Food anyone?

By Kellie J. Lala

Boy, do we eat a lot.  A list of the 2011 largest retailers was recently released by the National Retail Federation (7/2/12).  No surprise, Wal-Mart tops the list by a huge margin.  The number 2 spot went to the largest supermarket company in the United States-Kroger. They have found some national success while still maintaining it local footprint.  They grew 9.1% from 2010.  Safeway saw a 5.6% growth and rejoined the top 10 list (first time since 2007). New programs like the mobile-driven “Just of you” helped gain more loyalty.  Whole Foods (with a new store opening this week in West Des Moines) and Aldi both enjoyed double digit growth last year.  With increase costs for food and fuel many consumers turned to club retailers and a strong desire to save time and money.  Convenience is the key with both of these commodities that

we all need to function on a daily basis. 

The 2011 largest retailers list is as follows:

1.      Wal-Mart $316B   +2.6%

2.      Kroger  $85B

3.      Target  $68B

4.      Walgreens $66B

5.      Cost-co   $64B

6.      The Home Depot  $62B

7.      CVS  $59B

8.      Lowe’s  $49B

9.      Best Buy  $37B

     10.  Safeway  $36B

What is your favorite store?  What have you cut down on since the recession ended in 2009?  Do you use grocery coupons to save $?  Happy shopping everyone!

What do you support?

By Kellie J. Lala
This is a great question to ask yourself.  What is important to you?  What do you value in life?  My belief is that the more you give of yourself or of your resources to others, the better you feel. I have done many things over the years.  I counseled at high school church camp for many years, I volunteer at Theatre Cedar Rapids and Brucemore.  I am active in my church.  One of my current passions is a primary school in Karatu, Tanzania in East Africa.  I raise much needed money to help build more classrooms, support students or buy books for the future library. 

J.C. Penney just launched a charity program on July 1^st that encourages customers to donate to a new cause each month.  How do they do that you might want to know?  They invite customers to round up their purchase to the nearest whole dollar and donate that difference to the charity partner of the month.  For July, that partner is United Service Organizations (USO) which helps America’s troops and their families. 

So, let me ask you again….what do YOU support?

Who Is Your Competitor--Think Far and Wide

By Julie Hein, General Manager

My husband stays home with our daughters.  So, that opportunity cost of lost income is the competition for the solid surface countertop store. Fill in many categories of lost revenue that we would spend if he worked outside the house:  vacation, auto, restaurants/take-out, house cleaning.  We had a choice between devoted-dad (high quality child care) and pretty counter tops.  We picked the expensive childcare.  The value was there for us.  Just like someone who buys a pool for their backyard—that might cut into their new HDTV budget.  Or buying gasoline at $3/gallon cuts into the Happy Meal budget.  In order to go on a great vacation, you drive your car one more year.  You get the picture. 

Your competitors aren’t just the obvious ones.  Your thoughts, efforts and marketing can’t all be directed toward reacting to the jerk who stole your best employee last year and runs a huge sale every July.  Look at what your potential customers are doing.  How can you best help them?  Do you need to throw out old models and systems?  Be sure you know exactly what game you’re playing—and who all the real threats are.  Think big as you consider what your customer needs from you.  Figure out the value you provide and all the true reasons that they buy from everyone in your industry and the ones that they buy from you specifically.

Skipping Marketing 101 Class Can Kill You

By Glen Gardner/Branding Consultant

Scanning my Google News feed this morning, I was struck by one of the headlines. It read, “Facebook Draws User Ire with email Switcheroo.” The story was about media giant Facebook changing the email addresses of all its users without telling anyone. The new address displayed on your Facebook page now carries a Facebook.com ending.

The reaction was swift and almost universally negative. This comes on the heels of several other blunders by Facebook, from not communicating security changes to the botched IPO several weeks ago.

No matter if you’re big or small; not communicating with your customer base can kill you. The most important part of communication in these cases is the listening part. That’s Marketing 101, and failing to do it will almost always hurt your business.

Companies as large as Facebook get it wrong as do small businesses. If Facebook asked their customers what they thought in advance of this latest news, they would have discovered it was not popular. That doesn’t mean it’s a mistake to do it, but they could have given people choice on the front-end and avoided the negative barrage. Now they have had to back-track.

After the attention-grabbing recall election in Wisconsin in June, Governor Scott Walker said something that struck a chord with me. After millions of dollars and a brutal campaign, he was asked if he would have done anything different in retrospect. He said he would have taken more time to listen, explain his positions and build consensus before taking action.

It’s Marketing 101 in both cases. Listen before you act and the result is almost always better.

Honor thy Father.

By Kellie J. Lala

Father’s Day is Sunday, June 17^th.  Do you know that the average spending this year (according to the National Retail Federation’s latest survey) will be up 10% to $117.14!  Sorry Dad, Mother’s Day spending is more in the range of $152.00.  Typical gifts include those shiny new golf clubs, the hottest electronic gadgets, a new smartphone or a new grill.  He might not be expecting the ‘royal treatment’ but he doesn’t have much of a say as his loved ones want to be sure it is a great day!  Many department stores have their shelves stocked.  Great gifts include a new shirt, tie, aftershave, cologne or even new boxers.  I love shopping at Von Maur as they will wrap and ship your gifts for free.  A great, customer focused store….not many like them left.  Remember, there are many types of dads out there:  fathers, stepfathers, husbands, sons, grandfathers, brothers and friends.  Don’t wait till the card shop only has bent cornered cards left.  Get shopping today so you can check it off your list.

Holiday Shopping

By Kellie J. Lala

Memorial Day is this weekend.  I don’t know about you but I like to think that this is the kick off to summer.  It also makes me ask “where did April and May go to?”.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I love to shop.  So when I see shopping stats it makes me pause and pay attention.  Based upon recent surveys from 2 of America’s top research groups, shoppers will approach Memorial Day as a “big” shopping weekend.  Consumers are clipping coupons and looking for sales on this typical summer kick off weekend.  Some might even call this the Black Friday of the spring!  They are saying that shopping levels this holiday weekend could exceed 35% as compared to 2011.  It is also a great time to pick up a cute new summer outfit or two while the selection is still good.  By the Fourth of July weekend, racks are getting picked over and back to school along with Fall is arriving in the stores.  So what are you waiting for?  Grab your credit cards and head to the stores!

Houston, Can You Hear Me?

By Julie Hein, General Manager

Had a rare moment when I both kids and hubby were asleep, and I didn't have any stray work to do.  Turned on Bravo.  Pre-kids, Bravo and I used to be pretty close friends.  Now, not so much.  There was a new (I think) show called Around the World in 80 Plates with Curtis Stone as one of the hosts.  I love me some Curtis.  Anyway, imagine that "The Amazing Race"  and "Top Chef" had a baby.  The teams race around the world competing at different challenges then there's a cook-off.

There was one contestant who made me think of the effectiveness of selling messages.  She was broadcasting loud and clear.  But what she was saying didn't resonate with anyone.  She only looked through her own lense, never considering that other people might also have skills or opinions or input.  She likely thought she was being persuasive and doing the best thing for the group, but she wasn't considering anyone else's desired path.  And then she was mad when everyone got frustrated because they couldn't (or didn't care to) execute her plan.

Why do people do what they do?  When they come into your space, literally or virtually, what are they wanting?  It's about them.  Not you.  And that can feel quite unnatural.  You've built this cool thing and you want to tell them about it.  Perfect!  Just do it through the filter of why they should care.