Retail
Owning the outdoors – How REI’s brand was redefined by closing on Black Friday
REI’s decision to close on Black Friday this year was a revolutionary and actually anti-retail idea – don’t go shopping the day after Thanksgiving on Black Friday: go outdoors, do something with your friends and family. This move was so dramatic the CEO wasn’t quite sure about it at first. But think about it. What…
Read MoreVegan Nuggets: Consumers Like Things Their Way
The world of the customization is moving quickly. It used to be easy enough to satisfy a consumer just by offering a standard brand in a category of food or product they like: you’re a beer drinker or a wine drinker, you eat meat or don’t. Now we can customize, specialize and provide almost exactly what each customer desires. The…
Read MoreAsk a 10-year-old what your brand is about
I was driving my 10 year old son to school one day when he piped up and said that MacDonalds was a company that sold crappy food that made people unhealthy. I asked him why. He said that’s what everyone at school says—his friends, teachers, everybody. You see, we don’t go to MacDonalds, but he still has…
Read MoreCustomers’ values: the new branding tool
You may be paying more but look at all these cool things Whole Foods is supporting! You get the feeling that the extra amount you may be spending is going to something worthy and good, something that you may be connected to or are committed to and is a part of your local community.
Read MoreRedefining the Retail Experience
This shopping season I spent time in various insane store environments. It amazed me how some places are just piles of goods, inventory that must move. But when you think about it, these stores are the ones that can’t depend on you coming in to buythat specific Lego Star Wars set. It may not be available.…
Read MoreBerlin Wall: Now the Center of Shopping
Branding Retail Experience in the City Center Berlin recently opened the Mall of Berlin. It’s virtually in the center of Berlin on the site of what was an enormous department store formerly owned by a leading Jewish retailer who was forced to sell to the…
Read MoreConsumers and the Changing Face of Retail
Walking into the local coffee house can’t be duplicated online. The desire to experience smells, sounds and the human interaction of a physical place— the desire of customers to “be some place” —is more visceral than the act of acquiring something needed.
Read MoreBarnes & Noble: retail store or Nook?– the value of location
why not focus on the bookstores? What else that’s totally unique does Barnes & Noble really have? With over 5,000 retail environments they can and should reinvent themselves into more that a bookstore.
Read MoreThe local retailer brand. Can Starbucks really be local?
So when a national chain moves into your neighborhood the local coffee shop need not freak out. They can leverage what they have and how they deliver it in a way that the customer recognizes and values.
Read MoreGreat Britain’s Downtowns and the Death of High Streets: some tips from America
Creating a city brand is what it’s all about. If these magnificent older cities and towns dig into their historic past there are many assets they can play with as did American towns, in recreating their value to their community. Now’s the time to rebuild and revaluate what that can be.
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