The Retail Site - Retail Business News, Ideas, and Tips Blog

Last week, a well-known analyst firm warned companies to start now to cut back on IT spending in the face of was looks like rocky economic times. While it’s certainly understandable that companies might respond in that fashion, recent RSR research suggests that a more measured approach might be in order, for these reasons:

First, capital is cheap at the moment.

Secondly, our recent research, Our research has consistently shown that retail winners tend to pull ahead of the competition during times of economic incertainty, while others go on the defensive.

Third, technology is not the solution, but the enabler. We should all know this by now, and retailers certainly seem to understand that “it’s the process, stupid” (paraphrasing the first Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign mantra). Information technology speeds up business processes and makes them scalable. If the business redesigns a process to eliminate handoffs and streamline the path between start and finish, then the thoughtful application of information technology makes that process go much faster and enables the business to scale it up and accelerate value delivery. For example a soon-to-be released analysis on multi-channel retailing suggests that retailers are at a point where the appropriate use of new technologies to enable their business processes actually lowers their operational costs, not raises them (and, the cost of money helps this!).

A fourth reason is that the IT organizations in many companies, and in retail companies particularly, have spent the last several years in deep “cost control” mode, which was the result of overspending in the “dot-com” era. In an earlier Retail Paradox weekly article, Restoration Hardware CIO Jim Brownell stated, “In the Y2K and dot-com period, we more-or-less drove the bus, and the truth is, we spent way too much money. So our penance for that was to be pushed back into the organization, and be a cost management organization reporting to CFO’s – IT took a back seat.” The above mentioned analyst firm’s advice presupposes a certain lack of fiscal discipline- which shouldn’t be the case after so many years of “penance”.

Link to complete Article by Brian Kilcourse

Contributed by Kim Sapienza http://www.coresense.com
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M-commerce05 Mar 2008 12:01 pm

E-commerce on the Move

With m-commerce, mobile phone users can shop online wherever they may be
By Bill Siwicki

A commuter is sitting on a train reading a story in the newspaper on horror writer Stephen King. A passage in the story highlights King’s most recent novel, “Duma Key.” The commuter is wowed by the description of the supernatural thriller and decides it’s a must-read.

She’s ready to buy and is undeterred by the lack of a bookstore on the train or a PC or laptop to connect to a web store. Like 174 million other Americans, she has a mobile phone capable of browsing the web. So she whips it out, selects her Amazon.com bookmark, types “Duma Key” into the search window, selects “Duma Key” in the search results, and, because she has an account with Amazon.com and previously downloaded a cookie with her sign-in information, clicks on Buy Now with 1-Click. Done. And in less than 60 seconds.

Link to complete Article from Internet Retailer

Contributed by Kim Sapienza http://www.coresense.com
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Other Channels27 Feb 2008 11:40 am

Pressure is up on eBay, as Boycotters Zero in on Increased fees, Will it have an effect?

eBay listing totals watched for sign of seller boycott’s success
Angered over price and policy changes that took effect yesterday, some eBay sellers have been boycotting the auction marketplace this week. The boycotters are cheered by this week’s steady decline in eBay listings, but others note that it’s not clear the decline is related to the sellers’ strike. And eBay says the boycott has had no effect.

The decline was to be expected, because it followed a spike last week when eBay cut listing prices for a day, says Mike Medved, who tracks eBay listings on his web site. As items can be listed on eBay for 10 days, the impact of the boycott can’t be determined until Sunday, Feb. 24, 10 days after the eBay promotion began, he says.

Still, angry sellers are taking heart from Medved’s statistics which show that eBay’s listings have dropped from the Feb. 14 peak of around 15.9 million listings, to under 11.9 million today. That’s slightly below the 12.3 million listings on eBay on Feb. 13, the day before the promotion.

Link to complete article in Intermet Retailer

Contributed by Kim Sapienza http://www.coresense.com
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Building Your Brand25 Feb 2008 05:50 pm

Leap Year Day, Official Holiday? Not, but Maybe One day!

If you were born on February 29th, good for you! Congratulations, yeah! Yep this year you can have an actual official birthday party on the anniversary of the year and day you were born, multiple by 4 and we will all know how old you are, divide by 4 and you are just a fraction of your actual age. Just numbers right, hardly.

Less than a year ago you could have asked my Great Aunt how old she was on any given day, she would give you the year, number of days and hours. Not sure why,, just a memory game to her I believe. She was as sharp as a tack and real proud of it right up until her heart failed at 24 years, 26 days and 1 hour, give or take. Her obituary said she died at 95, I know better.

Now businesses and nonprofit organizations are using the day, Feb. 29, this Friday, as the occasion to make special proposals and pitches of their own.

Go ahead, make it special, advertise, celebrate, each day’s a gift to use as we please!

Link to Article by Joanne Kaufman, New York Times

Contributed by Kim Sapienza http://www.coresense.com
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Building Your Brand25 Feb 2008 04:53 pm

Use Merchandising to Build Brand and Attract Consumers

These days, management and boards of directors have widely acknowledged marketing as a substantial growth driver, be it nontraditional advertising, unique partnerships, influence marketing or digital communication. However, merchandising is one tool in the marketing arsenal that senior marketing executives sometimes overlook — which is unfortunate, given its high-value means of making an impact. Merchandising is no longer just about ads, logos and displaying your name on complementary products. When used successfully, merchandising can establish a powerful, personal and long-lasting experience between brand and consumer.

Link to complete Article in Advertising Age

Contributed by Kim Sapienza http://www.coresense.com
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