the brains behind the brand

Where have all the shoppers gone?

Years ago when I went Christmas & Boxing Day shopping it was often a nightmare. It would take forever to find parking, there were line ups for tills, and if you didn't buy something right away chances were that if you did go back to get it, it would be gone. 

Between December 12 and January 15 of this year, I shopped in 6 different shopping centres. There was only one centre I had real trouble finding a parking spot at. Another had a huge line up for Starbucks yet only a smattering of people wandering through the mall. In fact I counted at least 4 stores in that centre where the only person in them was a clerk. The rest fell somewhere in between.

So, where have all the shoppers gone?

I'll tell you in one word: Nowhere.

They are still at home saving on gas so they can spend on line. They are not looking for parking. They are not trying to shop with kids in tow. They are experiencing stress free, high tech access to everything they could ever want. Without ever leaving home.

In the past I have driven miles to a mall, struggled to find a decent parking spot and made the trek from my car to the mall. I have shopped, morning noon and night. I have been lost in malls. I have shopped with four kids, including a toddler. I have lost my car. I have lost a kid. Although both were found again in relatively good condition.

But now I can shop in a sweatshirt, curlers, no make up and stocking feet without any concerns about how I look. (Although my husband does take issue with the curlers.) Gone are the days of trolling shopping centres. I am armed with my credit card, a paypal account and have access to more product while sitting in my living room than I ever have had - even at malls with over 400 stores.

It is no longer good enough to be better than the mall down the road. The competition is everywhere - on consumers phones, in their living rooms, at their offices. Everywhere. And most of the US retailers targeting your customer will ship to Canada, sometimes for free.

Now, here is a dirty little secret - I shop daily, sometimes hourly. I call it research with fringe benefits. I start my day going through the dozen or so emails that are in my in boxes (yes I have multiples). I get eBlasts from malls, from favourite retailers and from the newest breed of online shopping sale sites (like MyHabit.com - Amazon's New Private Fashion Sales Site, Beyond the Rack, Gilt Group etc).

The one I find it hardest to ignore is My Habit which is like a daily feeding frenzy. I have managed to scoop a few deals but often they are sold out within a few minutes of the sale starting.
There are deals like you wont believe. Often 70% off my favourite designers, handbags, kids toys, socks for my husband, housewares, books, electronics, even furniture. I have become pretty particular with all this selection. (I cannot afford not to be particular, I may love to shop but I am far from rich enough spend with impunity.) Rarely will I go for something that's "good enough" any more. And neither will other consumers.

So it is encumbent on retailers and shopping centres to offer consumers a unique shopping experience that is better than they will get at home, or anywhere else for that matter. As well, your advertising has to convince consumers that they will have a great experience. Too many shopping centres are still trying to convince shoppers to visit them for the same reasons they did twenty years ago. How much pull does a sidewalk sale have when I get multiple emails every day with deep discounts on great stuff.

Shopping centres need brand identities and marketing programs that set them apart from the competition and invite consumers to be part of their community. There are many developers and management companies who would do well to see their malls as more than just holding properties. Tenants deserve more and I can tell you the internet has much cheaper rates. Store owners want to know that when they sign a lease they can count on the mall to drive consumer traffic. Malls need to give consumers better reasons to visit if they want acquire and retain quality merchants. Unless your marketing is up to snuff or you have hundreds of stores to choose from, or maybe a roller coaster, you are going to lose an increasing number of tech savvy consumers over the coming years.

There are many ways to stem the tide: make your website worth the visit, create a mobile site, develop an app, brand and advertise in a way that gets people's attention. Give up the idea that it is good enough to have the information available to consumers. Want more, email me at judy@thumbnailbranding.com.

Just a note: fifteen minutes ago I bought an amazing designer clutch. Even with shipping, duties and taxes it was close to half price! But don't bother looking for it - they are all sold out.

insights of a shopoholic

I am a shopoholic. I love shopping. Retail, wholesale, fleamarkets and malls. It is all about the hunt for something I just have to have - although I probably did not know about this life or death need until whatever product (that I cannot live without) appeared before my eyes.

Fact is, I need to shop. Understanding how shoppers respond to shopping environments as well as advertising and branding programs and the like is integral to my business. As well it is equally important to understand how those environments respond to shoppers. You would not believe some of the faux pas I have seen in various shopping centres - both with individual retailers and the centre staff. This is what brand experience is. It is not a magic answer you get from a questionnaire, it is not something you can experience through a powerpoint presentation or can find described on a graph. Emotion just does not work that way. And shopping is all about emotion. If there are two products that offer the same benefit to a consumer, the one that the consumer feels right about and can identify with is the one they will buy.

I am not ashamed to tell you that I have shopped at every mall I have ever worked with save one, which was in the UAE and I really could not justify a 17 hour flight. I also shop at malls I have not worked with. Probably in excess of fifty. Some call it frivolous, I call it research. I am also master of the "working holiday". I even travel with special shoes just for visiting malls.

In the past I have driven miles to a mall, struggled to find a decent parking spot and made the trek from my car to the mall (frequently in the rain). I have shopped, morning noon and night. I have been lost in malls. I have shopped with four kids, including a toddler. I shopped till I got tired and sweaty - who says shopping isn't a workout. I have lost my car. I have lost a kid. Although both we found again in relatively good condition.

Over my next few blog postings I am going to offer you a shopoholic's perspective on the changing retail marketplace.

I hope it will offer you insight into what strategies shopping centres could, and should be doing in order to build and retain their consumer base.

Maybe they just think people who live in Canada are stupid?

I like working with retail clients. I like to help them find ways to connect with their consumers. I like to see them become successful. It's my job to make them look good. I like to believe that the clients I work with are good, honest, hardworking people. All my clients are Canadian based.

I also like to shop. And, I like to know I am getting value for my money. I want to believe that the shops I go to are treating me fairly and honestly. Honesty is the basis on which good relationships are forged.

Over the Christmas & post Christmas shopping season I have been downright appalled by some of the behaviours I have encountered at top retailers. I had one high end fashion retailer who claimed the approximately 400% price difference between the price on their Canadian website and their US website was due to shipping costs and duties (on a flannel wool coat!!!). I get eBlasts from this company regularly. I love her look but I will restrict my shopping to places like Neiman Marcus. Who, by the way offers excellent customer service in my experience - and very reasonable shipping (sometimes free) to Canada. So, although I will still be buying the same products and perhaps even paying the same price, the designer will likely be getting a smaller cut of my spending.

Although I do a lot of my shopping online, I also enjoy visiting stores. I think experiencing both virtual and real world shopping is integral to understanding how retail branding works and how it can be improved upon. On a recent shopping trip, I pointed out to the manager (or at least she inferred that she was) of another high end US retailer, that consumers would be unhappy (as I was) to discover that they had upped the price on a Christmas ornament from $20 to $35 then marked it down to half price. She replied that it was due to duties since the company was US based and that she would tell her sales people to be more careful when retagging in the future. WOW!!! She really expects me to believe there is a 75% duty on a glass ornament? Especially given that I can compare other products in her Canadian location against the prices on the US website - there was about an 20% difference in the costs of the other items I bought with their advertised price on the US website. Sorry - in retail, lies don't fly. Even perceived dishonesty is an issue. The chances of me shopping there again just dropped to next to zero.

You can't engage your consumers when you have the attitude that it "us vs them". This is not a relationship, it is a battlefield. And the consumers are the ones with the biggest weapons - their wallets.

Perhaps retailers think that consumers are a disposable commodity. There are just so many out there that they can afford to alienate a certain percentage of them and just replace them by advertising more.

What a waste of money!

I bet they also work with high priced agencies that boondoggle them with data and jargon to convince them that branding is a science as opposed to an art and then put juniors to work on their account. Oh what a tangled web we weave...

My very first accountant was a wise man. He told me that if you are looking for more business, look to the clients you already have. His reasoning was that it is more expensive and time consuming to find new business than it is to build on existing relationships. He died a few years ago but I am still listening to his wisdom.

The more things change...

The advertising industry has experienced revolutionary technological changes over the last decade and it is inevitable that there are more changes to come. The unfortunate upshot of this is that agencies are putting greater focus on hiring young web savvy hotshots barely out of college while the ranks of experienced creatives dwindle.

My take is that all this frivolous hiring and firing makes for an unstable environment for all concerned. If you work in an agency you might find yourself looking around for greener grass lest you be put out to pasture while you are still in your prime. As a result, clients who have bought into a campaign might find that it strays from the original vision when creative people move on. Maintaining the delicate balance between creative and media has never been as challenging. And it has never been so important.

Consumers has less patience than ever and if they are not engaged they are gone in a flash. The basics of Marketing and Branding 101 have not changed, but they have amplified. First, know who your primary (most desirable) customer is and focus on them. Second, get into their head - demographics are helpful but a psychographic profile will enable you to better understand your customers on an emotional level - their likes, dislikes etc. Third, research which media streams have the largest following of your primary customers. Once you know who you are talking to and where to find them you need to work with creatives who understand how to engage the customer you are after. Just because an agency is bigger, or hipper, or uses the newest terminology does not make them the best fit when it comes to connecting with your customer. What you need to find is an agency that understands you, your product and your customer.

The fact is that no matter what media you choose it is only as good as the ideas it presents. A bad idea cannot be improved simply by technical skill. And it is most certainly not improved when more people see it. When investing in a branding or advertising program, remember that creative content is every bit as important as the media it is presented through. Rarely is a sale won by underwhelming a customer.

The Great Group Buying Debate

Now that options like Groupon, Livingsocial, Teambuy, Grooster, Steal The Deal, Wag Jag, Social Shopper, Good News, Indulge Living, and others have joined the social media party there are more ways than ever to get your message to the masses. But not all social media is appropriate for every company.

From a cost perspective, companies do not have to design, produce and distribute ads to participate in group buying sites. However, a promotion with Groupon, as an example,  requires about a 50% discount, and Groupon takes half of the remaining 50%. This means that every sale is costing you 75% of your potential gross revenues.  So you need to crunch the numbers. You may want to put a limit on how many "deals" you are offering. For instance if your product has a retail value of $40 and you offer 50% off each sale will cost $30 of the $40 value. If you limit this to 500 sales your outlay is only $1,500, which is less expensive than producing an ad (ie design, copy, photography etc) let alone the cost of media.

For larger more established brands, with national or international advertising programs, options such as this may not be the most cost effective solution. Consumers already know that you exist and simply expanding your current media buy could be far more cost effective. That said if you are moving into new markets group buying sites may deserve a second look.

If you are just starting out and don't have a huge budget, group buying sites may be just the ticket to get your product or service into the hands and minds of consumers who are in the mood to buy. if you cap the sales at 500 the promotion will have cost you $1,500 with 500 guaranteed customers. Not a bad deal. As long as those 500 customers have a positive experience with your product or service, chances are they will come back. But if you don't have your brand experience in place you may not get the returns you are looking for.

So, as always, there is no single solution to every marketing challenge. Crunch a few numbers and make a plan. Make sure you have done everything possible to ensure a positive and consistent experience for your customers. Then test the market before you jump in with both feet. Most importantly, remember that no matter how good your product or service is, if nobody knows about it, nobody is going to buy it.

So DO something.

Marketing 101 - Back to Basics

When times get tough its back to basics. No matter what media streams you are using to get your message out, there three primary marketing precepts:

be real
be special
be visible

Be Real This is really the heart of any branding program. Know who you are and who you want to target. Don't lie - to customers, or, perhaps even worse, yourself. If you misrepresent yourself in the market place you will end up with unhappy customers who are unlikely to return. And if you do manage to get them back you will be facing an uphill battle to regain their trust. By lying to yourself I mean not truly understanding how you are perceived in the marketplace. Does your branding really hold with your product or service. Are you just paying lip service to phrases like "customer satisfaction guaranteed"? If your branding does not hold with how you are perceived by consumers you are already facing a potential credibility crisis.

Be Special What makes you so great? Consumers need a tangible experience to latch onto. Three key areas where you can stand out from all the competition are:
a fabulous product or better yet, one that consumers can't get anywhere else in the world (today's global marketplace make this next to impossible),
top of the line customer service (every customer is treated like they are truly valued), although nobody can please all of the people all of the time.
or a consistent, market appropriate brand experience that trumps all else

Starbucks is a great example of a company that aspires to all three of these tenants
They have a good product: specialty coffees
They have a good customer service system
The know who they are targeting and have excellent branding that trumps all else.

Tim Hortons is successful by using much the same strategy but targeting a much different consumer market.  They both offer good products, good service wrapped up and delivered in a consistent and market appropriate branding identity & campaign. And they are both very successful Starbucks with over 16,000 locations whereas Tim Hortons has over 3,600.

Be Visible It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that no matter how great your product is, if nobody knows about it then nobody is going to buy it. What is mind boggling it just how many people appear to ignore this precept when times get tough. The slower the economy gets, the more important it is to get your brand in front of people who are going to buy it. I have watched many a company choose to reduce their branding and advertising expenditures just when they need them most. Not only that, but by simply keeping your marketing budget at the same level you are in a position to outlast the competition since, odds are, they will reduce their marketing budget and reduce their visibility. Worse yet I see companies who have spend good money developing a consistent well thought out branding program and end up destroying much of the equity they have built in the brand by cutting cost through cutting out design. Unfortunately most of these companies simply cannot see the value in branding and end up with a subpar image in the market that does not in any way reflect who they really are. So not only have they destroyed their brand image, they are facing a credibility crisis because consumer experience does not match their branding. Even if the consumer experience is better than what the brand projects, consumers are left with lingering unease about the company. They cannot tell if it is a fly by night or a badly run company that wont survive to live up to any warranties or promises so no matter how good the product appears (especially if it is via a photo online) they will be more reticent to buy. With the proliferation of sketchy companies that sell online (over 40 million people have downloaded virus protection software that is actually a trojan that infects their computer), this is sure to become an even bigger issue over time.

If you combine these three precepts with a market appropriate media plan you will be in a position to make your company successful.

who is that shopper in the window?

Today I came across an article defining how people shop. In the article they cited Entrepreneur.com as saying that economic and societal drivers such as discount retail, health and wellness, pets, the seniors market and environmentalism are shaping new kinds of shopping behaviour.

I have a slightly different take on this. I think the most important categories that define how people shop can actually be reduced to four primary categories.

Value Shoppers who chase the best deals regardless of their socioeconomic position or whether the deals are online or in a brick & mortar store.

Techno Consumers who purchase mostly via the web.

Experiential Shoppers who want to see, feel and touch what they buy.

Green Shoppers who's buying decisions are primarily based on what is good for the environment.

I would further divide these shopping styles into three subcategories:

Selective Shoppers who are very careful about what they buy and need to trust who and where they buy it from.

Power Shoppers who plan their shopping for the fastest and most efficient ways to get what they need when they need it.

Convenience/Habit Shoppers who prefer smaller, easier to access shops & sites.

Using this model you could define a Techno/Power shopper as someone who likes to shop the web using search engines to find what they want efficiently as opposed to a Techno/Selective shopper who would only consider purchases from well established and trusted websites such as Amazon. Seniors might easily fit into the Value/Selective category and so on.

Before a retailer decides to open a store they need to establish which categories of shoppers are going to be their primary and secondary targets. Once they have this determined they can develop a brand that creates the right environment to stimulate sales. Whether the shop is on-line or in a mall there needs to be a consistent experience for consumers. If the website does not fit with the store or a chain of stores do not follow the same branding model, it is harder for consumers to reconcile that they offer the same quality and value.

Where and how people shop may have changed over the last decade but success still requires research, planning and vision. So even with all the advances in technology, marketing, and social media, I guess some things never change.