retail

I’ve written about some of the research that shows that shoppers don’t always respond positively to a bigger selection of products (see More Choices, Fewer Sales) and extreme product/brand proliferation (see Mega-Branding: The Purple Oreo Problem). Now, retailers are implementing the concept of reducing selection in their stores and finding that it can indeed increase sales.

Book Review: Shopper Marketing – How to Increase Purchase Decisions at the Point of Sale, Edited by Markus Stahlberg and Ville Maila

The other day I found myself doing something quite curious – after having placed an item into my grocery cart, I turned around, took it out, and returned it to the shelf. That momentary act wasn’t strange because I’m generally a decisive person — but rather because of what caused me to reverse my actions. My change of heart was prompted by a ½” inch square – or actually, the absence of it.

I few years back, I made a new year's resolution to lose some weight, something that's way overdue. After years of eating whole cakes or bags of cookies and washing it down with a half gallon of milk, the calories caught up with me. I thought I could keep avoiding them for a couple of more years, but I couldn't hide any longer. So, I went to Dr. Rodriguez, a nutritionist that my wife & mother-in-law have used in the past with great results.

Andrew Weir writing at Brand Experience Matters has a nice post about the value of the physical retail experience. I especially like his concluding recommendation:

I’ve been working with a major retail brand and my engagement has included an audit and assessment of retail best practices. Although most of my work is proprietary, I wanted to share some of my findings here because I’ve found some really interesting patterns.

I've gotten some excellent feedback on my 2010 predictions and thought that I would keep a brief excerpt up from here for a little while. You can find the full post by clicking on the link below and I’ve included the list here. Please let me know what you think.

“Green marketing” usually refers to using an environmental pitch to sell a product. A car creates less pollution, a paper product is made from recycled content, and so on. Results of appealing to environmental sentiment have been mixed. On one hand, the Toyota Prius has sold better than would be justified purely by the economics of the premium-priced vehicle.

Using the smartphone looks and ideal aid for older people looking to save money by extending comparison shopping into the instore arena.