During political campaigns, media handicappers talk about “positive” and “negative” opinion numbers. Successful candidates need the right mix of both. High positives and high negatives indicate great name recognition—voters know who you are, they’re just very divided in their opinion of you, often an indication that a candidate will do well with a core constituency but poorly with moderate voters.
Brands are subject to the same opinion polarization and big brands are often the most polarizing of all. So how do you deal with the negatives if you’re a Walmart or a Starbucks looking to appeal to the big fat middle? Starbucks is about to try an innovative approach: wearing a disguise. Read the rest of this entry »
Every client we’ve ever done workbooks for (and we’ve done a lot of workbooks) has replied something like this when asked how many books they’d like to print:
“We’ll, I’m not sure. We printed x-thousand last year and we had a lot of boxes sitting around the warehouse. But the year before that we ran out. Uh, I’m not sure, let me ask Sales.”
As you can imagine, Sales will want to err on the side of surplus for safety and the topic is put on hold until the next season. What’s funny is that the number never seems to bear any relation to the number of reps, the number of accounts or the number of doors.
Given the state of everyone’s marketing budget, I imagine we’ll start to see some pushback from our friends in marketing departments.
“How many workbooks do you really need?” could be the mantra of S10.
Backpacker Magazine posted this to Twitter yesterday afternoon:
Newbie campers are coming—get ready for a crowded summer: http://tinyurl.com/d2o6gp
The link is to a blog post that in turn references this CNN piece on a potential boom in car camping this summer. Never mind the issue of newbies crowding out state-park regulars. A growth in car camping participation is welcome news for outdoor specialty retailers and suppliers. And Walmart. Uh, especially Walmart.
Chances are that the bulk of the newbies will be inclined to buy the sort of down-market camping goods available in the big box sporting goods and general merchandise stores. But there’s also a good chance the camping spike will manifest among more affluent consumers. It may even surface some ex-campers looking to get their game back. Both of these latter groups are likely to frequent a specialty retailer. The bottom line is that anybody who sells camping gear is likely to encounter more newbie campers than they would in a “normal” spring. So how do you make the most of this new traffic. Tips for retailers follow. Read the rest of this entry »
AdAge has a piece this morning on the growing DIY trend, something one of article’s sources calls a “cross-category … trend that could linger well into the next decade.” As evidence, AdAge cites comp store sales from AutoZone, sales of home hair coloring kits and enrollment in cooking courses.
Like most things mainstream, the DIY trend is a combination of idea-seeding by a small core culture and an opportunity provided by larger economic conditions. Over the past 10 years, a small, hip core of DIY-promoters has launched successful websites (instructables.com, makezine.com), magazines (ReadyMade, Make), and even online marketplaces for DIY goods (esty.com, threadless.com). As consumers look to stretch their dollars in the crumbsville economy, there’s a convergence between necessity and lifestyle.
There’s an opportunity here for specialty retailers and outdoor brands and not just for repair and parts stores like Berkeley’s Narain’s or the stuck-in-the-70s DIY retailers like Quest Outfitters. Read the rest of this entry »
The SportsOneSource Group, publisher of SBG and The B.O.S.S Report, has market research and accompanying analysis out this week on brand awareness in the outdoor sporting goods industry.
“As the economy contracts and the retail environment suffers, many retailers are re-trenching back to the brands that are seen as safest,” said James Hartford, chief market analyst for The SportsOneSource Group. “The strong will most likely get stronger over the next year.”
This is another reminder of how the outdoor industry works differently from mainstream consumer goods. When times are tough, many mass-market consumer’s look for low-priced alternatives to the top brands: generic dishwasher detergent over Cascade or Coby over Sony. Recessions are a great opportunity for second-tier brands to build loyalty in customers who might not otherwise have tried their products.
But in the outdoor market, most lesser-known brands don’t come with lower prices. Read the rest of this entry »
Since crummy consumer spending numbers began to appear this summer, retail analysts have been talking about the advent of a new consumer mindset. Consumers, we’re told, are learning to live with less, questioning their need for non-essentials and focusing on value. While I don’t doubt this is true, the full story is likely more complicated. Consider these conflicting trends from today’s The New York Times:
Best Buy reported this month that same-store sales were down almost 8% in October, led by what an analyst called an “unprecedented drop in consumer buying of items like flat-screen televisions.” Wal-Mart, on the other hand, announced at a Nov. 13 earnings conference that their October numbers show a “healthy sales growth” in flat screen TVs.
So what’s going on? Read the rest of this entry »
