Here's an interesting article from CNN Money about how the apparel company VF has stayed fresh by focusing on lifestyle brands, thereby giving customers products to flirt with. There's an interesting discussion about the brand “Northface,” a brand I imagine many of us on the US west coast are familiar with and flirt with often at out local sporting goods store or REI.
On a side note, interestingly in this time of recession, apparel companies like Gap and Ann Taylor have launched luxury lines. I heard a report this morning that they are charging ~40% premium for items in these lines. I'm am familiar with the new BR line from the Banana Republic and, if the website is a reflection of reality, then this strategy is working well despite the recession because items in the line are sold out in the most common sizes. There is definitely a difference in the apparance of these high-end duds in the BR line. What distinguishes them from the other products are rich cloth patterns and style details that are unique and say, “$$$.” I'll try to find something about this trend to post. Regardless, it's an interesting move to make in such a tough economy.
Here is a link to a nice article from CE Vision magazine about marketing globally. This article is presented in a very nice electronic magazine. You can click on the article from the front page of the magazine (you will see what I mean when you go there). There is also an interesting article that explains what “Free Trades Zones” are. Enjoy!
I received an e-mail from Starbucks asking me to contribute ideas to the company. Starbucks is not something I feel passionate about, so doubt they’ll be hearing from me soon. Anyhow, check out the e-mail they sent out.
“Got a great idea? Share it! Massage chairs with latte holders? Virtual reality coffee tastings? We know you love Starbucks. We also know you have some ideas to help make your Starbucks Experience even better. So tell us. Introducing MyStarbucksIdea. Come be a part of the community. Share your ideas, talk about them, vote on other people’s ideas, and then watch as the best have a shot at reality. No idea’s too simple or too outrageous. We’re really excited about what we’re going to see—we hope you are too.”
(I had to remove the graphics from this cut-and-paste because the e-mail was unreadable on screen. This was also the case when I received the e-mail. Sigh … Starbucks used frames to display the graphics content and it barfed hard.)
Apple and Dell have invaded my local Best Best store. The Apple area wasn’t to my liking. It consisted of a huge thick monolith with the Apply logo emblazened on it. In front of the monolith was a simple table on a black carpet with 4 Apple PCs and/or laptops on it. The back of the wall had no cubby holes or display space for other Apple products, accessories, or cross sales merchandise. I felt it was a waste of perfectly good monolith space. Dell had a small side of an aisle that they displayed PC’s on. They had a small selection that consisted of a low end model, some ordinary looking PCs, and a PC will a bunch of stuff on it that looked like racing stickers, which I presume indicated some sort of gaming or high performance computer (or maybe like cars, the stickers are only for show — who knows — the aisle really didn’t grab my attention. Dell products seriously lack style.). HP had separate areas for PCs and laptops. The other thing I noticed is that the shelf height was drastically lowered. Boxes with computers and monitors are no longer stored above the PC displays. I’m not sure whether this is to improve the feel of the aisles, to keep people from hurting themselves grabbing heavy items from high shelves, as a “loss prevention” measure, or to prevent people from leaving without talking to a store rep once they see there is not inventory for the item they want to purchase (perhaps its all four and more). Have any of you experienced changes at your local electronic stores?
More Rambling 