In an effort to target a young demographic, Swarovski has put together a Facebook promotion for their fans.  The promo asks them to create videos of themselves as they dance in virtual Swarovski sunglasses.

But first, they have to download a special app via the Swarovski Facebook fan page.

Here’s their post on the contest:

Virtually “try on” a pair of our Amazing sunglasses and get ready to show us how amazing you really are with our latest app. You could be 1 of 15 winners to score a real pair of Amazing frames!  http://apps.facebook.com/SwarovskiBEAMAZING

Over 800 people “Like” the post, and more than 50 have shared it on Facebook.   But here’s what caught our eyes — several of their fans commented that the application wasn’t working.  Which is really unfortunate, because it looks like the company has spent a good amount of effort on this promotion.  Also, it seems awfully complex. Even for the techie-minded younger generation…

We love an original promotional idea, but we’re wondering how this one will work for the company.   What do you think?  Is this a clever way to reach tech-savvy consumers, or too much work for them to do?

Straight from the latest National Retail Federation newsletter –  Are there similar characteristics among the finalists of the NRF “This is Retail” video competition seeking creative, insightful and thought-provoking retail stories?  You bet there are.

The backlash over Amazon’s Christmas promotion on its Price Check app, giving shoppers 5 percent off any item scanned at a store, continues.   But now the big boys are chiming in — namely, Target, which has 1,800 stores nationwide.

According to this New York Times article, Target is ceasing on-site sales of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader.   It’s a little “like Starbucks selling Dunkin’ Donuts gift certificates,” said Michael Norris, a senior analyst for Simba Information.

More to the point:

“What we aren’t willing to do is let online-only retailers use our brick-and-mortar stores as a showroom for their products and undercut our prices,” Target executives wrote in a letter to vendors, asking them to think of new pricing and inventory strategies, according to a note that Deborah Weinswig, a Citi analyst, sent to clients.

A Target spokeswoman, Molly Snyder, confirmed that the retailer had sent the letter, the article states.

We wonder if other retailers that carry the Kindle — Staples, Best Buy and Wal-Mart — will follow suit.    What do you think?

Is your company trustworthy?
Is your company consistent?
Is your company loyal to the consumers?

If you have to think about the answers, think again long and hard about your business practices.  And if you only read one article this year, it must be this recently published one in  Forbes, “Three Attributes of Enormously Successful Companies.”

“Customer service is an important concept being touted by all types of companies. In many company mission statements, you will probably find a statement or inference that the organization seeks to make consumers’ lifestyle better through the use of its products and/or services. The basic problem of customer service is that many companies either don’t know how to offer customer service, forget to monitor the customer services its employees provide or identify the attributes that comprise customer service.”

Among the exemplary companies cited in the article:  Zappos, Ralph Lauren and Nordstrom — all national retailers.   But we know there are thousands of small,  independent retailers who adhere to the customer service values highlighted in the article.   Among them is Commack Florist, which is featured in our current The Art of Retail Marketing newsletter.  They not only take customer service seriously — it’s their top priority.

How about you?  Tell us in what ways you treat your customers like VIPs.

According to The Checkout, an ongoing shopper behavior study conducted by The Integer Group® and M/A/R/C Research, a whopping nine out of ten shoppers buy items on impulse–this despite shopping lists and budgets.

Of these shoppers who purchase off-list items, 66 percent cite a sale or promotion as the impetus, 30 percent say they found a coupon, and 23 percent say they simply wanted to pamper themselves.

“Our data shows that 61 percent of off-list shoppers purchase an additional 1-3 items,” said Craig Elston, senior vice president of The Integer Group.  “This shows that if you reach a particular shopper at the right moment with the right message, for example–using in-store signage to play into their desire to pamper themselves– it can end with that item being added to their basket.”  For more on this, click here.

And here’s an idea for retailers — try conducting an experiment of sorts.   Create a “flash sale” in your store, meaning, a spur of the moment and limited time special offer on one product.   And place the item right by the register.  Then watch what happens.

Apparently Black Friday isn’t just in November these days.   Consider Home Depot, which is promoting Black Friday in the spring,  to bring customers into their stores to purchase marked down warm-weather merchandise — weed killers, lawn mowers, patio furniture and grills.

Why has Home Depot shifted Black Friday to springtime? Largely for the same reason that robbers target banks: This, so to speak, is where the money is to be found, says this Time magazine article.

“This year…Black Friday sales have been going on for a couple of weeks now, and Home Depot’s stores and website indicate that Black Friday sales will be with us for some time to come. Sure, that means that the ongoing “Black Friday” sale should be called something more accurate such as the Annual Springtime Sale, but such a phrase apparently lacks the power of the phrase “Black Friday.” So, logic and common knowledge of calendars be damned, Black Friday it is.

For whatever reason, consumers—a decent portion of us, anyway—have come to embrace Black Friday as a competitive, can’t-miss shopping event.  Retailers can’t help but try to extend the craziness of an event that inspires shoppers to go to nonsensical lengths such as sleeping outside of a Best Buy for 12 days.  Waiting outside of a store for 12 hours, let alone 12 days, in order to give them money probably merits a bit of self-examination, especially since it’s been demonstrated that Black Friday often doesn’t have the best prices of the holiday season.”

So this brings up an interesting question for independent retailers.  If Home Depot can claim Black Friday in the spring, why can’t you?  Should you?

A recent NRF/KPMG report says that for retailers, this year is all about customer interaction and experience.   The report, Retail Horizons: Benchmarks for 2011, Forecasts for 2012, surveyed 247 retail executives from various sectors and outlines retailers’ top strategic initiatives for 2012 including — merchandising, ecommerce, store and field operations, supply chain and human capital, among others.    A central theme among respondents:  the net.

“In an effort to build customer engagement, capture wallet share and accelerate sales growth, retailers in 2012 will focus on a number of customer-centric functions, including IT and ecommerce investments, enhancing customer service initiatives and, building on their mobile platforms.”

But here’s what’s really fascinating about the results of this study:   Nearly 67 percent of companies rank customer satisfaction as the top strategic initiative for 2012.

This means that just over half of the businesses surveyed think that customer satisfaction is important?   We are stumped by this figure.  Customer satisfaction is what keeps the cash register ringing.   We think most, if not all, of the companies surveyed should be taking initiatives to keep their customers satisfied, and that should be a top priority.

Here are other KPMG/NRF survey findings:

•    Thirty-three percent reported increases of greater than 5 percent in same store sales in 2011, up from 21 percent in 2010. Additionally, 63 percent reported gross margins greater than 40 percent in 2011, up from 40 percent in 2010
•    After years of practicing cost containment, this year more than half (52%) of respondents plan to increase their IT budgets
•    Nine in 10 (91%) respondents said they will focus on leadership assessment, development and succession, up from 83 percent in 2011. Additionally, 52 percent will increase associate training, up from 39 percent last year
•    As the number of multichannel shoppers continues to grow, so will retailers’ focus on price optimization – more than one-third (35%) of respondents will focus on solidifying their price optimization technologies over the next 18 months
•    Nearly six in 10 (59%) say new customer acquisition is their top strategic priority for 2012, up from 55 percent in 2011

What are you concentrating on in regard to growing your business for 2012?

A journalist from Woman’s Day magazine may be looking for you!   Here is what she’s seeking for an upcoming article in the magazine:

I’m looking for women entrepreneurs who have founded an extremely successful small business or franchise. Ideally, she should have an encouraging backstory (that the average woman can relate to), an interesting/unique company, and can offer takeaway tips on how to create a successful small business. We’d like to give our readers an example of a woman who’s made her way to “the top,” but in a relatable way (you can do it, too!).

Requirements:

Female

Ideally 30 years of age or older

Any geographic region in the U.S.

Can give a GREAT interview and provide tangible small business advice!

If this is you, contact her right away by sending an email here.   But hurry — the deadline is April 3rd.

“By calculating who is shopping when and which demographic groups are buying, stores can target them with the promotions that are more likely to resonate.”

Do you study your shoppers?  According to this USA Today article and retail experts, you should, so that you can target store promotions specifically at them.   “Analysis of shoppers ranges from mundane methods, such as counting the number of teens who walk in after school, to the high-tech, such as digital signs with cameras that can detect where people’s eyes move and direct promotions to that part of the screen.”

Target, who famously uses high tech methodology to get to know their customers, recently made headlines when they sent maternity clothes and baby product discounts to the home of a teenager.   And that’s how her parents found out their daughter was pregnant.

This is an extreme case of course, but as an independent retailer, it’s always a good idea to know who’s shopping at your store.   Think about the early days of retailing, when Main Street shopkeepers knew everyone by name, their family history and their favorite goods.   When thought of in this context, Target and other retailers aren’t really doing anything differently than mom and pop stores back in the old days.

What do you do to learn about your customers?   Let us know here –

Inspired by “Flash mobs,” in which a group of strangers gather in one place for one purpose (to perform a dance routine), “cash mobs” are taking  independent retailers by storm.   Organized by utilizing social media such as Facebook and Twitter, cash mobs are groups of consumers who agree to meet at a particular retailer on a predetermined date and time, to spend at least $20 each at that store.  Store owners are alerted in advance, so they can prepare for the mob shopping.

The concept was created initially in August, 2011 by Chris Smith an attorney  in Buffalo, N.Y., and since then, cash mobs have been organized all over the world with the sole goal of supporting local, independent retailers.   In early February, for instance, according to this Business Week article, 65 cash mobbers spent just under $1,500 in just over an hour at a toy store in Cleveland.   ‘For those of us who have struggled for years to stay afloat because of the big boxes, the Internet, and all the other things that have happened, we keep trying, trying, and sometimes it’s like climbing a greased pole,’ says Steve Presser, who started the shop 21 years ago. Cash mobs ‘have made the public engaged about helping people out.’”  And the community of Bellport, Long Island (New York) enjoyed a highly successful cash mob day in January.  The cash mob event was covered by a slew of media.   One store,  Variety Mart, made about $2,800 — which would have taken weeks otherwise.

Now, an effort to make March 24th National Cash Mob day has been put into effect, with detailed instructions to consumers on the site, to help them organize a local cash mob.

If you think this is a good idea, what you can do as an independent retailer is help spread the word to area residents, encouraging them to participate.   Tweet and Facebook about cash mobs.  Talk to your local Chamber of Commerce.   And don’t hesitate to ask your community residents to organize a cash mob in your retail area.   Lastly, be sure to come back here and let us know how National Cash Mob Day went for your business!