Category: demand

demand, exclusive product, four-wall, innovation, logic, magic, story telling, treasure hunt

Who Wears What? And Why?

datalovesinstinct

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When this spaceship arrives on our planet, what will we be wearing?

I wrote that line in late 2019 and this was a place holder for an idea that apparel as we know it was headed for a sea change.  Little did I know that the “spaceship” would be Covid-19 and our world was going to change for all kinds of reasons, including what we value to cover our bodies.  Comfort over fashion.  The Zoom Shirt.  Athletic shoes for socially distant exercise and an escape to the outdoors.  Slippers, lounge wear.

What comes next??  The ultimate test of instinct leading data, while capturing trends quickly.  Innovation.  No assumptions.  Calculated risk.  And feel good options.   Time to change.   We’re all explorers now.

brand loyalty, customer experience, demand, exclusive product

It’s About the Merchandise, Stupid.

datalovesinstinct

Like the proverbial exploding cuckoo clock sending springs and gears across the room, my original AppleWatch came off my wrist undone/sprung last week.   Horrors.  A major dependency in pieces!  Of course I was out of town.  Nothing to do but to hope it charged and strap it on as best as possible in the morning.  Of course I researched the problem.  Yes, it was a known issue.  No problem then.  A simple trip to my local Apple Store would provide the solution.  Meanwhile, I could still see the time, but no alerts or activity tracking.  It did provide a pathetic haptic tapping while using apple maps, but no visual sooo not so successful.

Made it home with a plan to head to a store mid week to avoid a long wait at the genius bar.  That part worked as expected. I was told I would be notified when someone would be available for me.  Hmmm.  That meant I actually had to keep an eye on my phone for a text because my kerflewy watch couldn’t do that anymore.  Reinforcement that it had to be fixed!   But then the genius sat me down and told me that my watch was old and past the point of free repair for the known issue.  If I wanted to send it out for repair at $249, it might work better but there was no guarantee of success.  The recommendation was that I purchase the newest version.  Now, I am a merchant by choice and by profession, so I knew there had to be a negotiation point in there somewhere…some kind of discount as I would not be in the market for a new watch if the old one hadn’t physically failed.  Summon the manager.  Who calmly sat down and reinforced the message of the genius.  The technology on the watch was dated and they were no longer supporting it.  My choice was repair or new, no trade in value of any sort.  😦  Guess who walked out with a new watch in hand.

That is the power of the merchandise.  The brand.  Being hopelessly addicted to Apple’s value proposition since the early 80s, I was unwilling to take a chance on a less costly brand’s replacement.  I knew no amount of waiting would change the price…I would only suffer from the disconnection.  The secret.  Provide the best product for your customer base.  Invest in constant improvements. Don’t yank prices around. And be consistent.  You will always win.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

customer experience, demand, discounting, marketing, profit margin

The Price is Right or Is It?

datalovesinstinct
notebook with dollar sign outline
Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

With easy access to comparable prices frequently in one’s pocket, the sport of paying as little as possible for products has become all consuming.  Add to that the constant inundation of email with coupon discounts, direct mail with coupon discounts, sites dedicated to accumulating discount coupons (and tracking behavior) and there is a free for all on the selling floor, a real FOMO on the rock bottom price. The marketing tool box is centered around wrenching prices vs. building and reinforcing a brand.

While this was in full swing during the holiday season, retail businesses were reaching the finish line in that race to the bottom.  Stores simply packed up and disappeared between Christmas and New Years leaving gaping holes in malls throughout the US.  The disappearing continues.

You get what you pay for.  And you pay for what you value.  If your customer doesn’t want to pay enough for a product to keep a business viable, natural selection goes to work and the business is “Darwined” out of existence.   Produce something unique.  Tell a compelling story.  Do your homework and find your audience.  And make sure the price is right to produce a sustainable profit or don’t get into business.

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conversion, demand, marketing, merchandising, story telling

Creating Demand

datalovesinstinct

Bicycles

As an economics major, the very first lessons involve supply and demand.  When demand increases, supply should rise to meet the demand without flooding the market with excess.  If that happens, the product becomes ordinary and the price lever is utilized in an effort to reduce the supply before demand evaporates altogether.

Designers begin demand creation by developing inspiring products, often working with merchandising and marketing teams for input.  Flattering silhouettes.  Appealing colors.  Uniquely useful items.  Faster, smarter, better.  Items that make a statement about the person consuming them.  Without exposing those things to an audience, the creation has no purpose.  Merchants are constantly searching for the fresh, new “stuff” with a target audience, price tolerance, profit margin and end use in mind, often guided by details in financial plans and working with merchandise planning teams.  Marketers are critical in getting the story of those products in front of the key audiences using both visual and analytical components for the best ROI.  All together, they create demand while walking the razor’s edge of the right amount of supply as well as product expansion opportunities.  When the demand for the supply has begun to downtrend, price reduction can be used responsibly to liquidate the excess quantities.

This all leads to the right product, at the right price, in the right quantities at the right time.  The ultimate endgame for creating demand and maximizing profit.  Otherwise, why bother.  Driving demand with the hi/lo pricing game may drive short term results, but will ultimately reduce profitability and shorten the life of a product prematurely.

demand, merchandising

Content + Commerce

datalovesinstinct

In a prior life, my role was to guide the selection and presentation of very specific product to a passionate enthusiast base.  Their positive response would drive profit and revenue to the business. Content was aspirational photography and detailed instructions and supplies in the same category of product but vastly varied aesthetics, size and difficulty levels. The challenge was telling a compelling story to entice and convince the viewer that they needed multiple versions of the product category because they would be missing out on something great if they didn’t pounce on it. Whether the offerings be colorways, patterns, specific prints, techniques, or an exclusive deep black fabric, they needed to light a creative fire.

Another adventure was in the world of childbirth and early childhood education, combining that with the best “stuff” in the business.  Working with IBCLCs, nurse midwives, early childhood education experts, child safety experts, and many others, we not only conducted classes online and in our center communities, but we culled through all of the unnecessary and unsafe product offered in a vacuum to uninformed parents and their friends and families.  Content was king, but commerce sealed the deal.  You could see the shoulders relax in a father who had been sent on an emergency errand to pick up a breast pump part when he walked into one of our locations.  Or the groups of brand new mothers heading out of a classroom with their babies and new friends in the exact same boat.

What is your content for your commerce?  Do your merchants, marketers and planners know how to set that stage for the theater that is retail?  Think about your business and ask yourself where that happens.  How does each channel function?  Do the product pages on your site provide inspiration, as well as all of the details that a customer needs to pull the trigger?  Do your emails or direct mailings drive traffic to all of your channels?  How are they richer in content than your competition?  Is there a sense of urgency created ?  Limited quantities, unique product properties?  Something beyond price?  I hope so.  Without the perceived value of information and inspiration, who cares.