Well, it’s a new year and, according to the experts, retail in 2019 will be driven by new technologies and evolving consumer attitudes and preferences as buyer demographics continue to skew younger. It’s both new AND old news, in that we hear some version of this every year. However, that’s because it’s true. Marketers who […]
There’s an old saying in marketing: never mix branding and politics. It’s good advice, as mixing the two is usually a zero sum game. No matter what position you take, it’s likely that just as many people will agree as disagree. And yet, every day, more companies are wading into the political and social waters. […]
Marketers are accustomed to thinking of their customers in terms of “generations.” Based on when you were born, you may be a Baby Boomer or a member of Generation X, Y or Z. These categorizations help us understand the consumer behaviors that ultimately drive everything from the products marketers sell to the way they “talk” […]
As consumers, we typically look for value – that perfect combination of quality and price – when we make a purchase. Most of us have a favorite retailer or group of retailers, and today’s hyper-competitive, information-driven marketplace allows us to easily compare prices across multiple retailers and channels. A recent study by Bain & Company […]
Anybody who shops on Amazon has probably had the experience where the price of the item you just put in your cart changes while it sits there. With the recent announcement that Amazon intends to buy Whole Foods, I started wondering about this and found that the explanation is pretty interesting. “List price” has been […]
Much has been written about the demise of America’s brick-and-mortar retail institutions due to the expansion of e-commerce and mobile technology. With slowing population growth, the future of retail sales will depend largely on increased individual spending, much of which will come from the demographic cohort known as Millennials. Some relevant facts about this group: […]
The notions that “the customer is king” and “the customer is always right” have been marketing gospel for generations of business school grads and brand managers. I’d never suggest that a strong customer focus shouldn’t be a key element of any brand’s marketing efforts. But how do marketers keep “King Customer” from becoming a total […]
By Chris Hayes, EVP Brand Strategy This 18th Century quote from my high school lit class got me thinking about a conversation I had with a marketing director from a well-known cross-channel brand a few weeks ago. He mentioned his company would like to do comparison research on their catalog covers to determine which ones […]
2017 is just around the corner so we thought it would be interesting to reach out to our clients to see what’s on their mind for the coming year. First, the good news… there’s a general feeling of optimism among the clients we spoke to. Arguably, the economy was one of the biggest issues in […]
