No Turn On Red

Imagine it is Friday at 5:00PM and someone just posted, on their blog, about a horrible shopping experience they had at your store. Maybe a cashier was rude or maybe a store was disgusting - but whatever their frustration, they just posted their thoughts online and now it’s gotten linked to from two dozen websites and now people are talking about it across the country.

In this day, do you really want to wait until corporate PR gets into the office at 9:00AM on Monday morning before someone even thinks about reacting to this story? Monday is too late when there’s the potential that someone, reading the blog post, has decided not to shop at your store on Sunday.

Think it is far-fetched? I talked about this earlier in the year, when one consumer posted about their bad experience at a Kohl’s.

Think something like this can’t happen to your business? I can tell you that no matter how well you think you are training your employees, something somewhere is going to happen and someone is going to talk about it online. The next big story could be affecting your retail chain.

Today I read, over at Consumerist, about an unpleasant experience a person had returning items at Victoria’s Secret. Look through the comments and you will see a range of responses - some agree with the poster and complain about Victoria’s Secret customer service, while some stick up for Victoria’s Secret, while others debate the quality of merchandise Victoria’s Secret carries.

You know what I would love to see? Someone from Limited Brands posting a comment in that thread. Maybe they say that they are sorry for the experience, that they will look into it, and get in touch with the original poster privately. They could talk about how they are going to look into the policy and figure out if the sales person was poorly trained, rude, or even correct in what they do. A personal face of the corporation, being honest and engaging conversation, could stop an already bad experience from spiraling out of control. A personal face who could prevent the same situation from happening again.

This is the role of an online Community Manager: someone who represents a brand, online, and engages in honest communication with managers. It’s not hard to go through blogs, social networks, and community websites to find out what is being said about your brand. It’s not that hard to engage and welcome conversation and criticism. It’s not that hard to admit that, hey maybe someone made a mistake at the store level but it was due to poor training and we are going to correct that.

People make mistakes and they want to see big businesses admit that they do, as well. But a retailing remaining silent and ignoring the conversation around them is going to hurt their business and drive away customers.

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A bit of lingo that I’ve learned lately: turns out that Target refers to the the impact of the Back to School/Back to College season on their stores, by classifying them into levels. The levels are No Affected, Affected, Freaky, and Super Freaky. It doesn’t appear that there are a lot of Super Freaky stores in the company, but those that are classified as such, are situated within close proximity to college campuses. I wonder what kind of percentage increase these stores see, over the rest of the company, during the season.

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Was in an Old Navy this weekend, really briefly. Didn’t get much chance to dive into the new merchandise, but it looks like they are starting to transition into Back to School. Saw that the denim has been moved back to the front on the Missy side and is supported with a new graphic package that looks really sharp. Die cut words calling out the “Denim” shop on the Mens side and the different cuts of denim on the Missy side. Looks like they are cut out of foam core or something similar, but did not get a real good look at it. The picture above is an example of what the Mens side looked like.

I’ve gotta give credit to the store I was at (Freehold, NJ) as they were looking real sharp (presentation wise) going into the weekend. Look at the fold on those jeans! Typically, I haven’t been seeing that when I go to the mall on a Friday afternoon - and honestly, it’s not something I’ve seen at Old Navy all that much lately. First thing in the morning, their stores look great but the on-going maintenance, during the day, isn’t always there. But this store nailed it.

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In what I think is one of the most brilliant move marketing campaigns of the past few years, 7-Eleven has turned 11 of their stores into Kwik-E-Marts, the fictional convenience store from the Simpsons. This is to promote the upcoming release of the Simpsons movie. 11 stores across the country have been outfitted in Kwik-E-Mart branding, complete with brands featured in the show that never actually existed before (Buzz Cola, Squishees, and KrustyOs cereal).

What makes this interesting is that 7-Eleven is putting up the bulk of the cost associated with this promotion. They’ve put out the money (”somewhere n the single millions”) to outfit their stores with the new look for the month. They believe this will show that they have a sense of humor about themselves and attract new customers.

It is a big gamble for the company, but the press they will generate from this will probably be great. The important thing is that they didn’t half-ass this - this is a company who took an idea and ran full force from it. The level of detail is impressive and will attract die-hard Simpsons fanatics, as well as casual viewers and non-fans alike.

The messageboard the No Homers Club has a thread with tons of photos of the interior and exterior of one of these converted locations while the Associated Press has more on the business end of things.

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Just took a ride to the Freehold Mall, which is the closest Apple retail location. Long line outside the store, snaking it’s way down the center court and avoiding other stores. Probably 75 people in the line when I was there. A second line, with an additional 15-20 people, is located outside of the AT&T store, located just around the bend from the Apple store.

The Asbury Park Press has more on the crowd at the Freehold location. First person got in line at 4:00PM yesterday. Read more from Lines form as gadget fans get ready to scoop up iPhones.

The buzz around this product is building and I’m really interested to see one of thees myself. It’s hard, as a techie, to not get sucked in to the hype around this. From a retail perspective, it’s really incredible to see people who are willing to camp out and spend time to get the product. These are loyal customers, and sometimes, it doesn’t seem like too many retailers or brands have customers that loyal anymore.

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I don’t often use my own site to solicit anything of a commercial nature. But looking at my server logs, it is obvious that I get a lot of traffic from some pretty major retailers. So I’d like to put this out there:

I’m working with a client on a relaunch of a sports-focused community-based website. It’s pretty specific to one geographic area, but it currently has some pretty solid traffic behind it and a very loyal community behind it. With this relaunch, I am actively looking for retailers who may want to create a co-branded marketing strategy and reach out to this highly targeted demographic. I think it’s a great opportunity for a retailer, especially a sports or outdoor orientated retailer.

I’d really like to create a dialogue with retailers or businesses who may be interested in this type of opportunity. In addition to this client, I’ve got other clients that I consult and work with on an ongoing basis and I am interested in helping retailers connect with their market.

For more information, contact me via e-mail at [ts AT robotictom.com] or use my contact form.

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Looks like Kohl’s is on the receiving end of some sweatshop allegations:

Kohl’s Corp. removed some lines of its Daisy Fuentes clothing brand following allegations that the Guatemalan factory where the clothes are made is a sweatshop, where workers are humiliated and forced to work unpaid overtime.

The National Labor Committee, a New York-based workers rights group, issued a report after learning of complaints by workers at the Fribo factory in rural Santa Maria Cauque de Sacatepequez, Guatemala.

Kohl’s (nyse: KSS - news - people ), based in Menomonee Falls, Wis., has pulled only a few styles of Daisy merchandise, from its stores and online, spokeswoman Vicki Shamion said. Kohl’s buys Fuentes merchandise from P.A. Group LLC and does not oversee production, she said.

Workers at the Guatemalan factories say they were forced to work overtime, much of it unpaid, and forced to endure harsh conditions in hot factories with little access to bathrooms or clean water.

More coverage from Forbes.

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This week, I’ve been talking about the retail growth in Atlantic City. The recently completely Nike Factory store is another fantastic example of how great retail in that city is looking:

The store opened within the past two months and is reportedly the first store of it’s kind for Nike.

The location of the store is unbelievable. Situated in the median of the Atlantic City Expressway, right as you get to the beachfront/casino area, it is one of the most visible, non-casino properties in the city. The exterior of the building has floor to ceiling windows, filling the interior with natural light. I was there on a beautiful, sunny Summer day and I couldn’t believe how bright the interior was.

Merchandise is presented well, with the full range of Nike products shown. Mannequins and innovative fixturing, mixed with huge (over 10 feet tall) graphics showing their products in action, lead to a great shopping experience. Sneakers are presented in a self-serve format, with a range of products offered.

There is also an separate, smaller store that is dedicated to the Converse brand. Same level of excitement, innovation, and merchandising excellence.

I was really surprised to see how nice this store looked. It compliments the rest of the Walk outlets. Atlantic City is becoming a destination shopping experience, with a great mix of high and low-end retailers. If you are in New Jersey and looking for a great place to shop, check out Atlantic City.

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This morning, Dell announced new styles of their Inspiron series of laptops that will be available in a range of colors. Available in 8 colors (pink, yellow, white, red, black, blue and espresso), the laptops will start out at $749. While this isn’t a typical retail-related post, it is interesting because Dell chose to make this announcement with the backdrop of Macy’s Herald Square.

In addition to the new laptop colors, they’ve unveiled the ultra-thin XPS M1330 laptop and have extended the Inspiron line (traditionally a laptop line for Dell) into desktop PCs and monitors. The new Inspiron desktop line will feature “clean arctic white and silver design”.

One of the secrets to Apple’s success over recent years has been in providing consumers with well designed and exciting devices. Dell has lost market share, in the PC laptop field, to HP and they are trying to reclaim it by employing a tactic similar to what has been successful for Apple. By using Macy’s, as part of the unveiling, they are trying to reach out to a fashion-forward customer (who wants a pink laptop).

More information on the Inspiron notebooks is available on the Dell website.

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Just two quick links for today:

In regards to today’s earlier entry about the perils of catching a shoplifter, I came across another recent story on the same topic. Last week, a shoplifter tried to stab a Home Depot security guard with a screwdriver he just stole.

Then there’s an article from the Billings Gazette about how retailers and others are recruiting teenagers to fill Summer jobs. Good look at a local American Eagle Outfitters location and how the manager there goes about recruiting new employees, as well as some of the methods used by others to fill other, non-retail, jobs.

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