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There isn\u2019t a presentation that I do or a discussion that I am involved with in this retail marketing and branding world which doesn\u2019t come down to a discussion about low prices being the key to getting today\u2019s consumer. No doubt about it. Every consumer market research study that I have ever seen ranks price as number one in importance in selecting a place to shop. I always point out that this is no surprise and that price just gets you on the playing field and it\u2019s all the other branding and marketing activities that a store does which make up the customer\u2019s mind as to where he or she is going to spend their dollars. It inevitably comes down to a discussion about value. After all, if it really was all about price, we\u2019d all be driving Dodge Neon\u2019s and doing all our shopping at Wal-mart.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why it was interesting to see the news reports last week about Neiman Marcus\u2019 4th Quarter performance, which showed record-breaking results:<\/p>\n
\u201cApparel and accessories retailer The Neiman Marcus Group Inc has enjoyed fourth-quarter and full-year profit increases, encouraged by full-price sales and expense control.<\/p>\n
Fourth-quarter net earnings leapt 67 per cent to $34 million compared to $21m in the same period last year. Net sales totaled $851m compared to $784m the year before, while same-store sales grew 9.6 per cent.\u201d Just-Style.com, 9\/7\/05<\/p>\n
Wait a minute. Did that say \u201cfull-price sales\u201d helped earnings increase 67%? Now, granted N-M has never been known as a place for great discounts. But if the consumer is so conservative and looking only for a good price at all levels of income, this just doesn\u2019t seem to make sense. (Especially, when you read that Saks sales were down 0.3% for the month)<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t have to wait long for an explanation. The day after reading this report, I was talking with a colleague of mine from the National Speakers Association and we were discussing my presentation focus and the importance of people in the branding strategy and execution. She indicated that she was a regular shopper at Nieman\u2019s\u2014not a really big spender, but a loyal customer. She said it was all about the way she was treated and that even though she didn\u2019t consider herself a major customer, the store treated her as if she was one of the late Stanley Marcus\u2019 dear friends. She said she regularly received mailings and personal phone calls advising her of new merchandise that matched her past purchases and tastes. More importantly, she said, \u201cwas the way she was treated when she walked into the store. \u201cPeople actually called to me by name and welcomed me back. They made me feel like I was the most important customer in the department. And my friends, who sometimes accompanied me, were really impressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Well, if it works at Nieman\u2019s, it certainly works at the local grocer, the corner drugstore and the big box at the local Town Center. Give the customer personalized and interested service and they will come back and drive up your profitability. A few years ago, Yankelovich and Partners, did research which showed that over half (53%) of customers will pay as much as 10% more to get good service. So why don\u2019t stores make sure that the people in the store understand this and perform to customers\u2019 expectations. Unfortunately, it\u2019s because management is too obsessed with the next great sale circular or full-page ad or major promotion. Loyalty is the key\u2014both from customers and from employees\u2014to driving up record sales and profitability. Stanley Marcus understood this a long time ago. It\u2019s time for today\u2019s merchants and marketers to get with it too. It\u2019s a people business after all.<\/p>\n
Let us know what you think.<\/p>\n
Ken<\/p>\n<\/div>\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”] There isn\u2019t a presentation that I do or a discussion that I am involved with in this retail marketing and branding world which doesn\u2019t come down to a discussion about low prices being the key to getting today\u2019s consumer. No doubt about it. Every consumer […]<\/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-520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520","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=520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":522,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520\/revisions\/522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}