As you may have heard, I had the recent privilege to be the DJ at the 1980s-themed 6th-grade party for my son and his friends. I had a great time compiling the music, taking requests from the kids and sharing the whole experience with my friends online.
So, as promised I am publishing the final list. It peaked at 17.1 hours and I finally got it down to 7.9 hours for the 2-hour party. I’m glad I had it all with me—the kids know their music very well and kept me on my toes.
Woke up this morning to see a new little icon at the top of my DroidX screen. The pull-down asked, "Free time today? Why don't you make an appointment with Dr. Aukerman?" When I went to the task screen, it asked "Are you ever going to do this?" I've been playing with several task apps, trying to figure a way to integrate this into my Google-centric productivity world. Of all of them, Astrid seem to stand out not just because it has a voice and personality, but because the personality seems to come from it's core functionality, moving it beyond a mere application. It remains to be seen if I actually use it, but it was a nice moment that moved it ahead of the pack (and prompted me to write this).
Date: Friday, April 1, 2011, 6:00am EDT
Retailing & Restaurants, Agriculture
Retailers are expanding to a town not likely near you.
As the retail climate improves, some national and regional chains are revving up growth plans for the region, but the target is beyond Columbus and its suburbs.
“Convenience, value and choice play as well in more rural areas as it does in suburban areas,” said retail consultant Chuck Palmer of Grandview Heights-based ConsumerX Retail. “Everyone is looking for the ‘new normal.’ The suburban rings are saturated, so most are looking urban or rural.”
Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears Holding Corp. and Rural King Supply Inc., out of Mattoon, Ill., are two companies looking beyond the suburbs. Sears opened a new Hometown division store in Johnstown this year and is planning as many as six more shops within a 50-mile radius of Columbus this year, while Rural King plans to open a store in Marion this summer.
“Our growth is dictated by demand,” said Gary Hoyle, Sears’ regional development director.
Sears had independently owned catalog stores until 1993, when it converted around 150 of them to the Hometown model, Hoyle said. Ohio is home to 23 of the stores, run by independent dealers of Sears’ most popular brands, and it’s looking at towns like Hillsboro, Wilmington and Circleville for new stores. The division has grown by 40 to 60 stores annually to reach 907 total, accounting for more than a third of the 2,191-store chain.
Hometown stores are authorized dealers of Sears products, not licensees or franchisees. Sears keeps the stores stocked, while the local owners run the operation, pay the bills and collect sales commissions. They don’t pay franchise fees or royalties.
The scaled-down stores typically are 8,000 square feet and are focused on four product areas – appliances, electronics, tools and home and garden. Owners can use Sears’ delivery and service network or opt to do their own.
“Brands like Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard – there’s lots of loyalty there,” Hoyle said.
He said the Hometown model is a good expansion opportunity for Sears since the company incurs no overhead from running the stores.
“Rural growth makes sense because it’s not saturated,” Palmer said. “If you look at their buying power, you’ll probably see it’s an underserved market.”
Palmer said Walmart stores have long been dominant in rural markets, but its superstores can require customers to drive farther than they may want.
“This is as much about competition as it is about coverage,” Palmer said.
The rural movement may say as much about available real estate as it does about demographics.
Rural King is taking over a nearly 73,000-square-foot former Lowe’s home improvement store in Marion, said Eric Eldridge, an agent with Columbus-based Gilbert Group Inc. Lowe’s had moved its Marion store to a new site nearby.
The chain, which has 47 stores in seven Midwest states, has snatched up abandoned big boxes in the Louisville, Ky., market as well, according to a recent report by Columbus Business First sister publication Business First of Louisville. The company did not return calls for comment.
Rural King targets the agricultural market with livestock feed, farm equipment and parts, but also sells lawn mowers, work clothes, housewares and toys. Its Ohio footprint remains small, with the Marion location its third in the state following sites in Wooster and Van Wert.
Another home and hardware player with its sights on Central Ohio is Eau Claire, Wisc.-based Menard Inc., which has opened stores in Marion and Lancaster in recent years, but is moving toward urban and suburban areas rather than away.
“They’re another alternative,” Palmer said. “They’re going into some places where others are not going.”
The company is nearing the opening of its Northland Village store on Morse Road, on a site that once drew the interest of Home Depot, has purchased a site on East Broad Street near Reynoldsburg once intended to be a Walmart, and is in the rezoning process for a site near Polaris in Delaware County.
Palmer said discounted real estate opportunities are there for the taking. Hoyle said Sears tries to get Main Street-type locations in the towns it targets, but is open to strip centers and other sites.
“It’s a buyers’ market out there,” he said. “We’re definitely seeing better deals than we were three or four years ago.”
614-220-5462 | deaton@bizjournals.com
Read more: Retailers fanning out as they chase real estate deals, willing shoppers | Business First
My Target now has a serious grocery offer.
It includes fresh produce and an expanded frozen and packaged goods assortment. This is part of the PFresh renovation project that Target has been undergoing, reconfiguring stores to capture more families’ food dollars and adjusting the floor plan to be more open and shoppable.
And by “MY” Target, I mean that. I don’t usually get this personal in my store assessments, but this is a special case. My family, friends and neighbors spend a good deal of time and money at this store. Like many Target customers, we have an emotional connection to this store and are glad its gotten a broader offer and reorganization.
We live in Grandview Heights, Ohio, a first-ring suburb of Columbus. This Target has been a godsend in this quasi-urban retail desert of the city’s core. Opened in 1996 on an old HVAC manufacturing site, this Target at Lennox Town Center serves as an anchor on a strip that includes an AMC Theater, Staples and Barnes & Noble.
Experience Shots
The main drive aisle terminates with the grocery offer. It doesn’t look all that different, but feels fresher and more open.
Departmental feature walls take lifestyle message to the ceilings, providing easy sight lines and navigational cues.
New walls vary in height and give you a sense of the whole space without it feeling overwhelming.
Gondola configuration has gotten creative. Feature areas and endcaps, varying heights stop the eye and invite you in. This could seem chaotic and messy, but the variety is a welcome change.
Fashion merchandising orients to the aisle and invites us in. Low inventory levels at this time of year make it a bit easier to provide all that negative space, but it is a nice touch. The use of photography in the large-format back wall display anchors each area within the department.
The perimeter walls of large format boxes are always a retail design challenge. The use of tonal color variations and pendant lamps are a clever touch that elevates the fashion departments just enough.
The addition of touch-screen digital technology is a nice addition. Appropriate in the gaming department, this display feels like it belongs at Target (in-store digital seldom is on-brand) delivers cross-platform/brand information and connects with you outside of store by offering to send you emails or texts about the products you were interested in during your experience. We have yet to see a just-right integration of digital/mobile merchandising within the store or an appropriate promotion of those digital assets in the store.
Seriously? I don’t need to give Target any more kudos for design—that’s a given—but English is one of my pet peeves. There are plenty of copywriters in the world that could have written a better question.
The new layout re-aligns departments nicely. The new department adjacencies flow well one to the next, aiding in the overall customer journey. My personal favorite is men’s fashion next to games next to electronics next to toys. Now that’s my kind of customer journey.
Consumers are writing new content every moment of every day. What are they writing about you?
“It’s constant. It’s a constant conversation. We have customers and they have customers. We have employees and staff, shareholders, strategic partners, vendors and the community at large. Thankfully I have a group of very talented and dedicated staff and they work with equally talented and creative companies that help us tell our stories and keep up the conversation.”
We are entering a co-authoring age.
The above quote was from a recent project in which we were bringing to life the needs of today’s marketing leader. In this aggregate persona, I defined the need for a brand to develop a strong core positioning and message hierarchy in order to keep the co-authored story “on brand”.
The very notion of “on brand” is becoming outdated as more and more our customers are writing stories about our brands. If we are not proactive, we might find others writing our stories—and in turn that which prospective consumers believe—for us.
How do we co-author? There are thousands of ways to do this, but the first and foremost thing to do is understand who your best customers are and the nature of the shared experience you want with them.
Questions? Call me.
So there you have it.
I’ve been a Verizon customer for many years, mostly because of their golden-handcuff approach to incentives. (I have come to appreciate the reliabiltiy of the network) I’ve compared over the years and the cost of changing always outweighs the cost of staying. Funny how that works.
But, I have to say, that I have always felt manipulated; I resent it, but that’s the way it is, right? It’s not like we’re in Japan and we can switch out our SIM card.
Now, consumers (we) have a new way to decide: I want an iPhone and I can compare and choose which carrier to use. Maybe even Sprint or others who also rely on CDMA. Very interesting.
They have even added one new feature AT&T's version lacks: The built-in ability to use it as a wireless hotspot and connect up to five additional devices. The average consumer may not be sure how they will use this, but once its in their hands they will find ways.
But alas the old model is still there. HUGE punishment if you want to change your mind: Existing AT&T customers who want to switch carriers will need to purchase a new device -- and they'll face early termination fees of up to $325 to break an ongoing contract. Not that Verizon is above similar policies.
That said, I’m optimistic about the long-term implications for consumers. More and more, we will question and demand more control over these purchases and not take for granted that the hardware and the software have to go together.
Source: CNNMoney: Verizon iPhone will go on sale Feb. 10 - Jan. 11, 2011 http://bit.ly/eIWRQm
You knew it was going to happen: the check in service that checks in to all your check in services.
On a recent RetailWire query, the question was posed about the relevancy of location based services (LBS) and their potentials. Here are my comments.
Gowalla boasts that you'll "find inspiration to explore the world around you while picking up rewards." Similarly, Foursquare says that it's "a mobile application that makes cities easier to use and more interesting to explore. But are check-in services like these providing enough value to attract consumers?
The novelty is waning. We early adopters are playing with these things to see what the potential may be. BUT, do we represent a brand's best customers? Likely not.
The ideas these services put forth are exciting, but it is behavior that will turn into real dollars. Discounts are driving these things now, which is a step beyond the game mechanics. We have already seen discount fatigue on both sides of the offer equation (Groupon) so we will see innovation on the offer side. It's just good consumer marketing--new versions of Green Stamps and the Blue Light Special.
Shopkick's experiment with Macy's, Best Buy, Sports Authority and American Eagle makes lots of sense. Key retailers in key categories important to the lives of the masses. While it's not really consumer-centric, that's one to keep an eye on.
Facebook's combination of Deals and Places has the most potential to create real value for consumers. Facebook already is embedded in our engagement streams--the behavior exists as opposed to disrupting a visit to Target or Kroger with a cumbersome check in on an unfamiliar platform. Tap into that rich and deep stream of consumer data and craft truly relevant engagements and you got something sustainable.
Originally published on RetailWire: I'm the Mayor! So What? - Retail News.http://www.retailwire.com/discussions/sngl_discussion.cfm/14977
