Product Specification: A Shield in the Battle Against Private Label at Retail
- May
- 12
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As long as I can remember, only two brands of toothpaste have mattered – Crest and Colgate. I use Crest. Why do I use Crest, you ask? Because, as a very young child, our family dentist used Crest during my annual check-up and he then gave it a tacit recommendation that we should be using it too when he gave me a sample tube of Crest (along with floss and a new toothbrush). From that moment on, my Mother would look for the Crest brand of toothpaste for our family to use. When a brand is either directly or indirectly specified as “appropriate for optimal effectiveness” by an expert or by a complimentary good, then your brand’s ability to wield assortment, pricing, and promotional power at retail increase significantly. Sounds like a recipe for Retail Leverage (or inoculation against private label).
So how do you protect yourself?
read moreThe Concept Of Retail Momentum: Feed The Beast Or Lose It
- May
- 09
THIS IS AN EXCERPT: TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE, CLICK ON THE TITLE.
WHAT IS RETAIL MOMENTUM?
Now look at momentum from a retail perspective. Here at Retail Leverage, we’re defining Retail Momentum as when your sales velocity reaches critical mass. The definition works at all levels – it can occur in a single store, category, retailer, channel, or the entire market. Of course getting your sales to a high level and sustaining them is easier said than done. This is probably a good time to tell you this article isn’t about how to achieve a high level of sales and gain momentum. It’s about understanding Retail Momentum and ideas to keep from losing momentum.
read moreWant To Gain Big Dollar and Lots of Leverage In General At Retail? Look Closely To Find The Answer.
- May
- 02
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This article explores pushing the boundaries of your own retail comfort level and looking at channels that aren’t necessary alternative, because they are already selling products from your category. I’ve got 2 great examples of retailers in this story – and as the title suggests – they might hold the key to big dollar and lots of leverage in general!
read moreUnderstand Retailer Private Brand Strategy By Watching Football
- Apr
- 21
I never pass up a good analogy to help myself understand a complicated story, and spice up a boring one. The growing use of private brands (or private label) by retailers has become the key story of this new era in retail marketing. There are so many different stories and perspectives floating around, I think what gets lost in the buzz is the underlying reason of why retailers have turned to private brands. So what does retailer’s private brand strategy have to do with the NFL?
read moreThe Retail Leverage Principle of Physics – When Two Opposing Brands Are Better Than One
- Apr
- 19
By Vincent Young Most categories at retail have room for a “good-better-best” stratification of category players. In today’s culture at retail, the retailer is predisposed to seek ownership of the “good” position by introducing an opening price-point category alternative under a private label or house brand. As a result, branded suppliers typically feel compelled to […]
read moreWhat If Radio Shack Becomes Best Buy Mobile?
- Mar
- 26
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So the rumor is out there – Radio Shack could be on the market, and Best Buy’s name has been tossed out as a suitor – we wanted to share our perspective on what it could mean. Best Buy and other retailers are known to be taking learnings from European Retail and applying them in the US. Best Buy’s own acquisition of Carphone Warehouse in the UK in 2008 could serve as a model for a potential acquisition of Radio Shack. While there are approximately 61 Best Buy Mobile stand alone stores in the US today, there are over 6,000 Radio Shack locations when you combine company owned stores, franchies, and wireless kiosks.
read moreHome Depot Builds Something Too Big To Ignore
- Mar
- 22
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WATCH & LEARN – HOME DEPOT DECLARES BLACK FRIDAY IN APRIL:
The fight for Retail Leverage doesn’t end with brands duking it out in the aisles. Retailers take it outside, fighting their own battles. If you think unemployment, the real estate market, and tight credit has hurt sales for your brand, imagine how that rolls up to create a desperate environment for the retailer. While the home improvement sector in retail is still fragmented, the two resounding leaders are Home Depot and Lowes.
Home Depot, in a bid for some Retail Leverage of its own, and in an effort to drive year over year sales growth, has declared “Black Friday Is Back”, creating their own retail big event.
To read more, click on title.
read moreWarning! Brands at Retail – Your Product Development Process Is Harmful To Your Health
- Mar
- 18
This is an excerpt; To read the full article, click the title.
SUMMARY:
Typical 5 Step/Gate Product Development Process:
1. Discovery/Scoping
2. Building the Business Case/Plan
3. Development
4. Testing & Validation
5. Product Launch
This process has one major flaw if you are a brand whose business case is primarily built on accessing the consumer through the world of retail – the retailer is predisposed to prefer a private label solution …
read moreMobile Marketing In Minneapolis And What It Means For Your Brand
- Mar
- 15
This is an excerpt. To read the full article, please click on the title.
SUMMARY:
TARGET LEVERAGING MOBILE COUPONS
BEST BUY LEVERAGING SALES LEADERSHIP IN SMART PHONES
Finally, here are 3 things brands can do to improve their mobile marketing efforts:
Optimize your brands website for mobile. The goal is to help consumers find info about your products from their mobile phone, without regard for where they actually purchase it.
Improve / increase your presence on your retailers website. If you have a brand showcase on a retailers website, investigate its mobile appearance / functionality.
Optimize search on the retailers website. Yes you have to pay for this. Others are already doing it. It is only going to increase in importance.
What Is The Retail Blue Ocean Sales Strategy?
- Mar
- 10
THIS IS AN EXCEPRT; TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE, CLICK ON THE TITLE
SUMMARY:
I don’t know if I’m suggesting something as radical as the authors of the book “Blue Ocean Strategy” would suggest – I’m merely advocating you change the channel by looking beyond your existing business. That being said, pursuing new channels does have some similarities to the core philosophies shared in “Blue Ocean Strategy”. Think about your existing retail channels in context of the Red Ocean Strategy below, and then look at the Blue Ocean Strategy. It makes a Blue Ocean Strategy in retail seem worth a shot.
Key Benefits To Pursuing An “Alternative Channel” Strategy:
1) If you successfully develop new customers, you lessen your dependance on existing customers
2) Experience serves as a “Learning Lab” where you can test new ideas & apply learnings in your existing channels
3) Opportunity to create new demand for your product by positioning it for specific applications / uses
4) Growing sales in new channels may help lesson impact of seasonality in your existing channels
5) Buyers / merchants tend to stay within the retail industry – your new friends may pop up in your existing channels down the road.
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