November 16, 2012

This Shopping Season, Consumers Have the High Ground

One week from today, retailers will be embracing a new trend among consumers, known as “nonline” shopping. In The EGC Group’s latest research report, titled How to Prepare for the First “Nonline” Retail Season: Top Trends and Takeaways for this 2012 Holiday Retail Season, we learn that more consumers than ever will be using their smartphones and tablets to compare prices while in-store, allowing them to view the product in person while getting the best bang-for-their-buck. During Black Friday weekend, this trend could be a serious detriment to brick-and-mortar retailers.

With the help of technology, consumers now have the upper hand in what has traditionally been a retailer-dominated power dynamic. Customers can use a store simply as a showroom where they can view and test products that they will later buy online for a better price. Not surprisingly, this nonline trend has been frustrating for retailers who must now struggle to compete with websites like Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, and WalMart.com.

EGC suggests a variety of measures that store owners can take to salvage their sales. The most obvious next step would be for retailers to lower their prices to be more competitive; however, many retailers simply cannot afford to do so. EGC also suggests that retailers can offer free shipping to customers upon the arrival of out-of-stock items. The report notes: “Experts report that free shipping is the biggest draw for a consumer to shop your brand or product, and has become expected by most consumers.”

Lastly, if a retailer has an associated online shopping portal, it is important for the store’s special offers to be consistent with the online offers. If your retail channels are out of sync, your brand is out of sync. This nonline shopping trend has proved – more than ever before – that the digital space and the physical store have merged. After all, today’s consumer could be shopping in your store, on your website, or even both at the same time.

Click here to download the full report.

Written by Justin Lashley, Business Development Manager

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July 18, 2012

Is Controversy Crucial to Cultivating Consumers?

When it comes to retail, “it is hard to be on top of the heap for a long period of time,” says Mary Brett Whitfield, Senior VP of Retail Forward, Inc. “What’s hot one moment can easily be not [the next].”

One company that has distinguished itself for its ability to stay tenaciously “on top of the heap” is the hipster fashion giant, Urban Outfitters. Known for its ultra-trendy styles, Urban Outfitters must keep a constant dialogue with its young, swanky consumers in order to stay securely in vogue, in a rapidly changing market.

As you might expect, social media has been a godsend for this 40+ year old company, which now uses Facebook and Twitter to stay in touch with its consumers and test out new designs. The company’s robust social media presence is further legitimized by its target demographic, primarily 18-to-24 year old women. Luckily, this age group is also the primary demographic of Twitter users, a fact that must make Urban Outfitter’s social media department very happy, indeed.

Unfortunately, the retailer has been plagued by a number of controversies throughout the last few years, the most recent of which surfaced only three months ago. The company had the good graces to produce a t-shirt with a six-pointed star badge which, unfortunately, bore a striking resemblance to the patches Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany. Needless to say, the Anti-Defamation League did not take it well. The retailer has also offended African Americans (by offering t-shirts in the color “Obama/Black”), eating-disorder groups (by selling a v-neck t-shirt with the words “Eat Less” branded across the stomach), the Navajo nation (by creating a line of blatantly stereotyped “Navajo” clothing and designs that actually bear no resemblance to actual Navajo clothing or designs), and many, many more.

While it has undoubtedly positioned itself as a rebellious and haughty brand, it is doubtful that Urban Outfitters ever meant to be overtly offensive. To the contrary, controversies are a necessary evil for risky marketers such as Urban Outfitters. The retail apparel market changes quickly and constantly, so the merchandise must therefore change just as swiftly. Since the brand is targeted at such a specific demographic (affluent 18-to-24 year olds with disposable income), the retailer’s product assortment must be deep, yet narrow – offering many different styles, but in a very specific genre. Hence, the company’s desire to churn out hip and “angsty” products at the speed of light far outweighs its desire to avoid public criticism.

For retailers like Urban Outfitters, which rely so heavily on speed and innovation in new product development, controversy is simply a learning experience. After each fiasco, the company quickly issued an apology and simply got on with its business. The occasional controversies have made a relatively small splash and were easily brushed off. While the company’s reliance on social media may have led to some controversial designs, it has been far more of a boon than a detriment.

This brings us back to the golden rule of marketing: know your consumer. Urban Outfitters cares much more about the desires of its consumer than about the opinions of the general public. Their goal is to interface directly with their customer as much as possible, and thereby learn more about their own brand. By actively engaging with social media, they are able to gain valuable insights about their consumers in real time, and by extension, the immediate future of the brand itself.

We stand to learn some very valuable marketing lessons from this company’s track record: Listen to the consumer, experiment, take risks, and learn from your mistakes.

 

Written by Justin Lashley, Business Development Coordinator

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May 14, 2012

What’s the Deal with Daily Deals?

I wouldn’t consider myself an “early adopter” of most new technologies or marketing tools – except for that of the Daily Deal.

Several years ago, when Daily Deals started to get hot, I was living in New York on a shoestring budget and Groupon offered me two things:

  1. Savings (let’s face it, who doesn’t like to save money?).
  2. New places, experiences, restaurants and foods to try with no time consuming research.

I loved it. I was being served up a new offer every day that would help me experience New York in a cost-effective way – great deals on everything from manicures to Ethiopian food. As a consumer, I think you adopt things like a Daily Deal easily because there is no catch. You prepay, you receive a voucher, and you present it at the time of purchase. Enjoy.

But is there a catch for brands that participate in this “revenue share”? Getting involved with a Daily Deal can be time consuming experience…but one that can ultimately pay off in a big way.

Here are some simple steps to follow to help you secure a Daily Deal for your company:
First: reach out to the company and speak to a sales representative, letting them know of your interest.
Second: collaborate with the rep in working out a “deal” for your brand, which typically includes the buyer paying a small dollar amount to receive a larger dollar amount toward your product or service.

Be warned: finding that magic number can be tricky. First, you have to be willing to create a “deal” that goes above and beyond your typical offering to interest the companies that run these Daily Deals. Second, you have to be willing to part with half of the revenue that is generated by the deal. So, if your deal is $10 and 10 are purchased, sales amount to $100, but $50 is given to whatever company runs that deal.

Third: Be patient and wait. With most of these Daily Deals, you don’t know when your deal is going to run until days before.

Once your deal does run, this is when the fun begins! You get to have your business exposed to dozens of consumers who may have never heard of your service or product otherwise. They get to learn about you, visit your website and ask questions. Expect and plan for an increase in traffic – and hopefully, sales!

Here is the best part: the deal acts as a third party recommendation. Big names like Groupon and Living Social go through a vetting process, so you’ve earned already earned credibility in the mind of the consumer. They trust you before they know. That sounds like a pretty good deal, and is worth the lengthy process required to set up the deal.

 

Written by Jamie Roser, Account Manager

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April 25, 2012

Facebook Advertisements Are Getting New Metrics

This past March, Facebook changed the layout for personal accounts and business pages to the new “Timeline.” Their goal is to enable pages to be more interactive, encourage sharing and allow people and brands to elaborate on their story. Bottom line: Facebook wants to see an increase in engagement.

Stemming from Facebook’s changes last month, it should be no surprise that the social network is also switching up the advertising metrics used. Marketers who are spending money with Facebook to gain “Likes,” drive website traffic and generate application installs will now receive enhanced metrics with several tracking features. These additional advertising metrics support Facebook’s (you guessed it), commitment to increase interaction!

Being able to monitor ad actions, such as use of an application, share of a page post or claim of an offer, will start to take some focus off clicks and “Likes,” which is a step in the right direction. The right direction in this case is the attribution of social media to customers, brand loyalty and business profits.

With over 150 million Facebook users in the U.S., advertisers are anxious to use Facebook media to their best advantage. It will be exciting to see the new metrics implemented and how brands and companies optimize campaigns from the insights gained and how this will affect advertising budgets.

As the new Facebook advertising metrics begin to roll out, EGC will report back on what this means for retail businesses and how to best be using the data given to develop a more successful paid campaign on Facebook.

 

If you’re not currently advertising on Facebook, but would like to know how this can benefit your business, contact The EGC Group at contact@egcgroup.com  or http://www.egcgroup.com/contact-us.php

 

Additional information:  http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/facebook-beefs-ad-analytics-139677

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February 1, 2012

As someone who recently joined Pinterest…

As someone who recently joined Pinterest, I’m happily surprised, to see the levels of adoption and amplification.

If you don’t know what Pinterest is, it is essentially a “virtual pinboard,” that allows users to collect images, items, recipes, etc., from the web and keep them tagged onto their own “pinboards” ─ which can be shared with other Pinterest users.

I myself have been astonished with the network’s content and functionality. I’ve shared products I love, plan to buy, or “one-day-hope-to-buy”. What’s best is that I’m sharing all of my product wishes with friends.

As a marketer, I’m even happier to see the implications to retail. The article below notes just how Pinterest affects retail marketing.

http://mashable.com/2012/01/29/pinterest-retail-infographic/

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January 11, 2012

Next Year I Will…

Social media helps companies in many different ways from customer service, product feedback and building customer loyalty. Fortunately for retailers, they have an advantage to jumpstart this engagement and really start conversations. The key is doing it right.

In DC, there is a fast-casual restaurant that took full advantage of their retail locations to engage both in store and through social media. Through a contest to win a year’s supply of restaurant food, Sweetgreen asked customers to tell them their New Year’s Resolution. They could post it in store or tweet #sweet2012 or text. The store in Bethesda I walked by, used their entire windowscape to promote the contest. There were tons of sticky notes and plenty of twitter usage.

What’s key is that Sweetgreen recognized that social engagement isn’t just a counter card. It became their windowscape and integral to their promotion. Retailers, need to understand the opportunity that they have and extend the in store experience to the digital world. When you do this your campaign is more successful and you extend the relationship you have with your customers and future customers.

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January 10, 2012

Optimizing Your Retail Campaign in 5 Steps or Less

Launching a retail campaign and need to quickly ensure its success? Here are some very simple tips to optimize your retail advertising campaign:

  1. Social Media “Gut Check”: The new path that shoppers take includes an entire influence process. They are talking to their friends about you on social media before visiting your website. Listen to what types of conversations are taking place about your brand or retail location, and make sure it’s good – before launching a paid campaign. There are many free options for this, using a Twitter search, HootSuite, Google Alerts and more.
  2. Optimization: Make sure your media planning is fluid. Don’t lock into a schedule or commitment that does not allow you to optimize daily.
  3. Mobile: More customers are reacting to your retail campaign on mobile devices than you think. Your coupons and offers should be accessible on a mobile friendly website, and your campaign should be integrated with geo location sites like Foursquare.
  4. Call to Action: If it’s retail and intended to do some heavy lifting, make sure your offer or call to action is strong and compelling. Too many advertisers are using call to actions like this: “Look for our ad in this Sunday’s paper!” How many of you actually “rush” to do this – going through your Sunday paper seeking an ad? Strong, unique online call to actions will always work best. If you’re asking someone to call, give them a reason for why calling now is better than calling later. Countdowns and special time-limited offers help.
  5. Track beyond the sale. Be prepared to track the correlation between impressions and actions, coupon/rebate downloads, online visits, and social media lifts. There may be holes in the buying process that are affecting your sales, and the right analysis of data can help find those.
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January 6, 2012

Rethinking the Call to Action.

At the agency we often ask ourselves “what are we asking the consumer to do, and why should they do it?”

With many retail marketing and advertising campaigns the answer is clear: “Buy Now, Call Now, Click Here.“

But as we’ve stated, the consumer has changed. The new consumer doesn’t want to be told what to do, and we think you shouldn’t just tell them to do something.

Influence them in way that they feel as if it was their own idea to ‘like’ you on Facebook, call you, or buy your product. I would call it “informed motivation.”

For example, bring them to an online video that better explains the benefits that lead to a “call to action” screen. Or, drive them to customer testimonials on Facebook that feature an adjacent coupon.

And for those who would like to stick to the tried and true “Call, Click, Act!” we encourage new methods of looking at this.

My current favorite is Stella Artois. Their recent campaign integrates the old fashioned 800 number. 1-800-My-Chalice drives you to a telephone operator with a fabulous accent, and you’re given the option to opt in to “win your chalice”, or learn more about how a chalice is made, and, most important, why a chalice is not a glass. What a smart way to illustrate who they are, and to call me to action!

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December 29, 2011

Is customer service getting better?

Have you been to an AT&T store lately?  I’ve been a customer for years and they are definitely upping their game.  The employees are informed, polite and extremely helpful.  We’re talking follow-up phone calls and e-mails.  Are they ex-Nordstrom employees or has the AT&T brass recognized the power of smiling and caring?   The employees  are definitely better trained than they had been in the past.  And they are also remembering what their moms taught them about being nice. I think nice is spreading.  Even the Department of Motor Vehicles is a far better place than back in the day.  Sure, technology is moving the lines along more quickly, but the agents at the counters actually smile.  What’s going on here?  I like it.

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December 28, 2011

Smart phones make smart shoppers

Mobile is no longer being talked about as the next big thing in retail.  It is the big thing.  According to Google, 4 in 10 smart phone users say they have walked away from an in-store purchase based on information accessed from their phone.   And that information is likely price research.  (“Price check, please?” ) So if your price is competitive, you get to move your customer to the checkoutline.  Next step: make the transaction impossibly simple.   With the coming boom in Near Field Communication (NFC),  that’s about to happen.  NFC makes it easy for electronic devices (like a cash register and a smartphone)  to exchange information.  So now the phone can replace that piece of plastic buried in your wallet or purse.  NFC penetration is still low but the I-phone 5 will likely offer it, making it the first major smartphone to use the technology.  Apple goes first, you know the rest of the story.

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