No Turn On Red

More announcements from retailers offering assistance in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav:

Best Buy, with eight stores in the affected region, has announced that customers can donate to the American Red Cross through all of the stores nationally through September 30, 2008. The retailer will also match donations up to $1 million.

Home Depot has announced it has donated $300,000 to the American Red Cross, in addition to $500,000 that the retailer donated to employees who were affected by the storm.

Finally, Target has announced a variety of relief efforts. They’re donating $300,000 in product relief packages assembled by volunteers and delegates from the Republican National Convention. The retailer has also given the American Red Cross access to their store in Convington, LA for use as an emergency operations center, and are allowing the Salvation Army to use a vacant store in Dallas, TX to store supplies.

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Couple of stories catching my eye this morning:

The New York Times has a look Red Hook, Brooklyn, just a couple of months after the Ikea there opened. Many community residents were against the opening of this location, as they feared the traffic and noise impact on the local community. Ikea also tore down several historic buildings to make room for this location. But now, just two months after the retailer opened there, some residents in the community are finding positives in what Ikea has brought to the community.

Best Buy has announced a series of airport kiosks/vending machines that will dispense cell phone accessories and other portable electronics. Apple has had their own iPod vending machines in airports and other locations for a few years now and this model has, seemingly, worked well for them. This similar model should also prove to be a low-cost distribution channel for Best Buy.

Finally, Customer World is discussing social media in banking and the obstacles that it faces in adoption. Interesting views on an industry that has been slow to adopt social media and why customers would be reluctant to embrace social networking in banking.

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Social Shopping is an emerging field and E-Commerce Times has a great post that explains what is is, provides a rundown of different social shopping services, and opportunities for retailer involvement within the field.

With social media transforming the way we work and interact, there becomes less of a distinction between the time we spend on and off the clock, so to say. Steve Bendt provides a great look into the ramifications of wage laws in the United States and the impact they have on retailers who look to use social media to connect with their customers.

Get Elastic is talking about the viral marketing video campaign from Office Max that ties in to their Back to School “Penny” marketing. I really like this campaign. It is a series of fun videos that ties in well with the overall brand position for Officemax for this season. Good job by Officemax, I think.

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From the Asbury Park Press, a reminder of one of the dangers the retail employees do face and need to be cognizant of:

Police arrested a 21-year-old township man on shoplifting charges, and also charged him with pulling a knife on the store employee who confronted him.

Police charged Arthur A. Montague, 21, who has been living at the Holmdel Motor Inn on Route 35, with robbery, shoplifting, possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

On Saturday, at about 4:58 p.m., township police received a report of a male suspect who had just shoplifted a lap top computer from the Best Buy in the Holmdel Commons on Route 35. The suspect was seen leaving through the rear service bay of the store by a Best Buy employee, police said.

When approached by the employee, the subject took out a chrome knife and started waving it toward the employee, advising him to stay away, police said. The incident was also witnessed by a store manager.

I am happy to hear that everyone is safe and the suspect was caught. More on this story from the Asbury Park Press.

Sometimes retail workers can forget that they are surrounded by hundreds of thousands of dollars of merchandise and large sums of cash. Unfortunately, there are people who will want their hands on this stuff and will do anything to get it. Even a shoplifter with a $15 shirt may turn out to have a weapon on them and will want to use it.

I’ve seen a shoplifter attempt to run over associates with his car after he was stopped with less than $200 worth of merchandise because he had outstanding warrants and didn’t want to get arrested. I know people who have been on the receiving end of armed robberies and smash and grabs.

While the vast majority of people who walk through the doors of a retailer are normal shoppers, there is always going to be that small small small percentage looking for something else. This is why employees need to be aware and remember that it is not worth getting injured, or worse, when trying to apprehend a shoplifter. This is also why most retailers have such strict policies as far as who can make an apprehensive and how it has to be performed.

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Entering the weekend, here’s some things that I’m reading tonight:

Starbucks is pulling Jones Soda out of their stores in order to create room for more salads. Interesting.

Kelly Clarkson has cancelled her summer tour and one Consumerist reader has found out that Ticketmaster’s non-refundable fees are, well, non-refunable.

Margaret Brennan at CNBC is talking about how critical the next few days are going to be for retailers. Get rid of the clothing now or else you’re selling it marked down in July.

Finally, Canadian retailer Futureshop will be opening forums on their website next week. Allowing customers to interact with employees, it will be a very interesting website to watch. Will parent company Best Buy follow suit?

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Another day, another collection of stories on the web that I’ve come across today.

The New York Times has a great look at how Wal-Mart’s own policies and methods have hurt the retailer. Wake Up Wal-Mart asks, Is Wal-Mart too cheap for their own good?

Not too long after Wal-Mart revealed more information on their plans to enter India in 2008 (read more here and here), Marketwatch is reporting that Best Buy is in talks to enter India through a deal with Vivek.

Steve Miller at Two Hat Marketing is talking about return policies. I agree with him that liberal return policies create more loyal customers. While they may create loyal customers who abuse the system, they are outweighed by the loyal customers created who appreciate not being looked at like a thief if something doesn’t fit or they change their mind. Retailers like Nordstrom and Kohl’s are using their return policies to distinguish themselves from their competition.

And finally, some interesting tidbits related to the airline industry:

A customer service tale, of people going above and beyond what is expected, involving the TSA? That can’t be right! But indeed, Christ at The Diff shares a positive story about the TSA that also involves holday air travel. Good story to read.

While The Airline Hub is reporting on a change in United’s policy on delayed flights, maybe United should take a look at Service Untitled’s thoughts on ways airlines could improve customer service.

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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.

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New York Post has some more details about the Circuit City employee who helped tip off the FBI to the Fort Dix terror plot.

The Economist talks about the grocery chain Publix and how it competes with Wal-Mart. Businesspundit has some good comments on the article.

Best Buy’s new flexible schedule for corporate employees and their plan to roll it out to retail operations.

A Consumerist reader has is having problems with the Banana Republic website and gets the runaround from customer service.]

Lots of commentary on Wal-Mart moving into India and their chances of success.

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Rag Shop files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The crafts retailer is hurt by “market conditions and increasing competition”. Another victim of Wal-Mart competition?

The taste that launched 1,000 parking tickets. LA Times story on the successful frozen yogurt store that only sells two flavors. Great lessons in ambition, branding, and knowing your customer. (via Signals vs Noise)

Apple store mini, now at Best Buy. Best Buy is rolling out new Apple sections in some of their stores, looking like mini versions of the actual Apple store. The story has a photo of the new area.

New York Times ran an article on the fast fashion chain, Forever 21. Talks about the business motivations behind it, the strategy in execution, and the challenges in doing so.

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The temperature is rising and sunny days are forecasted ahead. Since Spring is finally here, I’ve decided to do some spring cleaning around here. Changed some things around, aesthetically, that I have been wanting to do for a little while. Sure it’s not much that anyone will notice.

Also, starting today, you will be seeing this as a new feature on the site: “Express Lane: 10 items or less” will be a near-daily collection of links to news stories and websites that I am finding interesting but may not get a chance to really write about. I had intended to start doing it as a weekly feature, but really, I come across so much stuff on a daily basis that I want to share in this blog and it is about time I start doing that.

For today:

Consumerist, always with the inside information, has a great piece from a former Best Buy employee talking about the lengths he went to in order to sign up people for “free trials” of software and services. With the ongoing RICO case against Best Buy and Microsoft, expect more former exployees to step forward like this one.

Not too long after more details have come out about Wal-Marts plans to enter India, the other half of the joint-venture (Bharti group) is entering into another joint-venture to train the retail workforce in India.

Sales at duty-free shops in Indian airports have declined since the restrictions on liquids have gone into effect.

Didn’t realize that Fergie has launched her own solo tour and the only way to get tickets is through a million promotions from Verizon Wireless or by going to select Kohl’s stores and trying on Candies’ clothing. More info at the Candies website.

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