Time for Retailers to Shop Around...for Customers!

All retailers have been going through this lengthy recession, and it has been ever so painful to many.

In order to survive, most retailers have needed to market frantically, to garner as much sales volume as possible. That approach was what it has taken to survive.

But, perhaps you have sensed it. The media certainly has been trumpeting it. The recovery in the economy seems to be happening.

It's now time for retailers to change tactics. 

Retailers must do to your customers what your customers have been doing to you for years: you must "shop around" for customers. 

Not all customers are good for you. And you must give yourself permission to lose the bad ones!

You see, it's not just the customers who have many choices of where to shop. Retailers can - and should! - be just as choosy about who they want as customers!

Now is the time for you to "trade-in" some of those more troublesome (and costly) shoppers.  Now that you have survived the recession, you must focus only on your best, most profitable customers. 

What will be the defining characteristic of successful retailers in 2013 and 2014? Those with the most profitable customers. And now's the time to start shopping around for them!

Want to know more about this? Go here on The ROI site to see how you can identify and focus on your best, most profitable customers.

Back-to-School Results "Soft". Hmm...Really?!

We were taken aback a bit by seeing that early Back-to-School sales are viewed as "softer than expected." 

Then, in contrast to that negativity, we saw this report:

"In August, American consumers were the most upbeat in more than five years. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index rose to its strongest reading since January 2008."

So, what's happening? 

Well, for one thing, the glut of apparel and small electronics available at deflationary prices continues to lower the average unit sale in most stores.

"Oh, so if sales are down 2-4%, I might actually be even with L.Y. in units sold?"  Right! 

A second "Big Picture" factor: basic demographics. Who produced that BTS market of 6 to 22 year olds? 

Oh yes! They are Generation X, born between 1962 and 1978. That small group born after the Baby Boomers and before the Millennial Generation. Generation X is a decidedly smaller group than those before or after them.

"Back-to-School sales are disappointing." Oh really?! Maybe they are actually darn good! 

And maybe all these converging trends help explain why retailing is forever challenging. And so much fun!!