Multichannelling : Forrester's Latest News

Great piece from Tamara Mendelsohn at Forrester Research. You can get the full article here. But the couple of key points I was interested in:

• This year, 16% of all sales will be influenced by the research people do on the web

• 43% of all purchases will be made at a retailer different to that retailer with whom they did their on line research.

Traditionally, on line research has been limited to big ticket or more technical purchases. For example, over at Bleeding Edge, Jeremy has a great post on how you can save up to 40% when IT shopping. But how far will people go? To what extent will we start to see this in the mass merchants and grocery channels?

Seems to me that consumers are more discerning about how they can use the Web. They still crave the need for instant gratification (i.e. they want the item in their hands now, rather than waiting for it to be shipped) but use comparisons off the web to get the best price. I wonder how the elements of customer service and location still influence the shopper decision?

If you're not going to be the cheapest - you need to be better at something. Better service, better location, better availability of stock - what else? Its a big ask for retailers, but how can suppliers and distributors add to this process?

• Retail sales training - help the retailer convert more shoppers


• Product training - the more information the consumer has usually means they'll ask much tricker questions when in store. In store staff need to be prepared.
  
• Stock availability - either on the shelf/floor, in the warehouse or available within 12-24 hours.

Any other ideas?

Jason Wenn

Retail Sales Up for March

The latest ABS figures show that Australian retail sales increased in March by 1.1% The seasonally adjusted figure is A$19.03billlion. This represents the biggest gain in 11 months, largely on the back of department stores which increased by 3.6%. Recreational goods were up 2.3% and hospitality sales rose by 1%.

Looking for Some Good Industy News?

At JSA it's vitally important for us to stay in tune with some of the latest trends and research in retail, key account management and sales management.

A couple of great sites that you might like to check out:

• Retail Wire: a great site with some of the latest US news in retail.




• Kamcity: A UK site that has some excellent resources for Key Account Managers. Their newswire service and Something for the Weekend is always interesting.




• Trendwatching: Remember Yuppies, Dinks, Nimby's etc? Well these are the guys who think of those names. Every month they have a new one, some stick some don't. Visit them for the very latest in consumer behaviour




• Sales Machine: A great, often entertaining look at the world of sales and sales management. See their latest article on the Worst Sales Manager's Ever




• Zen Habits: I love this low impact blog on time and self management. Some excellent ideas. Well worth subscribing to. The best one I've seen.




• Presentation Zen: What is it with Zen? Well this is a great source on the latest presentation techniques and innovative ways to avoid Death by Powerpoint. Essential cruising for anyone who is presenting more than once per week.

We'll let you know as interesting pieces come up. But in the meantime add them to your favourites in Internet Explorer or subscribe to the RSS feed. We'd also love to hear of any your suggestions for our other readers.

Just post a comment below.



Jason Wenn

The Relentless Advance of Private Label

Boston Consulting Group have published a useful and concise article on the strategies of those manufacturers who are competing successfully with private label.

Some of the key poings strategies of those manufacturers are:

• They adopt a total category approach. More importantly their definition of the category tends to be broader than most - encompassing usage, demographics and occasion


• They have higher levels of investment in product quality and innovation


• They leverage their economies of scale in manufacturing and supply chain management to provide more SKU varieties at lower costs

BCG have produced a series of questions manufacturer's should be answering to help them understand how well they are and can compete with private label.

See the full article here.

Jason Wenn