Second To None

Customers Getting Great Things from Kohl’s

By Kerry Colligan

Kohl's is one of the only retailers to show sustained growth this year. Q3 earnings rose 21% on increased sales volume and better margins resulting from inventory management changes and a marketing focus on exclusives like the Vera Wang line.

Managing the brand on both the operational and marketing fronts—as Kohl's is doing—is the core tactic behind delivering authentic brand experiences. As you might expect, Kohl's stock price is up 50% this year. What's more, a soon to be released... Continue Reading

Two ways to avoid selling out your brand this holiday season

By Kerry Colligan

This holiday season, price-based value is king. Customers still want an authentic brand experience and product quality that appropriately exceeds expectations. But we're all expecting price-checks in abundance. And unless you're Walmart, you're probably not going to make up margins on volume.

As a manager, you've got numbers to meet. When customers are entrenched, how do you meet your numbers without selling out the brand?

Know what to expect.

As the line blurs between online and... Continue Reading

The Next Chapter in the Book-Price War

By Kerry Colligan

Amazon, Walmart and Target are now limiting purchases of discounted pre-release books. Two weeks ago, the retailers began selling heavily discounted pre-release titles from Stephen King, John Grisham, Dean Koontz and James Patterson. The latest move is designed to prevent other booksellers from scooping up discounted copies.

Off-Target

Amid the 68% discounts, I'm wondering who the winners and losers might be. Amazon and Walmart have long-standing customer relationships built on... Continue Reading

Expect Social Nooks

By Kerry Colligan

Barnes & Noble doesn't have a fanatical customer base. No camping outside stores (Harry Potter excluded) or online shenanigans designed to show off B&N pride.

The availability of the Nook on November 30 could change that. Hysteria may be an overstatement, but B&N could steal the show this holiday season.

The Nook will go social/viral/crazy.

Unlike the Amazon Kindle/2, the Nook e-reader allows people to share books for up to 14 days. Sure, sharing promotes sales of the books and the... Continue Reading

Why do other airlines hate your bags?

By Kerry Colligan

With it's "Grab Your Bag, It's On" campaign, Southwest—the jetway's arbiter of fun—is artfully repositioning not only itself, but customer expectations of the airline industry. While other airlines are adding new fees, Southwest is hammering home its price-driven value proposition. Bags fly free.

Personification of your bags and carnival music aside, Southwest stands on a laundry list of "Best-in-Class" awards for operational efficiency including the #1 ranking for "Most Reliable Airline"... Continue Reading

A Confused Kind of Car Company

By Kerry Colligan

Whether you believe the demise of GM's Saturn brand to be none-too-soon or unfortunate collateral damage, its departure marks the end of a unique car-buying experience. (Roger Penske pulled his bid to purchase Saturn earlier this week, citing future production concerns.) As GM prepares to move forward with fewer nameplates, I wonder which lessons learned at Saturn will re-surface at Chevy or any of its cohorts.

GM's foray into "A Different Kind of Car Company" included new labor union... Continue Reading

How much is a free customer really worth?

By Kerry Colligan

Twitter today reported on its blog a “significant” round of VC funding led by T Rowe Price. (There were some 400 news reports citing it as of this writing.) Interestingly, Twitter has yet to define a plan to generate revenue, let alone profits.

A Bloomberg article cited the problem: we’re ten years removed from the first internet bubble, and Twitter pulls a $1B valuation despite no revenue or profits.

I know 25 million users in August is impressive. But so is the culture of free that... Continue Reading

Waiting on the Commerce Department

By Kerry Colligan

Consumer spending increased 2.7% in August.

Even after adjusting for the Cash for Clunkers program, spending rose 1.1% over July, 2009. That’s good news for sure. But pundits still urge caution on holiday forecasts or extending the positivism beyond the next Commerce Department report. Since consumer spending accounts for 70% of the economy, that’s certainly prudent advice.

We can’t help but be more positive than the pundits. We recently completed analysis of customer intercept data for a... Continue Reading

The Polygraph vs. The Experience

By April Ryan

Burger King's new ad campaign featuring NASCAR driver Tony Stewart will show Stewart submitting to a polygraph test in a series of commercials and an online webcast to prove the authenticity of his endorsement for the Whopper sandwich. That's a test that can only be successful when a customer has genuine attachment to a brand through the quality of its products and customer service.

As the current economic climate challenges retailers everywhere to prove themselves worthy of each... Continue Reading

The Hopeful Rebirth of Starbucks

By Jeff Hall

The cataclysmic shift taking place within the retail and restaurant sectors is touching every brand, regardless of target customer base, geographic markets, or longevity in business. Many experts predict the fundamental changes in consumer spending habits to be permanent in nature.

One of the upsides to current economic challenges is that they allow, and in many instances, force companies to evaluate their brand promise and value propositions. Survival and sustainability today is based on... Continue Reading