No Turn On Red

Looking at the Old Navy website to see what’s new, I noticed a box on the side of the main page advertising Crocs from Piperlime. Piperlime is the online footwear website that Gap launched last year. Carrying a range of styles and brands, this website is a very interesting endeavor by Gap.

Up until now, I don’t remember seeing much advertising for Piperlime on the other Gap Inc. properties. I could be wrong on that, but nothing has jumped out at me in the past. After seeing this integration on the Old Navy website, I checked and it is also on the main page for Gap and Banana Republic.

This is a great way to leverage their own brand through multiple channels. I’d venture to guess that a large segment of the shoppers of Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic, are not aware of the Piperlime brand. It is very smart to see them expose the brand this way.

I would love to see them take another step and integrate Piperlime even further into their brands. Why not include Piperlime shoes as recommendations to outfits on Gap.com? I realize all three of their brands have footwear selections of their own, but they are very limited compared to what Piperlime is offering.

In order for Gap to continue their turnaround efforts, they need to focus on three different consumer segments for their three brands. It is something they are working on already. But I’m imagine that there is still going to be some overlap between the brands. Why not take things even further and integrate all of the brands? Not one website, exactly, but recommend a Gap sweater to go with a pair of Banana Republic khakis and shoes from Piperlime.

Customers who bought this Gap shirt also bought these Old Navy jeans. I know I’m not the only one shopping at all three of their stores.

A great way for Gap Inc. to do all of this would be with a blog. Put a human face on the company and show off the newest fashions. Show me the new collection coming into my local Gap store and show me how I can dress that up with items from Banana Republic. Using already available technology, like blogging, could be a cornerstone of Gap’s continued regrowth efforts.

Again, I don’t think Gap should combine all of their brands into one. They need to have distinct plans for all of them. But there will be overlap and, I just have to wonder, if there is opportunity to leverage that online.

More Piperlime images:

What do you think? Am I crazy to think this or Gap Inc strengthen their overall brands by integrating them somehow online?

Related posts

• Gap, Inc. (finally) integrates all brands online (0)
• Q2 Earnings, Gap Inc. (0)
• First look at Old Navy (0)
• First look at Gap (1)
• Old Navy president leaves; Gap returns to television (0)

Intelligent Entreprise has a quick interview with Best Buy’s Senior Director of Customer Insight, Matt Smith. Good look at how retailers look at all of the channels available to them and how they are trying to understand and better target their customers.

While I believe that retailers need to better look at ways to interact with their customers, using emerging social media technologies, I think that Best Buy’s customer analysis is a good building block. Understand your customers, but interact with them and they’ll tell you more about themselves than you could ever harvest.

Related posts

• How Teens Shop: In-depth insight into teen shopping trends from the Washington Post (1)
• Target: BTC Super Freaky (0)
• Success and convtroversy lead to higher national profile for Rutgers (0)
• Shoplifter pulls knife on Best Buy employee (2)
• Sears + K-Mart, Year One (0)

Recently, I wrote about the new Sears marketing plan and slogan, “Where It Begins”. Today, a Google search for “sears + ‘where it begins’” returns an article from AdWeek first and my website second.

Good thing for Sears, I was generally positive about the new slogan and marketing campaign. Imagine if I was negative and ripped it apart.

As a retailer, do you know what your customers are really saying about your brand online?

Are people reacting favorably to your marketing strategy? To you Summer clothing line? To your latest sale prices?

Are people discouraging others from going to your store because of a bad experience? Because of a short tempered cashier they encountered? Because of the ugliness of your new dresses? Because your return policy sucks?

I can bounce across the web right now and show you a Facebook page where a guy is showing off the new polo he bought from Abercrombie & Fitch.

I can show you a forum where people are talking about the perceived lack of training the cashiers exhibit at Sears.

I can even pull up a Myspace group where employees are talking about mistreatment from management at Kohl’s.

This information is out there. It’s freely accessable. I know where to find it and I’m not alone in that.

If you, as a major retailer, are ignoring this information, you are giving away valuable information that could help you grow your brand, increase your sales, and make the changes that you need to make in order to compete better.

If you, as a major retailer, are reading this information but not interacting with your customers on your own, then you are completely missing the point. Start a corporate blog and encourage discussion, good and bad, on your own website.

Hire an evanglist. Someone who will be the e-face of your company. Someone who will interact with your customers through blogs, forums, and social networking websites. Someone who will drive people to come to your website, to your store, strenghten your brand, and build lasting relationships with your customers.

The answers to what your consumers want are all around us. You just have to look for them and let them know that you are listening.

Other industries are already doing this and succeeding. Why the major retailers in America haven’t jumped on, I don’t know.

Related posts

• Sears. Where it begins. (4)
• Sears’ Lands End Shop (4)
• Lesson in how not to brand: Cocaine Energy Drink (2)
• Cocaine energy drink pulled from shelves (1)
• Success and convtroversy lead to higher national profile for Rutgers (0)

Here’s an award more companies should probably strive for: Wegman’s is listed on ‘Worlds Most Ethical Companies’ list.

Over at Blog Herald, they’re talking about whether blogging is now a core competency for new media professionals.

Last month I talked about IconNicholson and here’s some more about them: Shopping with a ‘virtual mirror’. Like I said last month, I saw this mirror in action at the NRF Expo this year and I can’t wait to see this rolled out by more retailers.

Related posts

• No related posts.

No, not me.

A few months ago, the latest version of Target’s “Assets Protection Directives for 2006″ found it’s way onto several websites and forums. It is still up on one anonymous Blogspot page. The posting of this confidential information caused a bit of a stir within the industry, as the timing of this was shortly after Wal-Mart made news by loosening their shoplifting policy.

Now, Target is fighting back by trying to track down the anonymous poster/blogger:

The Minneapolis-based company is suing the unidentified “John Doe,” who is believed to live in Georgia, in federal court for posting Target’s anti-theft procedures on Web sites and various retail-employee forums on the Internet in July.

The information is used to secure Target’s merchandise from shoplifters and other wrongdoers. Target says in a court filing it is provided to employees on a “need-to-know” basis.

To find out who “John Doe” is, Target is seeking the help of AOL, Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corp. It’s unclear whether these companies will comply, though.

More from MSNBC (see: Suit: Blogger posted Target trade secrets).

This case will be one to watch as there is precendent upholding the right to anonymous blogging. However, this case involves the posting of company-protected trade secrets. This case will be watched closely by many as it will have potential ramifications throughout the blogosphere in regards to the right to anonymity, free speech, and exactly how far that goes.

More discussion at targetunion.org.

Related posts

• Wal-Mart using Facebook to target young consumers (0)
• Wal-Mart to face worker-led class-action lawsuit in New Jersey (0)
• Wal-Mart pulls out of Staten Island proposal (0)
• Wal-Mart owes PA workers $78 million (0)
• Teen sues JC Penney for false imprisonment (0)

As a blog author, I am always trying to increase my readership. In our blogosphere, there are tons of articles and resources devoted to ways that blogs can increase readership. But Tom Evslin has put together an informative post over at the Fractals of Change, called “How Readers Find Blogs. This kind of covers the other side of the coin and shows how fickle statistics can be at times.

He sums everything up nicely at the end when he says:

Somewhere in all this may be the secret to blogging fame and fortune. But notice in the graph above how fleeting fame is.

Fame is fleeting, ain’t that the truth.

Related posts

• No related posts.

From the Boston Globe, eight reasons why “Blogs ‘essential’ to a good career“. It’s a small article but interesting ideas. An excerpt:

Blogging is good for your career. A well-executed blog sets you apart as an expert in your field.

Ben Day blogged his way into a career as a high-earning software consultant while maintaining the freedom to schedule frequent jam sessions and performances as a keyboard player.

Blogging gave him the opportunity to stand out enough to support the life he envisioned for himself. ”For your career, a blog is essential,” says Phil van Allen, a faculty member of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.

”It’s the new public relations and it’s the new home page. Instead of a static home page, you have your blog,” he said. It’s a way to let people know what you are thinking about the field that interests you.

Related posts

• How to negotiate your salary (2)
• How to ace interviews and keep your employees happy (1)
• Success: Entitled v. Earned (1)
• Advice for job seekers and recent college grads (0)
• Wal-Mart to face worker-led class-action lawsuit in New Jersey (0)