{"id":928,"date":"2019-04-20T19:46:28","date_gmt":"2019-04-20T23:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/?p=928"},"modified":"2019-04-20T19:49:12","modified_gmt":"2019-04-20T23:49:12","slug":"dont-pay-less-for-branding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/?p=928","title":{"rendered":"DON&#8217;T PAY LESS FOR BRANDING!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">KEN BANKS\u2019 BLOG APRIL 2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_14SZ6p8ymU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PRESS PLAY&gt;&gt;TO VIEW THIS MONTH\u2019S WELCOME VIDEO<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DON\u2019T <em>PAY\nLESS <\/em>FOR BRANDING!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By this time next month, the last of the former 4400 Payless\nShoe Source stores will be shuttered and another retail brand will disappear\nfrom the marketplace\u2026and no one will notice.&nbsp;\nSince the company announced its closing a couple month\u2019s ago, I\u2019ve been asked\na few times for my opinion on why this once aggressive retail chain that had\nremodeled and re-positioned most of its stores not long ago, failed.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Payless-StoreLogo.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-933\" width=\"165\" height=\"53\"\/><figcaption>Soon to Disappear<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of course, my simple answer is BRANDING\u2026or the lack\nthereof.&nbsp;&nbsp; Having worked in the discount\nshoe industry for the agency handling the Pic n\u2019 Pay Shoes chain, based in\nCharlotte several years ago.&nbsp; There\ncertainly seemed to be a lot of opportunity for success for a chain like\nPayless.&nbsp; A closer look, however, showed\nthat it was a tough challenge despite the growth of athletic and casual shoes\nand rapid changes in fashion shoe styles in the past several years.&nbsp; The problem with a brand like Payless was\nthat the name said it all.&nbsp; It was a\nbrand based on low prices and not much else in the customers\u2019 minds.&nbsp; As I\u2019ve said many times, low prices only get\nyou in the retail ballpark and it\u2019s all the other things that you need to do to\nform a customer relationship that builds a brand that resonates and makes a\ndifference when someone chooses a store or service. &nbsp;With the intense competition from the discount\nchains, off-price designers shoe stores, and off-price stores like Kohl\u2019s TJ\nMaxx, SteinMart, etc., just having your own brand of low-priced shoes wasn\u2019t\nenough to keep a loyal customer.&nbsp; Add to\nthat the warehouse clubs that feature name brand shoes consistently at least\nhalf off the regular retail.&nbsp; Don\u2019t\nforget the outlet malls that always have a number of shoe outlets and it\u2019s more\nthan a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Pic-n-Pay-store-1-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-930\" width=\"110\" height=\"110\"\/><figcaption>Already gone.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I recall a campaign that we did for Pic n\u2019 Pay for their line of athletic shoes.&nbsp; The message was yes, this is a good price but when you compare the features and construction to the same shoe from Nike in a more convenient location, you had a brand statement that made a difference.&nbsp; Pic n\u2019 Pay has long faded from the scene due to being acquired and merged into other brands.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, Skechers has developed its brand of casual shoes with a brand statement that focuses on comfort and style and lets the retailer do the price promotion.\u00a0 I\u2019ve noted that they have now opened over 3000 free-standing outlet stores and they\u2019ve successfully created a brand selling over 170 million pairs a year and generated over $4.5 Billion in sales.\u00a0 It\u2019s a brand based on comfort, but it has aggressively established\u00a0 itself as a strong citizen of the communities they serve and a sustainability program as well.  Then, they market their shoes with effective creative that focuses on the comfort benefit, even if you have big feet like Howie Long.  Click on this link to view one of the spots:  <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/CGhUEYvz8zI\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/CGhUEYvz8zI<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/SKECHERS.JPG.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-932\" width=\"153\" height=\"101\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/SKECHERS.JPG.jpg 304w, https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/SKECHERS.JPG-300x198.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 153px) 100vw, 153px\" \/><figcaption>Coming on Strong<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Payless, to me, never seemed to have any other message than\nprice.&nbsp; Its stores were updated but not\nexciting and their free-standing locations helped build a convenience attribute\nbut they just seemed to be just another retail location with little consumer\nappeal.&nbsp; Additionally, their marketing\nnever seemed to provide any other reason to buy your shoes there regularly.\nPrice only gets you on the playing field, a relationship builds a successful\nbrand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s what branding is all about.&nbsp; Building a relationship and then providing a reason for being that resonates with your target customer.&nbsp; Unless, a store invests in the product, the outlet, and the experience to differentiate it from increased competition (both in stores and online), it hasn\u2019t much chance.&nbsp; Then, if you can\u2019t make the investment to create a marketing message that reaches your target customer, the store is doomed to become another of the several empty stores dotting our marketplace\u2026and a brand we\u2019ll soon forget<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KEN BANKS\u2019 BLOG APRIL 2019 PRESS PLAY&gt;&gt;TO VIEW THIS MONTH\u2019S WELCOME VIDEO DON\u2019T PAY LESS FOR BRANDING! By this time next month, the last of the former 4400 Payless Shoe Source stores will be shuttered and another retail brand will disappear from the marketplace\u2026and no one will notice.&nbsp; Since the company announced its closing a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"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-928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=928"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":937,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928\/revisions\/937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}