According to article by Amy Zimmerman in the Wall Street Journal, showrooming is "when shoppers come into a store to see a product in person, only to buy it from a rival online, frequently at a lower price." Amazon helped boost this trend last December when it… Read More
Using Statistics Effectively I grew up with the advertising slogan “Four out of Five Dentists Recommend Sugarless Gum to their Patients Who Chew Gum.” Consumers were theoretically swayed to switch to Trident based on this strong endorsement, without questioning what the fifth dentist was thinking — that sugared gum was a good idea? You too can use statistics… Read More
Main and Me and You “Getting local business back in the game” is one of the primary goals of a program call Main and Me, so new that it is still in its beta stage. (The iPhone app is not yet live, but is expected any day now.) The program encourages shoppers to use photo-sharing to discover new places and… Read More
White on White When you think of doing a color-based display, do you dismiss white as the absence of color? In truth it is, because although clear light is the absence of all colors, in pigment you can’t mix all your paints together to get white. But using nothing but white in a display can create a powerful… Read More
Belly Up to the Counter There is a new player in the customer loyalty game, and games are in fact part of the appeal to consumers. The program is called the Belly Card, and the company’s goal is to reinvent customer loyalty rewards through gamification and digital check-ins. Belly is based on an in-store iPad, supplied by the company, that… Read More
Sister Day One of the most innovative shops in Denmark in Søstrene Grene, which translates as “The Branch Sisters”. I’ve written before about how they make use of the mostly fictional personae of Clara and Anna throughout their store to make what is in essence a discount-price shopping experience feel very personal. Once a year Søstrene Grene… Read More
Taking a Page from a Lookbook A lookbook is a collection of photographs used to show off the work of a particular photographer or model — or to profile a certain style or clothing line. While the term lookbook originally meant an actual book used to show the designer’s “look” for the current season, today it doesn’t have to be a… Read More
Easy Evening Events Easy EvenIng Events Looking for a new promotion for your store as part of your shopping district or town? For the price of some wine and cheese, as well as a bit of promotion, you can easily stage an evening event that will hopefully bring shoppers in after hours. This concept is usually applied to… Read More
Should We Be Flattered? If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I suppose as independent retailers we should be pleased that Target is rolling out a new concept called The Shops at Target on May 5. They even took out six pages of advertising in O: The Oprah Magazine to promote this innovative idea. (Would anyone like to… Read More