Macy's becoming a mall of their own

Ralph Lauren recently opened a large "shop" in Macy's Herald Square, nicknamed the Polo Palace because of its size and aesthetics. It was paid for and staffed by Polo. Polo pays Macy's for the space , the staffing and a % of the sales. They join higher end labels that have opened this past year in herald square such as Gucci,Longchamp and LV along with some eateries. Is this the future for all Macy's, as they started with sunglass hut and now are launching feet firsts?

Animal Print Camo

Camouflage and animal prints are both hot for fall, but some brands have combined the two. The crossover look has hit several different channels and lines.  Below are examples from Men's, Women's, Children's, and Ladies swim from K-Mart to Macy's.  It will be interesting to see if the surf industry follows the trend.

KMart Girls 7-16 Dress

Macy's Denim and Supply Men's wear

 

Macy's California Waves Jrs Swimwear

Just thought he was cute and trendy!

Nordstrom taps Pinterest to generate sales

Nordstrom has launched a new marketing campaign focused on connecting top "pinned" styles with their consumer

The marketing assets consist of a sign calling out the message or purpose of the campaign. Small Pinterest logos are then placed with the top trending items. 

Nordstrom gathers and analyzes this information through the mobile application "Microstrategy". This app is a enterprise class mobile application platform which allows its users to create apps designed for processing internal , external, and 3rd party information. 

Currently "Pinterest, Top pinned items" is functioning on a pilot store incentive. Further expansion will be based on performance of the campaign. 

Specialty stores drive business!

SIMA uses new methodology in annual report on surf/skate retail sales

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 6 June, 2013 : - - The U.S. surf/skate industry saw $6.07 Billion in retail sales for all channels in 2012. Results from the 2012 Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA) Specialty Retail Distribution Study, a third-party research study conducted by the Leisure Trends Group (LTG) and commissioned by SIMA, show core product categories holding strong as specialty retailers remain optimistic about the future.
 
The 2012 SIMA Specialty Retail Distribution Study focuses on a detailed look at the core surf and skate specialty retail market. This core channel captured $1.46 Billion in sales in 2012, with specialty retailers driving surf and skate sales across the country.
 
“The overall goal of the 2012 SIMA Specialty Retail Distribution Study is to present a multi-dimensional picture of the U.S. surf/skate retail industry, individually and collectively, so that SIMA member companies can objectively evaluate their categories, develop strategies for future sales and product development, and understand where opportunities exist,” said Doug Palladini, SIMA President and Vice President & General Manager, Americas, for Vans.

Non traditional surf brands jumping on the surf bandwagon

It seems that when Summer rolls around all brands feel the need to do surf. Here are some traditional urban and preppy brands doing their interpolation. Sean John, Roca wear and Tommy Hillfiger.

Keep A Breat Foundation: Brand Experience

Like several other non-profits and non-retail organizations, Keep A Breast has the challenge of charming its donors, partners, and target audiences on a personal, constant basis.  So to complement its event-based schedule of events, the organization set up a pop up shop for a month in Encinitas, CA.

The shop allowed guests to experience the Keep A Breast brand in a way that creates a larger impact.  An Airstream was converted into a temporary galleria to show some remarkable breast players.  The store’s merchandise assortment went well beyond the typical products, to include cool cut and sew garments and custom posters.  Mood photography lined the walls while old school music bellowed from a retro turn table.  They offered free educational materials comprising a door hanger with instructions on how to do a self breast exam, the organization’s magazine, and of course those iconic bracelets.

Visitors really got a feel of the Keep A Breast brand mission, values, and personality through the Pop Up Shop. It also encouraged more people to get involved and become supporters. They really set a great example of how to bring a brand to life and engage people with little effort.
There’s nothing like an in-person experience to make a memorable, motivating brand impression.

The Importance of Social Media

 

     The social media presence is not going away, and now days people are spending more time connected online than ever.  Increasingly our retailers and competitors are making an online presence, and are reaching consumers locally and globally in the millions daily.
    Here are some of the facts for 2012:
(Facebook)

• Monthly active users now total nearly 850 million, and 23% of Facebook's users check their account 5 or more times daily.
• More than 1 million websites have integrated with Facebook in various ways.
• 80% of social media users prefer to connect with brands through Facebook. 

(Instagram)

• There are 8500 likes and 1000 comments by Instagram users every second.
• As of May 2013, Instagram hit 100 million active monthly users.
• More than 40 million photos are uploaded to Instagram daily.
• 40% of brands have adopted Instagram for marketing, and of the top brands, 20% surveyed had 10,000 or more followers.

(Pinterest)

• American users of Pinterest spend an average of 1 hour and 17 minutes on the site. 
• Pinterest referrals spend 70% more money than visitors referred from non-social channels.
• 69% of online consumers who visit Pinterest have found an item they've bought or wanted to buy, compared with 40% of Facebook users.
• 25 % of Fortune Global 100 companies have Pinterest accounts.

     More specifically, many of our retailers are using Instagram as an avenue to promote their own business, and at the same time, are defining what brands are cool to their local consumers with their posts.  Accounts like Jack's Surfboards, Spyder, Val Surf, HSS, and Surfside (among numerous more) upload information daily such as sale specials they are running, new product that has arrived, or any other events they may be hosting.  Just among the accounts listed above nearly 14,000 followers are reached, and that's just a handful of retailers in Southern California.  As a brand looking to broaden our reach, diversify our consumer base, and appeal to the trend-setting youth, we need to continually grow and evolve our social media presence, be conscious of how our retailers are promoting our brands through their channels and what is in demand with our followers/consumers.

(All Social Media Data, The Huffington Post. Image Screen Grabs, Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram.)