Disruption Tour --- Run To Survive

Some people are better than others

by Seth Godin

By 'better', of course I mean better customers, better prospects, better sneezers, better at spreading the word.

Here are two interesting lessons from the book industry:

1. Kindle readers buy two or three times as many books as book readers. Why? I don't think it's necessarily because using a Kindle leads someone to read more books. I think it's because the kind of person who buys a lot of books is the most likely person to pony up and buy a Kindle. I know that sounds obvious, but once you see it this way, you understand why book publishers should be killing themselves to appeal to this group. After all, the group voted with their dollars to show that they're better.
2. Walmart and other mass marketers are now offering top bestsellers for $9 or less each, about $5 less than their cost. Why? Why not offer toasters or socks as a loss leader to get people in the store? I think the answer is pretty clear: people who buy hardcover books buy other stuff too. A hardcover book is a luxury item, it's new and it's buzzable. This sort of person is exactly who you want in your store.

The challenge, then is to look for cues that people give you that they are better, and then cater to them. Every industry has people who are worth more, buzz more, care more and buy more than other people. Don't treat people the same, find the ones that matter more to you, and hug them.

Retailers Get Ready for Social Shopping Experience

EMarkerter.com

OCTOBER 26, 2009

Online shopping is more than just transactional

People have long shared product opinions with friends and family through word-of-mouth. Today, social media tools enable consumers to extend their connections and conduct commerce in powerful new ways.

As people spend more time on social networks, retailers feel pressure to be there as well. Twitter is a hotbed of experimentation for retailers that see it as a channel for customer service, promoting the deal of the day and more. Facebook and its third-party developers are creating e-commerce applications on the site. Meanwhile, retail Websites are bolstering their social commerce features.

“While user ratings and reviews are a mature form of social commerce with proven benefits, e-commerce on social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, is in an early stage,” said Jeffrey Grau, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, “Social Commerce on Facebook, Twitter and Retail Sites.” “People are spending more time on social networks and are able to conduct more of their regular activities on these platforms. E-commerce on social networks has barely tapped that potential.”

But forward-thinking retailers want to bring their Web stores to the environments where their customers like to spend time. As a result, almost three-quarters of the merchants in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide have a presence on at least one of the major social networks or social shopping sites.

Social network users are a highly coveted group of consumers. Across all age brackets, they were more likely than average to make an online purchase, according to a May 2009 survey by Anderson Analytics.

What’s more, social network users are sharing recommendations with greater frequency than generally expected. A Q1 2009 Razorfish survey of social network users found that some 29% reported sharing their views online at least every few weeks, while 10% said they made such contributions at least every few days.

“Leading companies know they cannot afford to wait for customers to visit their sites,” added Mr. Grau. “They need to place their virtual storefronts where their customers congregate. This implies the nature of e-commerce is shifting from a transactional experience to a social one.”

---

The full report, “Social Commerce on Facebook, Twitter and Retail Sites” also answers these key questions:

• What is the outlook for social commerce?
• How are marketers engaging customers on social media sites?
• What social shopping features are retailers adding to their sites?
• Which retailers are paving the way in social commerce?

Top ten holiday trends for 2009

Let ShoppeSimple help you add additional sales for this Holiday with our suite of Retention and Customer Acquisition tools. For more information check out ShoppeSimple.com and RSSCheck.com. Contact info@shoppesimple.com

From Shop.org

By Ellen Davis, VP and NRF spokesperson | Published: October 20, 2009

This entry was posted in Holiday, Research, Retail Trends, eCommerce

In a media and analyst briefing earlier today, BIGresearch’s Phil Rist and I shared ten insights of what to expect this holiday season based largely on findings from NRF’s first holiday survey. Listen in on the complete briefing, or view the top 10 below:

#1: Americans aren’t ready to declare an end to the recession. According to a survey by BIGresearch, Americans will not believe the recession is over until they see a reduction in unemployment. So, while an increase in stock market activity might be great news for high-end retailers, it’s not helping retailers who cater to Middle America. As Phil explained on the call, “The Wall Street traders are excited but the average American isn’t in the pit. They’ll be looking at the job market to see when they should feel better.”

#2: It’s all about the economy. We’re hearing a lot about people making changes to gifts (more practical gifts, joint gifts, or making gifts) as well as putting up last year’s decorations. The economy will also impact where people shop, with 70% planning to head to discounters and 11% planning to buy something from a thrift store or resale shop. (We added the “thrift” category this year and, personally, I’m shocked that one in ten people are going to purchased a used gift this year. Not for me, please!)

In another sign of the times…is it possible that people will use gift cards they’ve previously received to make holiday purchases? We’ll find out next month when we add “gift card” to our annual holiday payment method survey.

Side note: One of the best ways to hear from shoppers’ themselves about what they are planning this holiday season is to watch the three-minute video conducted by EXPO for NRF.

#3: Sales and promotions are king. With 2009 the holiday season of the bargain hunter, more than half of people say that sales or everyday low prices will be the deciding factor on where they buy. But with inventories at a minimum, it will be interesting to watch the push-and-pull between retailers and customers. Retailers, who have scaled back on inventory, are telling consumers to shop early while consumers, who are used to waiting until the last minute for good deals, might plan to hold out for better sales. We’re expecting retailers to market heavily on the front end to entice shoppers into the stores but we’ll need to wait and see when customers finally start to bite.

#4: Pay attention to payment methods. Our November survey digs deeper into payment methods, and we’ll be paying close attention to how an increase in credit card minimums and also an increase in interest rates may impact spending. This is an expenditure that Americans don’t like, many can’t accommodate, and most weren’t expecting. But this move is another reason why many may shy away from credit cards and could bode well for retailers who offer layaway.

#5: It’s the thought that counts. Hallmark and friends, take a deep breath: greeting card spending won’t experience as dramatic of a drop as many other categories. Americans say they’ll spend 2% less on greeting cards this year (compared with 17% less on friends and 15% less on co-workers, for example). Turns out people might be just sending a card instead of a gift. Better get those stamps ready…

#6: ‘Tis the season to eat. Candy and food spending is up about $10 per person and was the only category that rose in the entire survey. “People may be giving gifts of pie or cookies instead of buying them something, or they might invite others over to the house for a get-together,” said Phil Rist.

#7: Gift cards aren’t dead. When asking people what they wanted to receive this year, gift cards were the only category that saw an increase. (Check out a recent blog post on the findings and some examples of retailer gift cards.) While people may worry that gift cards are impersonal or are trying to find merchandise on sale, gift cards remain the most asked-for item. There could be a few reasons behind this: My cynical side says that people may want to use gift cards they receive for the holiday season on necessities like gas, food or laundry detergent. The optimist in me wonders if people salivate over the idea of receiving gift cards because they’ve been pulling back on spending all year and love the idea of going into a store to buy something for themselves.

In tandem with trend #6 (it really is the holiday season of food), Phil also suggested that many people might want to receive gift cards for restaurants to enjoy dinner out with their family during a year when many have been pulling back on that experience.

#8: When looking at store sales, consider the Internet. The web will influence one in three holiday purchases this year, and retailers are using the Internet not only as a sales channel but also as a marketing vehicle. Take a look at Shop.org’s eHoliday survey, which provides more insight on how people will shop online this holiday season as well as what online retailers are planning. (Hello, social media!)

#9: Don’t discount department stores. Department stores are doing something right among the 18-24 year-old age group: young adults are more likely to shop at department stores than anywhere else during the holiday season. These retailers, which include Macy’s, JCPenney and Kohl’s, are also doing a nice job with private label products, positioning themselves as discounters (at least on price) and creating an environment where young adults like to shop. That said, keep in mind that young adults are the most likely to wait until the last minute to shop, meaning a large portion of department store sales might come in very close to Christmas Day.

#10: Impulse spending? Fuhgettaboutit. The number of people who plan to make additional, non-gift purchases for themselves or their family declined this year, and those who will make additional purchases will also spend less on them. As Phil reasoned, “It’s not in the budget this year for people to treat themselves, and some may feel a little guilty doing that,” he said. “Instead, they’re taking their holiday budget and focusing on people on their list.”

Behavior Modification - Make it Fun

Good ideas usually have an entertainment component.

http://www.evolvingexcellence.com/blog/2009/10/behavior-modification-make-it-fun.html

The 7 Troublemakers you meet in a start up

http://startups.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/10/the-7-troublemakers-you-meet-in-a-start-up.html

One of the greatest adventures in life is working within a start up.   The twists and turns across uncertain and unfolding landscape can make a veritable roller coaster.   That uncertainty and potential tend to draw a cast of characters as participants.   Some are memorable.  Here is my list of 7 troublemakers (not all inclusive by any means but these are favorites) that you meet in a start up.

1. Ms. Strategy

This capable, driven, articulate young lady will meet any requests for tactical execution with a discussion of strategy.   In a start up, everyone is close to both the strategy and the supporting tactics.  Some people can't help themselves from knowing better about either or both.  Plus, talking is a lot easier than doing.

2. Mr. Big, Hollow, Pipeline

He made $300k at Cisco before taking this job.  Now he has a huge sales pipeline of brand name companies with massive revenue potential and no disciplined approach to characterizing possibility of closing them.  Ask him how a 30% likelihood of close defers from a 70% likelihood of close and he will talk about people and conversations rather than steps and actions.  I now assume that Cisco pays all failing salespeople $300k.

3.  Goldilocks

The ever changing roles and challenges of a growing start up provide an endless set of opportunities to try new jobs and responsibilities.  Most people love being stretched and many discover or develop new skills or interests.  Not Goldilocks, however, as this individual tends to be too heavy for light work and too light for heavy work.  In any other words, no matter what the challenge or organizational needs at hand -- Goldilocks will fail you.

4. The Big Time Scaler

No sense building any system today that won't scale to size of General Motors.  Yes, every start up organization has plans and dreams but sometimes you need to sell one house to get another, larger one rather than live in a mostly empty, expensive one along the way.

5. Mr. Artiste - the programmer

He is creating software (sometimes the company's core product/hope of future success) and he isn't limited by the contents of the requirements document.  He isn't limited by it because he isn't reading it.  He is creating, damn it, and brings his own vision.  Definition: Artiste Plus, staying consistent with his vision keeps him closer to his imaginary specification with its imaginary time line (and yes, he's on schedule).

6. The Holiday Maker/Union Rights Leader/Salary Surveyor

Yes, a long title, but its a big job.  First, this person will seek the addition of incremental holidays to the company calendar.  What no Veteran's Day?  We don't get off the week between Christmas and New Year's?   Friday before Easter or the Monday after?  Well, you get the idea.

This contributor will also "represent" the feelings of employees to management without consulting many of them first.   There's no who in this group, its a group of "everybody".   So, if you're a company leader and you ask "who" said that, the probable response is that everybody says that.  Unless, the question is "who thinks I'm being a jerk about this?" and the Union Leader has a score to settle with someone.

Finally, this person usually investigates and shares salary data for the purpose of fomenting general dissension within the company.   This can be useful between two parties or as another representation to management -- "People are unhappy that Sam makes so much" or "People over at comparable start up make more than us".  You might ask how do you know this information but the source will be akin to "that's what I'm hearing".    It is also fun to say "Do you think Sam is fairly paid or could you do his job?".

7. The Angry Support Person

I can never figure out what makes them, or keeps them angry, but they can be the Energizer Bunny of anger.   Maybe the line of work, or being the starting point of a feedback loop for whatever is going wrong with the product or customers, but in any case, the Angry Support Person can create a special kind of crisis.  I had one tell a customer to "F#@$k off" and another talk obscenely with a customer (apparently to the delight of the customer but displeasure of co-workers - so maybe not an Angry Support Person in the technical sense).

Ok, there are more that should be on this list, but in the interest of brevity, I'll end it.   If you think I left an obvious one off this list -- leave a comment or send me an email.

Why Apple & Google Win - and Your Company Doesn't

The Social Media Marketing Blog

It's all about usability.

Less than zero

From Seth Godin's Blog

The long tail is real, but sometimes the longest parts reach underwater. When there's enough choices, it means that some things will never get picked.

=0 A

Charles Blow reports in the NY Times that:

"A study last year conducted by members of PRS for Music, a nonprofit royalty collection agency, found that of the 13 million songs for sale online last year, 10 million never got a single buyer and 80 percent of all revenue came from about 52,000 songs. That’s less than one percent of the songs."

The internet has allowed ease of entry into the market. You can advertise anything, any service, any good, any piece of junk in your garage--essentially for zero. You can go into business effortlessly, telling yourself you'll just hang out on the long tail and do just fine. Understand that zero is a very real probability, perhaps even a likelihood. Derek reminds us that 0% of a really big number is still zero.

What direct marketers have always understood is that you must make something work in the small before you bet the farm and market it to the masses. If you can't sell to 1 in 1000, why market to a million?

Dear Catalog CEOs: Six Catalog Trends

from Kevin Hilstrom minethedata.com

Hello there, my catalog friends!

These are interesting times, aren't they?

We are truly caught between two eras. The past 100 years were very good to catalog brands. And in five or ten years, there will be a road map for the catalog brand looking to enter the future.

Between the past and the future, that's where we are stuck. We're stuck in a period where, as one business leader recently told me, "nothing works".

We know that's not true. Plenty of things work. But nothing works at a scale necessary to cause optimism.

So let's discuss six important catalog trends that help the catalog brand bridge the past and the future.

Trend #1 = Micro-Targeting: This has been talked about for decades, but we're getting closer to seeing it happen. There simply isn't a need to send a 96 page catalog that has a lot of the merchandise you love to sell when there is this thing out there called the "internet" that also has a lot of the merchandise you love to sell. We're likely to see a 96 page catalog become three or four different 56 page catalogs, with the customer receiving just one of the 56 page offerings. People are using this strategy to generate 95% of the demand on about 60% of the pages --- mathematically, folks, it works! And instead of sending remails, you can send a different 56 page version to a customer a few weeks later. I cannot predict where micro-targeting is going to take us. I can predict that catalogs will get smaller and smaller and smaller, since the website is the store and we don't need to advertise everything anymore. E-mail will continue to progress down the micro-targeting path, with more an more versions that are sent on a triggered basis. Long-term, we'll see the slow death of the "campaign" ... sure, campaigns will be here twenty years from now, but we're headed down a path that cannot be reversed anymore.

Thegies: For the first time Merchants can digitally merchandise product offers and promotions to consumers by category and subcategory communities of interest when they work with the ShoppeSimple Loyalty and Customer Acquisition Tools.

Trend #2 = Filtering: We will see a dramatic change in how a catalog brand views customers. In many of my Multichannel Forensics projects, customers fall into four buckets.

1. Catalog shoppers who order via the telephone.
2. Catalog shoppers who order via the internet.
3. Online shoppers who order because of online marketing.
4. Brand buyers who like the merchandise.

It will take every ounce of energy possible to not mail catalogs to online shoppers and brand buyers. But this will be essential for the catalog brand to survive the transition that is coming/happening. Honestly, if I had to communicate one thing for a cataloger to do right now, it would be to start filtering, immediately. I've been able to generate a half-million to a million dollars of profit achieved for businesses between $30,000,000 and $100,000,000 in size just by doing a reasonable job of filtering. Quite honestly, filtering may be the difference between profit and loss for many catalogers. And psychologically, it isn't easy for a cataloger to transition the mindset from a customer buying because a catalog was sent to her and a customer buying because she loves the product. This transition has to happen, and filtering is a great place to start --- especially from a profit and loss standpoint.

Thegies: Imagine if you can take the above point from Kevin and deliver product messaging (whether it is new arrivals or promotional products) several times a day, 365 days a year without opt-out. At ShoppeSimple YOU Can!. Our client has seen substantial increases in site traffic, a 5X increase in conversion over email and an increase in Average Order Value. To estimate a mature TransactionalRSS (TRSS) program from ShoppeSimple an email program is estimated to be 10% of online revenue. A mature TRSS program is estimated to a 1/3 of email revenue. And if you take 25% of this number and only pay a Pay Per Transaction fee to get the sale, we haven’t had anyone say pass. Check out shoppesimple.com for more information.

Trend #3 = Dynamic Landing Pages: Folks are doing this as well (just hit refresh when you visit Amazon.com). Merchants will submit the items they want to feature, while the rules-based system that feeds e-mail campaigns to customers will fill in the holes with customer preferences. Catalogers will not pursue the algorithmic approaches of their online brethren, and that could be acceptable as long as there is a warm story being told to the customer. Again, this isn't a new idea, but it is one that catalogers will embrace, because catalogers will understand that the merchandising of landing pages is very similar to the merchandising of spreads. In fact, any online strategy that can be made to look, from a process standpoint like, old-time cataloging will be embraced by catalogers.

Thegies: Through the ShoppeSimple Loyalty and Customer Acquisition Tools we build dynamic landing pages for every TransactionalRSS Feed we publish.

Trend #4 = Co-Op Evolution: We're going to see between one and three companies emerge (could be existing catalog co-ops, could be online co-ops, could be the big data providers, could be one of the web analytics companies), companies that focus on evaluating real-time customer behavior. This is a very different strategy than what we see today. Today's catalog co-ops are very good at massaging past purchase history across brands. Tomorrow's co-op leaders will combine web analytics data with offline data and web surfing behavior. You won't pay $0.06 for one-time access to a name. Instead, you'll pay $0.03, and you'll get to pick the contact you wish to employ --- catalog, e-mail, personalized online landing page, etc., or you'll pay $0.15 to employ a multiple micro-channel campaign (catalog + e-mail + online display ads + search optimization + ads on social media platforms). Of course, catalogers will pay about anything for the multiple micro-channel campaign. This will be transformative, especially among catalog brands targeting lapsed buyers.

Trend #5 = Frenemies And Pods: As catalog productivity continues to decline (not yours, but industry-wide), you'll see new and unusual partnerships. Expect to see contact center and distribution center consolidation --- a company in one industry (automotive parts) and a company in another industry (gifts) will share contact center and distribution center resources, human resources, information technology departments, database marketing teams, circulation teams, all in an effort to conserve back-of-the-office expenses. Customer lists and resources will be freely shared across what I call "pods", a half-dozen or dozen frenemies who leverage what each other are good at. Catalogers already share all of their customer data with each other, and private equity firms already consolidate lists and back-of-the-office operations. It's only a matter of time before frenemies form pods.

Thegies: In ShoppeSimple Feeds there are opportunities for merchants to place your ads on the iGoogle/My Yahoo Home pages, on Facebook, Twitter and on Smartphones.

Trend #6 = Organizational Transformation: A generation of catalog marketers, age 50 - 65, are getting ready to retire. Quite simply, this generation will not be replaced by individuals who have the same passion for catalog marketing that the generation of catalogers raised in the 1970 - 1995 timeframe had. During the next ten years, we will see a considerable number of business failures, because a generation of individuals used to communicating with customers age 50+ will be replaced by a generation of leaders ready to market to customers in their 30s and 40s. The disconnect (strategies for young customers, marketed to older customers) will drive down productivity, and result in organizational transformation. Leading catalog companies will recognize this well ahead of time, and will cope by developing new brands that are targeted to a younger audience, led by a younger generation of leaders. Think of a business like, say, Cuddledown of Maine, building a new online brand for a younger demographic, training younger employees to manage this business, so that when a generation of leaders and customers move on to retirement there is an infrastructure ready to replace the core business.

Thegies: We ask our clients what is the strategic and tactical direction regarding Social Media and Mobile and it is surprising how few merchants can share the strategically vision in these areas. But today Shoppesimple can help you monetize both your Social Media and Mobile strategies. Simple checkout RSSCheck.com for answers and contact information. Email info@rsscheck.com

Latest Data on Facebook

Latest Data on Facebook’s US Growth by Age and Gender – October 1, 2009

http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/10/01/latest-data-on-facebooks-us-growth-by-age-and-gender-october-1-2009/

October 1st, 2009

We’ve been keeping track of Facebook’s self-reported demographic statistics on the US market for a while now, and here’s the latest update for October 1, 2009. While Facebook says these stats, provided to advertisers, are not necessarily real time, they do give us a sense of how Facebook is growing.

On the whole, Facebook’s US audience grew by 8.6% in September to 88.3 million uniques (compare to latest data from Quantcast, Compete, and comScore). Here’s how Facebook’s gender and sex numbers break down as of today:

What’s in a Retail E-Mail?

To monetize your social media assets check out RSSCheck.com. Now use TransactionalRSS and ShoppeSimple.com to provide Loyalty and Customer Acquisition Tools.

emarketer.com

A look at best practices

With social media presence rapidly becoming a must for online retailers, Email Data Source and Goodmail Systems studied how often retailers were including social media marketing links in their e-mail campaigns.

Large majorities of the top 100 companies according to Internet Retailer had a profile on Facebook (79%), Twitter (69%) or both (59%). Formerly hyped technologies such as blogs and RSS feeds were much less popular among these online retail leaders—fewer than one in five used either.

But many of those that had a Facebook or Twitter account did not promote it. Just over one-half of social media participants included links in their e-mail campaigns. Further, less than 30% mentioned their Facebook and Twitter accounts on their company Website prominently.

Online retailers that linked to their social media pages in e-mail campaigns were somewhat more likely to also promote them on their Website. Still, the majority of the Internet Retailer top 100 sites (63%) did not link to a social media presence.

The e-retailers were more likely to include a less social but perhaps more practical feature in their e-mail campaigns: store locators. More than three-quarters of the Web retailers studied that had a physical presence included a locator tool in their marketing e-mails, up from 70% in 2008 and 60% in 2007.

Links to social networking sites may be rising quickly—appearing in 20% of marketing e-mails in July 2009, up from just 2% in February—but the majority of leading online retailers have yet to jump on the bandwagon.

Keep up on the latest digital trends. Learn more about an eMarketer Total Access subscription, today.

Check out today’s other article, “Internet Is Top Banking Method.”