Customers as ‘co-owners’ of the organization

In retailing the one-to-one relationship with the customers counts. Customers know what they want, and are not afraid to say it. So it is important that retailers communicate with them and involve them in every aspect of the organization, the customer is a ‘co-creator’. SVT Branding & Design Group has invented the 360°Service Retail Kit to become such an organization. It wants to create a service influenced by what customers want and need. It is important that the organization is consistent and keeps his promises, through which they gain the loyalty of the customers. The customers can react, give some pointers to improve the service. They are involved in the process, they become ‘co-owners’.

Hannah Dhaene

http://www.svt.nl/uploads/SVT%20Service%20Retail%20Design.pdf

Survival of the fittest

Most retailers suffer from the recession. The figures for November were not as good as hoped. Although there are a few who profit from this situation, because they innovate, they are tactically smart. Retailers are influenced by the consumer confidence, so they have to try to increase this confidence and stimulate demand. The consumers their needs chanced. They are very price-sensitive, so retailers have to make sure they offer merchandise of good value and low price. The key to success is to chance, innovate, reinvent their selves. Only the very best know how to do that, the others will have to try to survive in this though climate.

Hannah Dhaene

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article6955234.ece

Better listen to the crowds, or risk getting crowded out!

The customers have more and more power to get what they want. Now they can even take part in the production process. Online clothing retailer ModCloth and furnishing producer Myfab involve the online buyers in this process. The concept is the same. Everybody can go to their site, look at all the possible designs and choose their favorite. The most favorite item gets put in production.
Myfab's prices are 70 percent lower because no middleman is involved. Voters get first choice or an additional percent off.
This new trend is good for the consumers, because they feel more involved in the process, and for the producers because they have to make less guesses.

Hannah Dhaene

http://springwise.com/retail/modcloth/

Buyers want it eco-friendly!

Many retailers are interested in green initiatives not only because of the cost savings, but also because making such commitments helps to differentiate them from competitors. They are encouraged by this because people are now more than ever conscious of the environmental impact of what they buy. Therefore the customers want to know at all times if the companies to which they buy their products are at least trying to become more environmentally friendly. There are even people who have decided to take their custom elsewhere if the company would not measure up to that. As a result: eco-friendly companies will gain more trust of old and new customers!

Valérie Ipskamps


http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article5919739.ece

Zara is going digital

Zara, world’s biggest fashion retailer, will start to sell its clothes online next year. It is one of the last big fashion chains to sell through the Internet. The thought of selling Zara brand clothes online came at a time of declining retail sales in Spain. Spain, where Zara was founded, has been hit significantly harder by the downturn than any other European countries. Therefore the launch of online selling is an important strategic step for Zara. As there is a unique difference in the assortments of the stores in different countries, this progression in e-commerce makes it possible for customers to buy clothes tailored to other local trends and cultural differences.


Valérie Ipskamps

The power of the retailer

In order to adapt to the changes taken place in the market, the distribution sector has introduced a new business strategy.
Whereas, previously the sector placed its products among others in department stores, it now has discovered the power of the retailer. More and more wholesale brands want to use this power to immerse their customers in a true brand experience. For this reason they set up brand stores making it possible to experiment with new products and strategies ant get real time customer feedback.
Wholesale brands, such as Coach and Apple used this new way of approaching customers with great success.

Lien Dickele

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVdiewiZU64

Don't make your brand "not you"

When your product isn’t successful anymore, the immediate reaction is to reduce marketing expenditures or to try to regain market share. Neither will work. The best thing you can do is to go back at the time when the brand was invented and try to refine what your brand made successful. Take a hard look on what truly got you started, examine and refine your core brand and never forget the essential emotional connection your brand must make to each customer. If it doesn’t work on your own seek for help. Be true to what made your brand great and never lose sight of what makes you, your product and your service authentic and unique and remember: great brands aren’t reinvented, they are just continually improved and reinforced.

Anja Dhondt

http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/docs/DOC-1950