Hello and happy 2010! Yes, we finally made it out of what many of us believe was the worst of the worst. I’ll spare us all the list of horrible things that happened in the marketing world in 2009 and jump right into the goodness that is already brewing in 2010.

First, it’s good see that the financial markets are responding well to upbeat manufacturing outlooks, low jobless claims, and some nice retail numbers.

The LA Times had a good piece on retail just a few days after Christmas in which they reported that retailers are saw increases in many sectors including electronics, jewelry, footwear, and men’s apparel. We are not talking about a huge spending boom, I do not think anyone was expecting there would be one, but what Kamalesh Rao, Director of Economic Research at SpendingPulse, calls “cautious spending” was obviously noticeable. Consumers did not splurge this season, but they certainly showed that they were not too afraid to spend. “The consumer traditionally has been the mechanism in driving recoveries. We have seen a bit of a rise in spending in the last six months, but not nearly as robust as in past recoveries.” says Carl Steidtmann, chief economist at Deloitte LLP. So while we are seeing an increase, the “v” recovery many bullish analysis have predicted may not actually occur. Major creditors, MasterCard and American Express did not see the spending they were hoping for, but reported an increase in consumer activity. It is believe many consumers opted to shop with cash this year instead of piling up the credit charges.

Major retailers will be releasing their December numbers later this week, so stay tuned for the news!

Now that the holidays are over, what should we be expecting to see Americans spend their money on? Well it might be worth your while to take a look at Lee Eisenberg’s new book, Shoptimism. A recent article in MediaPost echos the idea that America is “on balance” with what it buys.

Americans have four good reasons for buying products (that don’t put them into debt), Eisenberg writes and Kerry Hannon reports: Products make    them happy (e.g., ticket to a play or a trip to Paris); they transform them (e.g., a new hairdo); self-extension (e.g., Nike Air Max sneakers), and “everlastingness” (e.g., goods that in time will become an heirloom).

Maybe that is an oversimplification of the environment, nevertheless, Eisenberg makes a valid point. Consumers have identified with brands for decades, and the American consumer isn’t going to have a major paradigm shift in its brand love affair anytime soon. Building a quality brand, especially in retail, is extremely important, and that value will be made even more clear as we come out of this recession. The strong brands will be stronger, and the weak brands will go away.

It looks as though 2010 is off to a good start!

Have a safe, healthy, and prosperous 2010! We are looking forward to bringing you more ideas that build business this year!

Today an interesting survey was published by American Express that looks at consumer holiday spending and saving data.

We might have thought that the best of the holiday spending would have started and ended with Black Friday, but maybe there is still some hope for the remainder of the year. One of the best parts of this survey is how current the data is which gives a slightly different indication on market performance than other metrics.

Take a look at this article, I think you’ll find it interesting.

Search Reflects Online Demand: Where Are Your Peaks, Valleys and Holidays?

Which consumer market will show up on Black Friday in a down economy?  That is the reeling question every retail analyst wants to know before nervously waiting in the wings as an anxious observer.

Brick and Mortars Slow, but the Internet is Up to Speed

Shoppers in Millions: 195 (‘09) compared to 172 (‘08) – 13.4% increase
Avg. Spend per Shopper: $343.31 (‘09) compared to $372.57 (‘08) – 7.9% decrease
Avg. Online Order:  $170.19 (’09) compared to $126.04 (’08) – 35% increase

Preparation Is the Key

“Google reports that as consumers prepared to shop on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, they were doing their homework online first. Searches for ‘printable coupons’ were up 50%, for example.”

While analysts will always struggle to quantify the incoming waves of purchase intent, one canonical truth of marketing is yet more true year over year:  harnessing demand online is no longer the risk, failing to do so is.  Trends online represent the “immediate now.” Opportunities identified today can be dead tomorrow.  This is why consumers crave an “always on” approach  to search, display and social media from their favorite brands, as well as how brands leverage their market presence.

As with the Holidays, they are here for a minute – like the reported $5.6 million minute at 12:59 p.m. EST – and irretrievable thereafter.  The digital mobility required to capitalize on moments like these is earned day-by-day as search and other interactive marketing channels prepare their audience with broadening digital footprints.

It is the day-to-day transference and interaction with your audience in the places familiar to them, if just in the background, that train audiences, whether they are looking to find or be found by you.

Mountain biking is a hot summer activity and bike shops tend to be busy beginning late spring and into summer, but the digital season for buying and upgrading online is during the winter months while everyone is locked up inside. Often it is a counterintuitive observation that sparks a gain in market share while your competitors are slumbering through their self-imposed “off season.”

When are, and what are you doing with, your peaks and valleys of intent?
We can help you get ahead and stay ahead.

Links:

Don’t Mention the Lousy Economy

Shoppers Looking for Discounts

Holiday Shopping Budgets

What’s for dinner this Thanksgiving? A big pile of social media, that’s what!

This week NextBee Media released the findings from its annual holiday media survey and should we be surprised that social media spending is increasing? No, probably not, but what may surprise you is that 70% of the businesses surveyed said they are increasing their social media budgets by 18% while at the same time pulling back 8% from their traditional efforts. This is big for more than one reason.

First, social media spending is positioned to see its largest media buy ever. Call it the recession, call it going green, call it saving on postage, call it better targeting, call it whatever you’d like, the reality is that social media going to take on an incredibly important role this season for retailers. It’s believed that most consumers think they will find better deals or amazing coupons online, to respond to this companies are shifting their media strategies over to the more contextualized and highly indexed areas of social networks the single place where internet users are spending nearly 20% of their online time. Retailers hope to target these frugal shoppers with discounts, last minute promotions, and gift ideas.

Second, the fact that retailers are pulling back 8% of their traditional budgets is even more staggering. We are not talking about half a percent or even one percent, we’re talking nearly 1/10 of traditional budgets getting pulled during one of the most important advertising seasons of the year. It’s also believed that the majority of shoppers will have all their gifts purchased by December 7th this year which means shoppers are looking for discounts now.

This might be the big push social media marketing has been waiting for. The landscape of social media will change dramatically after this holiday season if retailers get the ROI they are looking for, but there is also fear among social networks that this new push will make social communities feel crowded by advertisments. We saw this happen with Myspace a few years ago when it was overrun by advertisers. Users jumped ship to Facebook and Twitter to escape the unchecked and unregulated spam that Myspace openly allowed at that time.

I’ll retouch on this topic once the dust settles in mid-January, but for now, all we can do is get our appetites, email accounts, and status updates ready for the sea of advertisments coming by way of our favorite social networks this Thanksgiving.

It is well-known in the HR world that the best employees you could ever want were your best customers first. These are the people who learned about your company on their own, invested money in purchasing your product or service, know the level of service that is expected, and understand your company’s culture.

The internet has only made this more true as consumers can now visit a brand as often as they like, get a detailed history of the company, learn about company values, and get information on the entire product line.

This opens the door to an interesting situation - What happens when your consumer knows more about your company than your employees? What if they can give better support and information about your products? What if they are more passionate about your company? What if you can’t hire them?

This is the future and it’s already happening. Companies are finding that there are customers out there who walk into their stores and know more about a company than the sales team. They are often more up-to-speed on products, future products, and ways to make the most out of the product or service.

Thanks to travel companies, like Priceline.com or Orbitz, users can get information from people who have actually experienced destinations, airlines, and hotels first hand.

Buying a car has changed. There are many sites devoted to detailed owner reviews and can make or break a purchase before the test drive.

Retailers are able to give more power to product owners as well. Best Buy has one of the most impressive databases for reviews of any electronics retailer website. Here customers not only decide which product is best for them, but they are also able to give candid and honest reviews to encourage others to make a similar purchase or to stay far away from a particular brand.

Technology and electronics companies can take great advantage of this and cut their technical support costs. One of the biggest supports of this idea is Apple Inc. The iPhone makers website is full of customer generated technical support and tips on how to get the most out of Apple products.

By allowing customers to have this power and influence, you start to show them that you care enough about their experience that you’re willing to expose your company to negative reviews. This helps to foster a good relationship with consumers and will also provide you will feedback, exaggerated or not. If you’re not allowing your customers to use your website as a forum to talk openly about your product or service, it might be something to start considering. Trust is key, and there’s something powerful about allowing your customers to speak openly to others on a site sponsored by your brand.

Read the ful article from Forbes.com

A few weeks back, I mentioned premium brands - how premium brands can maintain a premium image in a down economy. Some of these brands have decided to give special deals and run limited promotions to stay afloat, but not Restoration Hardware - they are premium to the bitter end.

This week, Restoration Hardware will raise retail prices around 25% on average across their entire line of home furnishings in an effort to say, “We are premium!”

After seeing a near 20% drop in sales, a reflection of the down housing market, the strategy is to boost the brands reputation of quality craftsmanship and boost the price to match the quality. There is a fear across the industry about devaluation of brands, one that Restoration Hardware hopes to fight by building a campaign around design, the highest quality materials, and a relaxed high-end luxury.

To do this, Restoration Hardware has changed their media plan and will now be running ads in luxury publications like Architectural Digest, Haute Living, and Vanity Fair. The direct marketing efforts are changing too. Restoration Hardware is famous in the industry for their seasonal catalogs, and now they will be getting an upgrade - higher quality paper, full bleed, and unique page sizes will feature designers and their products carried by the home furnishings retailer.

So will it work? This new strategy will either push the brand to new heights and place it in the realm of Baker Furniture and Karges, or it will result in self inflicted brand death. There will always be a market for high-end products, but Restoration Hardware has not built its success on just well-to-do consumers, and this strategy may alienate one of the core targets. Even CMO, Ian Sears, suggests that if this radical approach doesn’t work, he’ll likely be out of a job without much delay. We’ll just have to wait to see how the brand does through the holiday season in to the new year!

This week, Kronos Inc. reported some good news that may point to economic recovery, but shows that we have a long road ahead.

According to job data analyzed by Kronos Inc., retailers increased the number of new hires by 0.25% from just seven months ago, hiring nearly 3% of those who applied for a position. Still, retail hiring rates are half of what they were in 2006, but at least the signs of recovery are appearing.

While this is commonly one of the most important factors that will show recovery because our economy is built on consumer spending, this data also indicates that discount retailers are hiring the largest percentage of applicants, showing that while consumers are spending again, they are spending less and their habits may have changed for the long-term.

With the coming holiday season, retailers typically bolster up their sales and customer service staffs, which may cloud the true state of retail well-being. A better understanding of the retail environment can be expected this next month when retailers begin to higher seasonal staff.