Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Are You a Pinner, or a Doer?

    
        A perfect example of cross-promotional marketing; Michael’s Craft Stores are taking advantage of the pinning craze, and have teamed up with Pinterest.com to encourage customers to “not just pin it, but make it your own.”  The store has set aside prime floor space along the main aisles for the Pinterest displays, where the customer can pick up all supplies needed for featured DIY’s.  The customer is then encouraged to log onto Pinterest.com/MichealsStores to get the tutorial for completing the project. 

     For those not familiar with Pinterest.com, it is online tool for collecting and organizing images, crafts, recipes, etc. (think online inspiration boards).  The service is free, but does require creating an account.  As of July 2013, Pinterest has 70 million users with 80% of these are women.  The typical Michael's customers are also women and both businesses are built around the creative and craft industries, so it would seem it was only a matter of time before these two teamed up.

Friday, February 7, 2014

Jessica Simpson Swimwear: Inspired by L*SPACE?

Showing up this spring in swim shop in Macy's nationwide is the Jessica Simpson swimwear line.  Although this division of Jessica's line isn't new to her brand or Macy's the product has given their designs a revamp from the prior year and look to have taken a cue from designer swimwear brand, L*space in both their product styling but not in price. 


Flutter style tops by Jessica Simpson are similar to trends currently in the marketplace including L*space, retailing for around $64.00

Jessica Simpson is also offering a fringe top at $62.00 and tab side bottoms retailing for $42.00 as compared to L*Space who retails their tops for $86.00 and bottoms for $59.00



Quiksilver gets a shout out on This American Life podcast



This American Life, WBEZ Chicago, is a public radio broadcast that airs weekly, sharing stories to around 2.1 million listeners over more than 500 stations.

On the most recent episode, 517: Day at the beach Quiksilver board shorts received a shout out for the outstanding durable quality of their product.

The story can be found in  Act Two: Long talk on a short pier, a story told by comedian Sam Mullins; remembering back to his teen years, throwing a beach birthday party for his best friend at the time who happened to be a girl.  By the end of Sam finds himself quite embarrassed, half naked, and yelling for his Mom, and as Sam puts it "...because the good people at Quiksilver make too fine a product, and my trunks didn't rip..."

"...I had enough momentum from my heroic sprint that I was now sliding on the surface of the dock.  Now, had I just slid off the edge and into water that would have been totally fine, I would have been like, pshhh, that didn't even hurt I'm going to go get the ball now.  But that isn't what happened because, there was a nail up, and the nail cut me from here to about here, and about here it caught onto my bathing suit.  Now, had the bathing suit ripped and I fell in it would have been okay, even if it fully caught my suit and it ejected me from the suit naked into the lake I truly believe that I could have brought it back, and I would have been okay.  I would have been like, wow! What a freak accident, could you pass me my trunks I'm going to go get the ball now.  But, that isn't what happened, because the good people at Quiksilver make too fine a product, and my trunks didn't rip, so what happened was.."     --Sam Mullins, as told on This American Life
                 


Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Matthew McConaughey's new line of clothing- 'Just keep Livin' sold at Dillard's


New from Matthew McConaughey: JKL

When he’s not on the red carpet, actor Matthew McConaughey is known for his free-spirited often hippy-ish style. Recently, he’s translated that aesthetic into the new JKL just keep livin clothing line.

040813banner_mens_jkl

“JKL stands for just keep livin. In 1992, my father moved on, and just keep livin came to be,” McConaughey said in a release about the brand. ”It was about keeping his spirit alive and continuing to get incentive from the things he taught me. The tag line is a compass for me and serves as an approach to life: No matter where we’re headed, where the road takes us, what’s up ahead or what’s behind us, we’ve got to ‘just keep livin.’ That’s the philosophy. There’s a ‘just keep livin’ choice in everything we do and I’ve been the most satisfied in life when I’m on this frequency. It’s a big part of what we try to show the kids through our foundation and it’s the DNA of the JKL brand.”

Casually stylish with subtle functionality, each piece in the clothing line features proprietary AdvantEdge™ technology that may include:  fabrics that are  brushed for extra comfort or treated to be oil- and water-repellent; moisture controlling and quick-drying fabrics; UV protection; stretch fabrication for ease of movement;  secure and well-placed utility pockets or mesh insets and grommets for air ventilation.

And in addition to function, there’s philanthropy behind the brand. A portion of sales revenue goes to support the just keep livin Foundation, a nonprofit group McConaughey founded in 2008 to support after-school fitness and wellness programs, in inner-city high schools.

Tshirts retail around $35


And denim $90


Monday, February 3, 2014

The Good Guy Discount and other deals

For most people who have spent any amount of time in a retail environment we have all seen them, that shopper who is going to get a discount, one way or another.  This type of person is the epitome of a consumer and helps drive the retail marketplace through their purchases.  Recently though, news outlets are reporting more and more on unsettling trends, from consumers wanting something for just being "a good guy" to Dateline running episodes on how to use pushy tactics to attain a deeper discount.

Just before the holiday season kicked into high gear Dateline NBC ran a story which through hidden camera examples explained to viewers how to stretch their dollars through shopping markdowns and utilizing coupons, even if they are expired.

The hidden camera team followed an undercover shopper into a department store, who presented expired coupons to a store clerk and when denied asked to see a manager. After some negotiating the manager granted the discount and excepted the expired coupons.

Retailers and services that also have done this are Toyota and other Car Dealerships, Car Washes, and Major Department stores.  And yes, excepting an expired coupon may seem like a small deed unlikely to effect much of anything, but what happens when these small discounts effect a vendors profit margin?

Another example of retailers lowering the cost of goods is given in a recent episode of This American Life, where a story is covered of a man who received a 25% discount on a pair of expensive shoes for being nothing more than "a good guy".

The customer, asked to store clerk if there was anything he could do to help lower the cost of the shoes in question.  And to make the sale, the store clerk obliged.

The rate at which a discount is given depends on the retailer's caliber; more elevated doors simply doe not grant sales staff the power to take such discounts at the register.

In contrast, less premium doors have had staff admit to granting a customer any discount within reason (up to 25% roughly) a department store known for running regular promotions has had staff readily admit to giving any discount necessary when trying to get product out the door in order to hit their challenging sales goals.

In the long run, clothing brands are facing a marketplace where consumers are being groomed to expect lower price points and bargains as the cost of production continues to rise.  It will be interesting to see the long term results of these behaviors and how it effects the flow of distribution through different retail channels.