[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n
As we wind down from the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight to the Final Four, another great sales promotion season winds down to an exciting finale. I was wondering what retailers did for a sale event before the NCAA and the television networks decided to make the college basketball tournament a national reason for yet another series of sales and promotions called March Madness. I guess they were Easter Sales back then when it was politically correct to tie in with a religious holiday (even though the bunnies and chocolate eggs had no religious symbolism at all.)<\/p>\n
But here we are with Buick being the official car of March Madness and retailers in every category are trying to capitalize on a basketball tournament to drive people into their stores. As if any store really has a \u201cshot from downtown\u201d to convince a customer to make a trip to the store for \u201cjust another store.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s interesting that none of the big box schools who were favored to win it all this year are no longer in the big show. Not so in the retail world where the best brands continue to do well and don\u2019t need to rely on another fake sale to make their numbers. Case in point: Home Depot and Lowe\u2019s. An article in the St. Petersburg Times, asks \u201cwho\u2019s your home team?\u201d The article compared the two giant home improvement retailers. Sure, they do a lot of the same things from the size of their stores and offerings to the competitive NASCAR teams that each sponsor. Some say the only difference is that one is orange and the other is blue (Go Gators!). But the article (and the customers) explain that there are a lot more differences that the color of the aprons. Lowe\u2019s developed a brand strategy long that recognized that women were as important \u2013if not more important\u2014in the buying decisions for home improvement than their male counterparts. With an expanded commitment to appliances, a more comfortable environment, and targeted communications, Lowe\u2019s gradually has eaten into Home Depot\u2019s dominant market share and now does just slightly under the sales-per-store volume ($37.7MM vs. $40MM for Home Depot). Both retailers have been outstanding examples of brand strategy and execution- although Home Depot took its eye off the ball in terms of customer service a few years ago thus giving Lowe\u2019s an opportunity to scoop up some share of market. Now Home Depot has recognized the importance of the female customer and is back on track to the tune of $81.5 Billion in sales annually.<\/p>\n
Does that mean it\u2019s really down to the Final Two in this retail tournament? What about Ace Hardware, Sherwin Williams, and others? Well, they certainly can\u2019t compete in size, but they can provide the kind of personal customer service and convenience that the big boxes can\u2019t. There\u2019s a reason why chain drug stores prosper even though the Wal-Mart\u2019s ,Target\u2019s and Costo\u2019s sell everything they have for less. It\u2019s called a brand strategy that provides personal service and convenience. If the smaller hardware and home improvement specialists focus on their niche and don\u2019t get caught up in the March Madness of another sale event, they can prosper. Then again, there\u2019s George Mason U.. Who\u2019d a thunk it??\u2028Ken<\/p>\n
PS \u2013 GO GATORS<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] As we wind down from the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight to the Final Four, another great sales promotion season winds down to an exciting finale. I was wondering what retailers did for a sale event before the NCAA and the television networks decided to make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":502,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions\/502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}