Category — Retail

Customer loyalty is the centerpiece of Kroger’s simple path to growth. By Don Henry. Years ago, when Joseph Pichler announced he was leaving the University of Kansas Business School to join Kroger, Dave Dillon — a University of Kansas graduate himself–wrote him a welcoming letter. “Dear Joe,” he recalls writing, “I am so pleased you are going to be here, and we will hopefully learn this business together.”

When Dillon shared this story in a recent Supermarket News article, it revealed a man who valued loyalty in friendship and in work as a hallmark of his career. It’s that kind of loyalty that has led Kroger to impressive growth … read >>

Does your brand speak for itself? Building loyalty requires it. By Jayne Eastman. A “small-boy story” is a marketing positioning that is so complicated you need to send a small boy along to explain it. It’s lazy marketing — filling up the consumer’s time with so much information and so many product signals that you are essentially asking them to do the hard work of understanding what really is important about your brand and why they should care about it.

Small-boy stories are often the result of a lack of clarity about what is truly important to your target consumers, what will firmly attract and then attach them to your brand, versus what is irrelevant. We have become victims of too much information. We have learned so much about a market, a consumer, a need or a brand’s equity that it all ends up getting jammed into the positioning … read >>

Tide invites loyalty with a better retail experience. Granted, providing good service is not necessarily mandatory for some brands. Does anyone really need a help line for toothpaste or paper towel? Probably not.

But to the extent that every product — no matter how commoditized it may be — ultimately is sold in some kind of store suggests that some version of customer service could make a difference, especially where brand loyalty is concerned …
read >>

Nickel Treats, Pret A Manger and Showroom Showtime. A British fast-food restaurant with a French name hopes to build loyalty across the United States with a special focus on customer service.

Pret A Manger, which translates into “ready to eat,” starts by giving prospective hires a six-hour trial run, followed by a Survivor-style vote by co-workers. The 90 percent who make the cut are given “a thick binder of instructions” that tells them, among other things, to always be busy, sometimes give out free goodies to regulars and always share their “true character” with customers … read >>

The Great A&P, Brandwashed and LL Bean. Well before Walmart, A&P epitomized "the long-running conflict between corporate retailers and mom-and-pop stores," writes Patrick Cooke in a Wall Street Journal review of The Great A&P, by Marc Levinson (8/29/11).

A&P’s story actually dates back to "the teeming precincts of lower Manhattan in the early 1800s" when George Francis Gilman opened several tea shops called the Great American Tea Company. He later joined forces and expanded the brand with the Hartford brothers — John and George — and, with the arrival of the transcontinental railroad, re-named the enterprise the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company … read >>

Announcing the 2011 Hub Prize competition winners! From more than 80 entries, our distinguished panel of judges selected the 36 boldest and brightest ideas in retail and shopping excellence, which earned either Gold, Silver or Bronze medals. For a complete list of winners, in alphabetical order by prize level, click here.

Digital-media strategies must satisfy a hierarchy of needs and values. By Jason Rogers. Much has been said and written about the distinction between consumers and shoppers. We’re consumers every moment of our lives. We’re bombarded with marketing from the moment we awake and hear a deejay promoting a concert until late at night when we see a commercial for a new hybrid car. As a result, most consumers shut out all but the most engaging messages.

Shoppers, on the other hand, simply want and need something. New car, laptop or home? No question, shoppers are invested. Toilet paper, canned vegetables or after-school snacks for the kids? Hmm, maybe not as invested. Despite operating at very different ends of the consideration spectrum, there is a common denominator: Shoppers have a goal. The level of effort, enthusiasm and time they will invest is based on what that something is … read >>

Assortment optimization technologies create a better shopping experience. By Tom Young and Greg Orth. Successful retailers are rethinking the notion of carrying massive numbers of items on their shelves and realizing that their stores have unique consumer dynamics. Many owe much of their success to a shopper-centric approach that is easy to implement via assortment optimization technologies.

Walmart struggled to redefine the role of individual categories in its stores and the depth and breadth of product assortment choices. As a result, its (now-ended) item reduction initiative alienated many shoppers because Walmart did not clearly understand the degree of loyalty to particular products. Just because a product is a slower-moving item does not mean that it does not have a loyal following. Take organic soup, for example: It does not have high velocities relative to the category, but if it is not available, the shopper will leave the store without making a soup purchase … read >>

The Hub Magazine, Vol. 7, Issue 44. The entire issue of Sep/Oct 2011 edition of The Hub Magazine, centered on emerging media, featuring a cover story interview with Barry Judge of Best Buy.

Also featuring a roundtable on social media and shopping, with Dennis Maloney of Domino’s Pizza, David Sommer of Facebook, Kevin Biondi of Staples and Tim Austin of TPN and 13 other articles. download pdf >>

Break through the rational barriers with value beyond price. By John Meyer. Can you believe that the day has finally come when Walmart actually wants its shoppers to use coupons and match prices? Strategically, this is probably the right thing for them to do, but if you are a brand trying to break the hi/lo price game, it’s like the dealer feeding the addict.

Brand-building experiences should be created in three dimensions. By Mitch Blum. At first blush, it would appear that brand-building and filmmaking have little in common. Brand-building is rooted in reality, providing consumers with emotional and rational benefits for using a product or service. Hollywood blockbusters are rooted in fantasy, providing people with an avenue for escape from the doldrums of everyday life.