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Save the Date: Trade Shows with Economic Solutions

Monday, January 5th, 2009

Over the next few months, look out for trade shows promising more than just new product lines. Take advantage of seminars like these, which present ways to deal with the economic downturn:

  • Who: Barbara Wold
    What:     “How to Prosper During a Slow Economy”
    When:     Jan. 17, 10 a.m.
    Where:     California Gift Show, at Los Angeles Convention Center. 1201 S. Figeoroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90015.
    Why:     She is an international speaker to retail and consumer spending, who has earned praise from Sketchers, BMW, and the International Council of Shopping Centers. You are a retailer who needs to inspire a consumer to buy even in today’s economy. In this seminar, rediscover what Wold calls your USP, or unique selling proposition, and learn how it can rejuvenate your retail business, from the inside out.
    Call 213-430-2300 or visit     www.californiagiftshow.com .
  • Who: Mike Todaro
    What:     “How U.S. Retailers and Brands Can Reengine Their Supply Chain”
    When:     Feb. 3, 3 p.m.
    Where:     Texworld USA, at The Javits Center, 655 W. 34th St., New York, NY 10001.
    Why:     As one of two directors leading the American Apparel Producers Network, Todaro oversees hundreds of companies manufacturing textiles on an international level. What he has observed: as U.S. retailers deal with excess inventories, the country’s textile supply chains are adapting, becoming a “source of innovation, differentiation, and speed to market.”
    Call 770-984-8016, ext. 411 or visit     www.texworldusa.com .
  • Who: Joel Makower
    What:     “Profits and Pitfalls of Environmentally Responsible”
    When:     Thursday, March 5, 1 p.m.
    Where:     Natural Products Expo West, at Anaheim Convention Center. 800 W. Katella Ave., Anaheim, CA 92802.
    Why:     For every environmentally conscious business owner, Makower is sure to serve as a muse. As executive editor of GreenBiz.com, he has become a renowned expert on commerce with such a cause – and therefore, is more than qualified to lead this seminar on how to align business and environmental goals.
    Call 1-866-458-4935 or visit     www.expowest.com .

What other interesting trade show seminars have you heard of?

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Study Shows: Merchandise, Not Price, The Key to Customer Satisfaction

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

A note to all business owners: now is not the time to neglect your online retail store front.

In the latest study by ForeSee Results, an online customer satisfaction research company, price became an increasingly important factor among the top 40 online retailers. Though overall satisfaction remained steady, it also dropped among more than a third of the retailers studied - "a shift that most can hardly afford in this economic climate," the study noted.

In comparison, one-fourth of retailers raised their scores, with Amazon.com being the only of the top five to do so. Amazon.com also tied with Netflix as the top ranking retailers, while HP, Wal-Mart and Staples saw the greatest increases in customer satisfaction. HSN and Gap were the biggest losers.

“This is a much more price-sensitive shopper than we have seen before,” said Larry Freed, president and CEO – though price did not have the greatest impact on online retailers, according to the study. Amazon.com ranked highly also because of their marketing strategy and improved site navigation, Freed said.

Customers were most satisfied with the merchandise offered, showing that it has “the greatest potential to influence satisfaction,” according to the study.

Smaller retailers should keep in mind that, along with advertising and marketing, the best way to boost the appeal of merchandise is to update customers and the Web site regarding inventory as often as necessary.

“Don’t build an expectation that is not gonna be able to be built,” Freed said – ergo, do not keep a product featured on the home page, just so the customer can find it is out of stock.

Bottom line: “You’re going to have to think of every transaction and every deal as building into that long-term loyalty with you,” he said.

For more information on the study, visit www.foreseeresults.com.

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What Small Businesses Did Right in 2008

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

The news bulletins of 2008 became one relentless reminder of the economic crisis. They reported that businesses and industries suffered, under the great weights of declining sales and a wounded morale.

But the year also taught some valuable lessons, especially to small business owners. Whatever losses they suffered the public noticed, which made their successes all the more notable:

  • What they could not compensate in price, they made up for with customer service. Take note of Kelly Spors, small-business writer for the Wall Street Journal, and her recent experience buying trout at her neighborhood fish and meat market:
    “Rather than just ringing me up, the man behind the counter spent 10 minutes energetically explaining to me his favorite way to season and broil it,” she wrote. “He obviously knew a lot about the fish and meats he was selling, and it turned out delicious. I know where I’ll go next time I want fish – and it won’t be a major grocery chain.
  • They sought alternative means of credit as their usual sources dried up. Local, community banks became more viable options. There, commercial and industrial lending continued to rise throughout the year, amounting up to $1.24 billion in November, according to the Federal Reserve.
    Credit unions also became a reasonable source of lending. The Credit Union National Association predicted that, with their conservative practices, they should see savings and loans growth this year and into next year.
  • They lent to a growing online retail environment. And, considering this year’s growth, 60 percent of small and medium-sized businesses could have a Web site by 2010, according to Kelsey Group, a search and directory research firm. About 33 percent of them have a Web site today.
    Internet design and marketing companies catering to small and medium-sized businesses also took notice. Web.com saw its number of subscribers more than double over the past year, from 82,000 to about 274,000.

What else did small businesses do right in 2008?

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How To: Beat Wal-Mart in 2009

Monday, December 29th, 2008

Three years ago, Marc Joseph – president of wholesaler and closeout company Dollar Days – responded to hundreds of his customers’ calls with one book. With “The Secrets of Retailing: Or, How to Beat Wal-Mart,” he wanted to teach any small business owner how to establish a unique presence in their neighborhood, even with a Wal-Mart down the street.

But in 2008, Wal-Mart emerged as the sole big-name retail winner against a number of contenders. While its competitors slashed prices out of necessity, Wal-Mart discounted to make profits. The company’s net sales totaled $374.5 billion, an 8.6 percent increase from last year.

Still, small businesses have no reason to fear, Joseph says, when they can adapt to economic conditions quicker than any bureaucratic big-name retailer. In an e-mail interview, he shared with goWholesale how they can beat Wal-Mart in 2009:

While Wal-Mart can buy in very large quantities, and therefore, get the benefit of substantial volume discounts, they cannot buy in small quantities. They can never benefit from purchasing broken lots, or small amounts left over in a manufacturer’s warehouse after a huge discounter’s buying spree ends, or – as in the case of the last three months – cancellations of orders, because there is no room to put them onto the retail selling shelf.

There are many, many products the discounters cannot sell because they cannot buy them in sufficient quantity to fill all their stores. The supply is simply too limited. Often, small manufacturers cannot even get an appointment to see a Wal-Mart buyer – so small retailers are still their bread and butter.

Small retailers can beat the giants [with] another price-related factor: their overheads may be considerably lower. Instead of a whole management superstructure – teams of buyers, batteries of lawyers, cadres of store designers, layers of accountants, passels of marketers and public-relations spokespeople, as well as all the store clerks, supervisors, merchandisers, managers, vice presidents, executive vice presidents, and who knows what – as an independent retailer, you may get by with a fraction of these expenses by outsourcing only when you need accounting or public relations, etc.

Don’t lose sight of the basics we all need to do during a recession.

Manage your inventory. Everyone today carries too much inventory, which ties up cash flow and open to buy. Be smart going into 2009, and don’t over-commit to goods. Find vendors who can ship you in small quantities and as a frequently as you need product. … Have products flow into your warehouse all month long, rather than all at once.

Be careful of your operating costs. Can your employees wear several hats and do many different functions rather than have one person doing one thing? Do you really need to spend for half a page in the newspaper when you can get your message across in a third of a page?

If you are located near a Wal-Mart or any other bigger chain, they will continue to spend huge sums to bring customers to their doorsteps. And if you play it right, the bleed-over will come to your doorstep. Once there, they are yours for the taking.

Offer them: unique merchandise they cannot get at the giants, lower prices – if necessary, even loss leaders – on a few limited-supply closeouts, and impeccable customer service . If you establish yourself now during these hard times with these customers, then once this country breaks out of these poor economic times, these very same customers will make your business stronger than ever.

For more information about Joseph and Dollar Days, call 1-877-837-9569 or visit www.dollardays.com.

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Inspiring Entrepreneurs of 2008

Friday, December 26th, 2008

As this year’s economic downturn spiraled, rising and persevering entrepreneurs had to prove themselves to be more motivated than ever. Many times, they created their own market, their own niche and in turn, their own success. May they continue to inspire in 2009:

  • Vaughn Jereaux , The Vaughn Jereaux Collection
    Back when he studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology, a professor told Jereaux he was more fit to design for another company, rather than his own. Despite such advice, Jereaux used his namesake and a $20,000 cash prize to start his own line of custom-made cocktail, evening, and special occasion dresses. Then, in November, he would earn another prize of vindication. An expert panel of judges – featuring Def Jam’s Russell Simmons and Ernst and Young’s Dan Valerio – picked 25-year-old Jereaux as their favorite fashion entrepreneur in The Race to BE competition. This time, the cash prize totaled $50,000.
  • Janice Maasaoud , Under the Nile
    Q: What would inspire readers of Esquire, a men’s magazine, to seek out Under the Nile, a baby and young children’s clothing company? A: Organic Egyptian cotton, used not only in the clothing, but also in what the magazine deemed “the best blanket in the world.” Maasaoud first sought out to source organic cotton ten years ago, after discovering her children’s allergies to harmful pesticides, toxins and dyes. The company has since expanded to offer toys, cloth diapers, and gift baskets - making it one of the most well-known companies sourcing organic materials.
  • Mark Zuckerberg , Facebook
    Google may have taken over the Internet this year, but there still remains one online territory that it could not penetrate – social networking. With over 100 million users registered in August, Zuckerberg’s Facebook more so became a face-to-face competitor when, earlier this month, it released its business "Connect" platform the same day Google launched its own. Like Netscape Navigator creator Marc Andreessen with Internet browsers, Zuckerberg may not have created the first social networking Web site – but he certainly stands as one, if not the most prominent player in his field. (After all, is it a coincidence that Andreessen also serves on Facebook’s board of directors? Probably not.)
  • Kurt O’Brien , Simply Self Storage
    With 229 facilities and growing, Simply Self Storage is now the largest privately owned self-storage company in the United States and Puerto Rico. And, after it earned its first million in sales in just four years, Entrepreneur magazine ranked the company as its No. 1-ranked fastest-growing businesses in the area, out of nearly 21 million others. Among other criteria, Simply Self Storage ranked highest in rapid sales growth and positive job growth. According to O’Brien, the company’s tipping point was when it reached 100 locations. “It allowed me to assemble the dream team in my business sector," he said.
  • Matthew Szulik , Red Hat, Inc.
    Years ago, Szulik – then president and CEO – found that his customers grew tired of paying for program licenses, maintenance and upgrades, only to receive flawed software. So, despite protests, Szulik and founder Bob Young then worked on making the company’s software coding freely available over the Internet. Through many years of development, they pursued to create such transparency, which they thought could “redistribute the economics of the technology industry from vendor to customer.” To date, Ernst and Young named Szulik its 2008 "Entrepreneur of the Year," while Red Hat stands as the sole profiting software company offering open-source material.

What entrepreneurs – new or old – inspired you this year?

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SpendingPulse Detects Little Pre-Xmas Retail Activity

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008

Reports of this year’s pre-Christmas retail environment showed that, despite deep discounts and high hopes, consumers did not shop as much as they did last year.

Retail sales are expected to fall by 8 percent in December through Christmas Eve, after falling 5.5 percent last month, according to MasterCard’s SpendingPulse report. Both declines, with the economy and weather in mind, added up to “one of the most challenging holiday shopping seasons in decades,” said Michael McNamara, vice-president of research and analysis.

With the average price per gallon down by almost 50 percent compared to last year, gasoline sales also dragged down total retail sales in December. Excluding gasoline, total sales had dropped by just 2 percent, according to the report.

And while lower gas prices usually lead to more shopping trips, very few storefronts survived this season’s battle in scrounging up sales without losing traffic. Retailers that saw increased traffic right before Christmas include Target, Best Buy, and Toys“R”Us – though their gains, even combined, could not compare to Wal-Mart’s 36 percent rise from last year, according to America’s Research Group.

While sales in specialty, men’s and women’s apparel all fell by at least 16 percent, MasterCard’s SpendingPulse noted that online retail sales “continues to be an area of relative strength” during the holiday season. However, other reports delivered mixed results.

According to comScore, last weekend’s online spending totaled $677 million – a figure that can be interpreted in two very different ways, with five less days in this holiday shopping season. As both the fourth weekend after Thanksgiving and the last weekend before Christmas, this year’s Dec. 20-21 sales can be interpreted as either a 17 percent year-to-year loss or almost a 100 percent gain, respectively.

“A positive late-season boost for online retail perhaps,” said Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman, “but it’s ultimately not going to do much to make up for the significantly shorter shopping season this year.”

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Studies Show, More Last-Minute Shopping This Holiday Season

Monday, December 22nd, 2008

Recent consumer behavior studies revealed that last-minute shoppers may impact holiday season sales more than ever this year.

As of Dec. 16, while the average consumer completed 47.1 percent of their shopping – down 52.6 percent from last year – over 41 million people had not even started, according to the National Retail Federation.

Most of these consumers will be looking for apparel, while 40.8 percent will shop for books, CDs, movies and video games. They ranked discounter, department and specialty stores as their three most popular shopping destinations for the rest of their holiday shopping.

Last-minute shoppers are also turning more to the Internet than they have in years past. Last week they brought the online retail market four of its biggest-selling days of the holiday season, according to comScore. Monday, Dec. 15 became the second heaviest spending day with $859 million, while Free Shipping Day on Thursday, Dec. 18 brought in $764 million.
Researchers have long figured that, with five days less than last year, a shorter shopping season could result in lower holiday sales.

“Procrastinators are in good company this year because a shorter window between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year means that the holidays have snuck up on many of us,” said Tracy Mullin, National Retail Federation president and CEO, in a statement.

But they also wonder, with this year’s recession, if consumers are simply shopping more consciously, perhaps waiting for last-minute blowout sales. As Dr. Timothy A. Pychyl wrote in Psychology Today, “Remember, all procrastination is delay, but not all delay is procrastination.”

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How I Did It: Create an Online Sales Holiday

Friday, December 19th, 2008

The online shopping boom of recent years inspired both comScore and Amazon.com to name “holidays” marking the holiday season’s biggest selling days: Cyber Monday for all online retailers and Green Monday for Amazon.com specifically.

For Luke Knowles and Simon Jobman, the rising popularity of online shopping made them wonder if anyone could create such a “holiday.” Less than three weeks later, they did – though with Free Shipping Day, Knowles and Johnson also hoped to inspire a new best-selling day, rather than just note one.

Even with such short notice, over 250 merchants agreed to present free shipping offers yesterday, Dec. 18. For some smaller merchants, their participation resulted in traffic to their Web sites at record levels, according to Knowles, founder and CEO of FreeShipping.org .

"I just wanted to let you know that we had our highest visitors ever on the site yesterday which resulted in great online sales as well,” Kari Kraichely, owner of Charm Boutique , wrote in an e-mail to Knowles.

Both Knowles and Jobman hoped that the “holiday” would extend a online shopping season that traditionally fades after Dec. 10, once consumers fear they will not receive their gifts by Christmas Eve.

“Retailers really grabbed on to that vision and saw that this could be really useful, that this could be helpful, that this could create some publicity – especially this year, with the economy,” Jobman said.

As comScore noted in a study released Wednesday, a “clear correlation” exists between online retailers’ use of free shipping and dollars spent per order. After the two weeks including Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers, retailers that cut back on free shipping deals saw their average order values decline.

As for the rest of the season, “it’s possible that the strong promotion of this free shipping day may help keep consumers spending online in the season than they normally would,” said Andrew Lipsman, senior analyst, in an e-mail.

Given the surprising results he has seen, Knowles is already anticipating next year’s “holiday.” As early as next month, he plans to consult merchants on when the next Free Shipping Day should take place.

“Next year we want there to be 500, 750 – 1,000 retailers take part and have this be even bigger,” he said.

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As Deficit Declines, Small Businesses and Manufacturers Encouraged to Export

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

While the U.S. current account deficit declined more than expected, efforts in promoting overseas exporting remains persistent among the government, economists, and industry experts.

The reason why: a trade deficit of more than $214 billion, which they say is more than enough evidence that the United States is still consuming more than it is producing.

The current account is the broadest measurement of global economic activity by the United States, as it incorporates investment flows with trade of goods and services. Its deficit current amounts to $174 billion, down 3.7 percent from $180.9 billion.

Peter Morici, a University of Maryland international business professor, believes that the trade deficit is almost entirely responsible for the current account deficit, and that cutting it in half would pull the country out of its recession.

“Every dollar spent on imports that is not matched by a dollar in exports reduces domestic demand and employment,” he wrote in Seeking Alpha.

The manufacturing sector in particular has suffered under the trade deficit, with a 1.6 percent decline in production last month and over 4 million jobs cut since 2000.

Over the years, the National Association of Manufacturers has watched domestically-centered manufacturers suffer as exporting-oriented manufacturers prosper, with a 17 percent growth in production since the end of 2005.

“If your company is not exporting, it needs to,” said Dan Akman, assistant vice president for marketing and business development, to World Trade Magazine on Dec. 3.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government continues to believe in the exporting potential of small and medium-sized businesses. In 2006, the International Trade Administration reported that such businesses exported $263 billion in revenue. To date, more than 250,000 of them are currently exporting, according to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Guitierrez.

“It’s especially important that our entrepreneurs and small business owners have the tools they need to take advantage of expanding international marketing opportunities,” he said at last month’s Small Business Administration’s International Trade Symposium.

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Hot Topic: The Rise of the Milliennials

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

While the New Year may usually bring a new start, businesses may find last year’s efforts trailing close behind – at least, those working to close generation gaps in their customer service and marketing efforts.

Born between the mid-1970s and 2000, the millennials have grown up surrounded by many forms of technology and media. A year ago, they were simply labeled as anti-corporate menaces, as they prioritized their own needs and self-worth above the workplace. But now, marketers had no choice but to acknowledge them as the next breed of consumers, as they take note of every behaviorism.

And while businesses know better than to ignore the millennials, they have yet to provide a full-fledged sales effort. Of the 164 business executives that The Economist polled in September, 54 percent said they did not have a plan to target, attract, or retain millienials as customers.

Such businesses may want to devise new plans that consider a few key characteristics of the milliennials:

  • They possess a great amount of spending power. About 80 million millennials born between 1982 and 2001 reside in the United States alone, outnumbering baby boomers, according to The Economist. Between them all, they possess billions of dollars in income.

  • They crave a community-based experience. More than two-thirds of the executives surveyed by The Economist found that millenials purchase based on peer recommendations and customer reviews. These executives also observed that milliennials appreciate companies that use their Twitters as an open forum, not just for sheer promotion.

  • They don’t just want instant gratification – they expect it. O’Neal Smitherman, Ball State University’s vice president for information technology, explained this to USA Today: “In the world today, we have the potential to know and to be able to access any kind of information that has ever existed. While you may not want to have all that information every minute, you do want to be able to access it whenever you need. If you happen to be riding on the campus shuttle bus, you can’t afford to be out of touch.”

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