More Margin More Retail Problems?
- Jan
- 30
By Benjamin Smith Hand It Over! A retailer asking for more margin? Not shocking – or ridiculous. It’s a free country – you can decide if you want to offer more, or stare them down. Unless they have no respect for you or your brand, in most cases, when they ask for more margin they […]
read moreWhat 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.
STAINMASTER Carpet Goes Wall-to-Wall at Lowe’s
- Mar
- 01
THIS IS AN EXCERPT.
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While the STAINMASTER brand has considerable equity in the home furnishings and flooring industries, the team at INVISTA was able to gain distribution at the world’s second largest DIY/Hardware chain by thinking like a challenger brand and adopting two key strategies to gain Retail Leverage.
Retail Leverage Principle #1: Bring Pent-up Demand to Stores
Retail Leverage Principle #2: Offer Product or Program Exclusivity
Implications For Marketers From Walmart Sku Reductions
- Feb
- 22
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In order to effectively compete, challenger brands must learn to package innovative product offerings together with marketing programs designed to represent at least one of the following four forms of retailer financial growth:
FOUR WAYS TO OFFER RETAILERS FINANCIAL GROWTH:
1. Increase overall category demand
2. Increase the attach-rate of high-value complimentary items
3. Motivate a “trade-up” within the category
4. Help a given retailer win the war against another retailer
The most difficult thing for brands like Glad and Hefty is viewing themselves as challenger brands when their histories have been more reflective of the rare “power” brand.
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