Category Archives: Consumerism

Loose-Lipped Consumers Bring Joy to Retailers

Consumerism, Lifestyle, , , ,
Consumers will share personal information for a better shopping experience

The results of a survey conducted by IBM on 28,000 people in 15 countries showed that people are much more willing to share personal information if they believe in return they will get a more personalized shopping experience.

People are willing to divulge more about themselves with their favorite merchants, from their food allergies to their home addresses. This survey’s conclusions were met with pleasure by the business world as companies are constantly looking for ways to target the perfect demographic of shoppers with their latest creations.

“They are willing to share information if there is perceived benefit,” said Jill Puleri, global retail leader of IBM’s  global business services. “It doesn’t have to be monetary benefit.”

There is still a certain hesitation from consumers all over the world about giving their personal financial information, like their incomes; but other private information is almost there for the asking.

One example is that about 75% of the people in the survey were ready to reveal details about how they use media such as television, like which TV shows that watch. A similar number had no problems telling what ethnic group they were members of.

A somewhat smaller group, 61% were comfortable sharing their names and addresses with retailers. For 59% of the people questioned it was not a problem to describe lifestyle-related information such as how many cars they own, if they live in a new home, or if they had just had a child.

“These are things that I think are pretty important to a retailer,” Puleri said, adding that the change in shopper behavior was phenomenal.
“We have always thought the consumer was pretty guarded with their information,” Puleri added.

Its Black Friday, Have Fun

Commodities, Consumerism

Tomorrow is Black Friday, the post Thanksgiving shopping day. Stores open their doors at 12.01 AM on Friday morning and will be giving great sales on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Statistically, retailers earn 30% of their November profits during these three days. There are good deals in all of the major department stores. But why do people want to go to these stores when they could probably pick up the same deals on the stores’ internet sites?

My personal opinion is that people love to shop. You go through the merchandise, seeing things that perhaps you don’t really need, but, you know, it’s always good to have and its such a bargain, and if you don’t use it you can always give it as a gift, so, well, why not? That’s how people buy when the price is right and that’s how corporate America makes its money.

All of the stores are doing it: J.C.Penney, Walmart, Macy’s etc so go and have a good time. One thing that I would advise you is to set a spending limit, spend “x” dollars and no more. Remember the holiday season is coming up in December. If that’s not enough to help you discipline yourself then remember that in January you have to pay off the credit card debt that you rang you in November and December.

Survey Shows Shoppers More Tight-Fisted This Holiday Season

Consumerism, Lifestyle, ,

According to a survey conducted by Triton Digital, this year’s holiday season shoppers are searching for deep price cuts on their purchases and are planning on spending less this year than in other years. They are striving to avoid the use of their credit cards, too.

Spending Less and Using Cash

The survey questioned over 47,000 consumers from North America during the month of November. The results showed that 61.5 percent are planning to spend less than they did last year on gifts, while 16.3 percent said that they are not planning on giving gifts at all this year.

Fifty-two percent of those interviewed also said that they are planning on using cash exclusively to pay for the gifts they buy, while 14.5 percent are going to use a “layaway” plan in order to spread out the cost of their purchases over time.

Bargain Hunters on the Prowl

The quest for a good deal is also taking on a more important part of the shopping experience, with 34.3 percent planning to go shopping on Black Friday. Twenty-two percent are planning to check for discounts and special deals in order to pay less.

Despite the difficult times, about 51.6 percent of consumers are still planning on giving to charities, while 9.8 percent said they will be making all their holiday purchases on-line.  Gift cards will be bought by about 26.1 percent of consumers, according to the survey.

Staying Home, Too

The Triton survey also asked if consumers are planning on taking a vacation, or traveling this holiday season. Only 7.4 percent answered in the affirmative, the vast majority saying that they are planning on staying home with their immediate families instead.

“It’s clear that consumers are looking for deals this holiday season, through both traditional means like in-store Black Friday shopping and new channels like daily deal sites,” said Chris Bell, president of Triton Digital Applications and Services. “There is a huge opportunity here for brands and media companies to offer incentives, deals and rewards for loyalty to capitalize on this consumer trend.”

Kohl’s Corp. Ranks Among Top Ten in Customer Service

Companies, Consumerism, , , , ,

Kohl’s Department Stores has been selected among the top ten retailers as far as customer service is concerned. In a survey sponsored by National Retail Federation and American Express, 9374 people were surveyed by the Bigresearch consumer research company. Kohl’s Department stores rated in the top ten together with Amazon, Lands’ End, L.L.Bean, Zappos, QVC, Overstock.com, JCPenney, Nordstom and Newegg.

Kohl’s Corp. (KSS) is a department store chain for middle income cusomers. The company sells its own private brands and also national brands of clothing, shoes, and home products. The company has 1127 stores in 49 states and also has a very nice internet store.

Financially the company is doing well. In 2010, it was number 135 in the fortune 500 and is listed in the S&P 500 stock index. In 2008, Kohl’s was the 24th largest retailer in America as far as revenue was concerned.

Kohl’s management is good as reflected in its return on assets of 9.41% and its return on equity of 16.03%. Its net income to common stock for 2010 was $1.2 billion.  It has a market capitalization of $14.61 billion. In other words the company is strong.

Some main managers at Kohl’s are John M. Worthington, Donald A. Brennan, Kevin Mansell, and Brian Tadlock.

Full Service International Marketing And Communications Company

Companies, Consumerism, , , , , , ,

Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC) supplies an amazing variety of advertising, marketing and corporate communications services around the world. Omnicom provides services in media advertising, public relations management, customer relationship management and specially communications. The company was founded in 1944 and has 65,000 employees working on 5 continents. Its profit was approximately 7 percent of revenues or $827 million in 2010.

What I like about this company is that its a specialist company. It has taken the areas of marketing and communications and has developed as many of those areas as possible. The fact that it performs marketing work in many countries and cultures around the world testifies to its flexibility and creativity.

The company’s stock is selling at $41.15 which is below its 200 day moving average of $44.41 but above its 50 day moving average of $39.01. Omnicom stock dropped in August from $48 to $36 with the market and is now on its way back up.

Some of Omnicom’s up and coming managers are: Janet Riccio; Bruce Redditt and Asit Mehra.

As with all investment decisions, the stock should be investigated thoroughly before purchase.