All Hail the Kings of Retail Leverage – Monster Cable
- Oct
- 25
- Posted by admin
- Posted in Blog, Brand Case Studies, By Vincent Young, Can't Be Ignored, Hot Product, Why You Need Leverage

The strategy is nothing short of genius – find a high-demand, high dollar consumer electronic product category and profit by selling the low-cost, high-margin accessories that complement the device and make it actually work.
read moreUnderstand Retailer Private Brand Strategy By Watching Football
- Apr
- 21
- Posted by Ben Smith
- Posted in Blog, Brand Case Studies, By Ben Smith, retail, Why You Need Leverage

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 moreWhat If Radio Shack Becomes Best Buy Mobile?
- Mar
- 26
- Posted by Ben Smith
- Posted in best buy, Blog, By Ben Smith, radio shack, retail, Why You Need Leverage

THIS IS AN EXCERPT. TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE, CLICK ON THE TITLE:
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 moreImplications For Marketers From Walmart Sku Reductions
- Feb
- 22
- Posted by Vincent Young
- Posted in Blog, By Vincent Young, Challenger Brand Strategies, Strategies To Offer Retailers Financial Growth, wal-mart, Why You Need Leverage
- 4

THIS IS AN EXCERPT.
CLICK ON THE TITLE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE:
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.
read moreHow Can Retail Leverage Help Garmin?
- Feb
- 15
- Posted by Ben Smith
- Posted in Blog, By Ben Smith, Challenger Brand Strategies, marketing, Why You Need Leverage
- 5

THIS IS AN EXCERPT; TO READ FULL ARTICLE, CLICK ON TITLE.
SUMMARY:
EVEN GARMIN CAN FEEL LOST:
Who wants to be the first to admit they don’t have the answer to a problem? What do you do when your product is becoming a commodity, and even worse, when others start giving it away for free?
Garmin, the maker of GPS systems, is getting hit with this double-whammy. The majority of their problems center on their Automotive/Mobile business segment, which includes the main product that comes to mind for Garmin, the portable GPS for your car. Just as Tivo has watched the cable / satellite companies erode their share with generic DVR’s, smart phones are poised to erode the stand-alone portable GPS business.
WHERE DOES GARMIN GO FROM HERE?
The central question for Retail Leverage and our readers is “What can Garmin do to gain Retail Leverage with its nüvifone line?”
read moreFive Retail Leverage Predictions for 2010
- Jan
- 30
- Posted by Vincent Young
- Posted in Blog, By Vincent Young, Challenger Brand Strategies, Predictions, Why You Need Leverage

THIS IS AN EXCERPT.
CLICK ON THE TITLE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE:
Five Retail Leverage Predictions for 2010:
1) The CMO Will Become the CCMO (Chief Customer Marketing Officer)
2) Creative Services Agencies Will Learn the Language of Retail
3) It Will Take a Village to Make Social Networking a Relevant Marketing Tool for Retail Leverage
4) “Co-operative Planning” Content Will dominate Newsstand Best-Sellers
5) The New “All-in-One” Brand Will Dominate the Retail Landscape:
If Coke Needs Retail Leverage Then You Do Too
- Jan
- 18
- Posted by Ben Smith
- Posted in Blog, By Ben Smith, Coca-Cola, Examples of Leverage, Hot Product, Revenue Leader, Why You Need Leverage

A KILLER APP FOR RETAIL LEVERAGE:
Coke’s Freestyle system hits on several of our 5 points in how to gain Retail Leverage.
#1 Have The Hot Product With No Substitutes
#3 Be A Top Revenue Vendor
TAKEAWAYS FOR ANY MARKETER:
No matter how big your brand is, you still need Retail Leverage
If they big guys need leverage, what does that say about the smaller challenger brands?
Figure out what you have to exploit that others don’t and leverage it.
If you don’t have something unique / different / better, then be prepared to move to the 6th, rarely spoken of, painful way to get Retail Leverage: Price.
To read the full article, click on the title!
read moreCES Is A Great Opportunity To Gain Retail Leverage
- Jan
- 03
- Posted by Ben Smith
- Posted in Blog, By Ben Smith, Why You Need Leverage

Let’s just say that I care enough about the total experience of CES that I would pay to go on my own if I didn’t get to for my job.
How Can You Gain Retail Leverage At CES?
I also believe CES provides a one of a kind opportunity to maintain industry connections, and more importantly, forge new ones.
So this is our invitation if you want to connect with us, talk shop, and discuss Retail Leverage strategies (or play craps – or both at the same time). When we have some downtime at the show, or after hours, the door is open. This invitation is to marketing and sales pros from CE brands, their agencies (PR, marketing, advertising, etc), and pretty much anybody looking to gain Retail Leverage. We hope to see you there!
The best way to contact us is via our twitter account (@retailleverage) or retailleverage@gmail.com .
read moreWill Your Brand Be Up To The Challenge At Best Buy?
- Dec
- 14
- Posted by Ben Smith
- Posted in "How To" Get Leverage, best buy, Blog, By Ben Smith, Challenger Brand Strategies, Why You Need Leverage

We here at Retail Leverage are big fans of Best Buy, so we were delighted when BusinessWeek took a look at Best Buy in the post-apocalyptic environment after the demise of Circuit City. While Walmart and Amazon are worthy foes, Best Buy is the only large national consumer electronics player left standing. However important Best Buy was before as part of the buying process – regardless of the final point of purchase – Best Buy is now ready to take advantage of its position.
If you are a challenger brand marketer (or an agency working with one) there are lots of takeaways.
To read the full article, click on the Title.
read moreCostco Minus Coke Illustrates Retail Leverage
- Nov
- 19
- Posted by Ben Smith
- Posted in Blog, By Ben Smith, Coca-Cola, Costco, What Is Retail Leverage, Why You Need Leverage

Coke and Costco are about to find out, together, who has retail leverage in this relationship. The only question is how long will it take? One party will eventually have to make concessions, or more concessions than the other guy, and for those of us keeping score at home, it should be obvious who the winner is.
Think about other categories. At its most basic form, Retail Leverage comes down to who needs who more.
To read the full article, click on the title link above.

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