What makes a successful merchant? Creativity? Brand awareness? Strong analytic skills? Or perhaps simply luck? While I am sure luck plays into any situation, it is the combination of the other factors that determines a merchant’s success. Although I am not a merchant in the creative sense of the word (I joke that I find […]
Love him, or hate him, Trump has captured the spotlight and is changing politics forever. Many of the tactics he is using can also be harnessed by catalogers to get their customer’s attention. Connect first, sell second Trump didn’t start out as a politician. America knew him first as a gruff real estate mogul who sometimes won, sometimes […]
This past holiday season several major retailers (Lands’ End, Ann Taylor, Eddie Bauer and more) all offered early and deep, 50% off discounts. I blogged about Lands’ End’s discounts at the time, from a creative perspective, in I can feel your desperation. The idea of big, BIG discounts early on bothered me, but I couldn’t […]
Dear Lands’ End, It started out well between us. I bought a few things, and yes some went back, but it didn’t mean I was angry or unhappy. I thought we were okay. I thought you were okay. I actually kind of almost liked the new catalog. Sure it was a little long on branding and […]
I remember debating the difference between real and ideal in a college philosophy class many moons ago. It really made me think about the pros and cons of each. Looking at the costs and benefits of real and ideal still comes in handy, because balancing real and ideal is a big part of my job as […]
Design matters. I believe this with all my heart. In my 30 years of working with brands large, small and in-between have only deepened my belief in this simple statement. Unfortunately, there’s too much bland design in the marketplace today… design that could and should be so much better. I’m talking about the kind of […]
It’s July and the Hallmark Channel is introducing the 2015 Christmas Ornament so you know it’s time for your holiday marketing checklist. You should be planning for a great 4th quarter (or 5th quarter if you are in the gift business) because the general outlook is in your favor. Consumer Confidence is up, and consumers […]
An axiom, or postulate, is a premise or starting point of reasoning. The word comes from the Greek axíōma, “that which is thought worthy or fit” or “that which commends itself as evident.” As used in modern logic, an axiom is simply a premise or starting point for reasoning. There may be many more axioms that can apply to merchandising. However, […]
We’ve been enjoying reading the CohereOne blog. Here’s a post from Allen Abbott of CohereOne. Allen recently joined us in the Cat-U Pub to talk about this same topic. Here’s the link if you’d like to see the video. We’ll keep the video free until 4/20/2015. We hope this gets your marketing juices moving! The […]
Every business needs to monitor key metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) that can easily be measured yet can quickly provide the overall direction of where the company is going, or if a part of the business may be going astray. Creating a dashboard of key industry metrics is critical to a company’s success. Keep […]