Results Count ... everything else is conversation.

Social Media Has the Power to Kill Pink Slime

Bettina Siegel is the poster child for what a blog can do!

Social media gets a lot of hype, but how much power does it really have to change things?  If you don’t know Bettina Elias Siegel, you are probably in good company.  Ms. Siegel is the author of a small blog that popularized the term “pink slime”.  Her blog could be a case study in the power of “viral branding,” which impacted an entire industry.  Now, if she would just take on “meat glue”.

Another nail in the coffin of big box stores?

Ability to sustain traffic will be a critical success factor 

You don’t need to look very far to see another article on the growth of online retailing.  The phenomenon of online shopping is truly worldwide. While Amazon grabs the headlines with record profits in the west, Alibaba dominates China. Consumers are voting.  The biggest threat to traditional bricks and mortar stores is not the loss of just sales, but the ability to drive future traffic.  Two recent tests offer a crystal ball of new challenges traditional big box stores will face in maintaining consumer traffic.

What’s a name change worth … Results Count!

The shoemaker’s kids finally have some new shoes! 

When you are in a client service business, the focus is rightfully on the clients.  And, when you work with some the largest Fortune 500 companies, there never seems to quite enough time to work on your “own stuff”.  The classic saying is that the “shoemaker’s kids are barefoot and have no shoes.”  Well, 2012 became our year to get new look and a new name.  

The CPO is alive, well and definitely in charge

If you doubt the power of the CPO, check the latest stats 

In Retail University, we’ve been highlighting the “CPO” for a long time – Chief Procurement Officer.  In the US, the CPO definitely controls the purse strings and influences a majority of the purchase decisions for the American home.  The latest “infographic” from the Business Insider confirms that women are definitely in control.  Yet, it is amazing how many retailers and manufacturers fail to understand this fact, and how to effectively market to women.  Clearly, Apple is a notable exception.

The Future of Retail – Assortment is Job #1

Have retailers lost the art of managing assortment?

To be fair, the new normal of retail is change at an ever increasing pace.  Retailers are not just competing in stores, but online and on mobile devices.  Yet, as many as 75+% of consumers still purchase in store, at least for consumer electronics.  In the frenzy over competing on ads, promos and price, retailers have tended to neglect their most important job of managing assortment.  If management can’t answer the basic question of why consumers shop their stores, they are in deep trouble!

How Target spoke volumes without saying a word

Sometimes the “Art” of retail outweighs the “Science” 

With a blog title of “Results Count”, we do a lot of posts on the science and numbers of retail.  If you scan the archives in the search bar on our blog site, you will find a lot of previous posts on scorecards and metrics of retailing. This week’s post is about the “art” of retail and how Target made a bold statement without saying anything.  Kudos to Target!

Black Friday Twitter Wars – JCP hijacks Target

The wild west of Twitter heating up before the holidays 

Most of us think of social media as a pretty benign place with friends, fans and followers.  But in today’s economy and competitive market place, retailers are resorting to new disruptive strategies in order to hijack attention and potential customers.  While hijacking Google traffic with keywords is not new, promoting Tweets with competitor keywords shows just how competitive online retailing and social media have become.

Ignore the “social telephone” at your own peril

If you aren’t responding back your silence is deafening 

The old adage states that if you have a positive experience you’ll tell a friend, but if you have a negative experience, you’ll tell the neighborhood.  In today’s world of social media, customers are broadcasting their complaints to the world.  Yet research shows that 70% of companies ignore complaints on Twitter.  Few would ignore a telephone call complaint.  Can you afford to ignore today’s “social telephone”?

DIY … Not just your lumber store anymore!

Lowes & Depot lead with consumer service innovations

Mention Lowes and Home Depot to most Americans and they think of “lumber, hardware & tool stores”.  Internationally, they would be classified as DIY – Do It Yourself stores where you can buy stuff to fix up your home.  Historically, DIY was not very innovative in terms of store experience or support.  Today, even the best retailers would do well to study the recent innovations of DIY leaders Lowes & Home Depot.

QR Codes popping up … even on a tombstone!

5 ways to optimize QR codes before the end of the line

QR codes are those funny little square boxes with a bunch of hieroglyphics appearing on everything from product tags, to TV ads and billboards.  And in case you missed it, the first QR code has just appeared on a tombstone.  Rather than wait to the end of the line, marketers can in fact learn a great deal about how to effectively optimize QR codes by studying the case of the tombstone QR code, designed to create a living memorial.