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Customers and the impact of food labels

Australian Food News reports that an study has recently concluded on the influence food labels have on shoppers in Europe. The study, which questioned 17,300 people from various European countries, both in supermarkets and at home, found that only 18% of Europeans regularly look for nutrition information on food packaging in-store.

A new finding was that people spend an average of 30 seconds selecting a product. By comparison to previous studies, this is substantially more time than previously observed. The UK was lowest at 25 seconds per product, with the highest average time clocked at 47 seconds.

How does this compare with shopper behavior in America?

Learn more: European study highlights impact of food labels

Green Fashion Goes Mainstream

This recent post on retailwire discusses how many years ago consumers did not believe that eco-friendly fashions were all that stylish, but to the contrary in today's age the opposite is actually true. More and more shoppers are wearing green and clothes made with organic fibers.

Zem Joaquin, founder of ecofabulous.com, mentions "Four years ago, there was very little in the mainstream. Now there are clothing stores devoted solely to environmentally conscious designs like Eco Citizen ... and eco-couture being sold at Barneys New York. Pact showed a beautiful example of organic underwear on the runway. It used to be hard to find, and when you did, it was saggy and unattractive."

Fashion designers are now re-thinking what materials to use in their clothes now that consumers have the environment in mind.

Designers Working with Fur for a Righteous Cause

Fashion fur has not been big in the US for a several reasons, but with the nutria (a large rodent) quickly decimating the natural habitat of Louisiana's and Maryland's Eastern shore this might be a reason for fur to take off in the running.

This article in retailwire highlights how the quick reproducing species has put a strain in the marshlands of these states and how Cree McCree, founder of an organization called Righteous Fur, recently ran a show putting up products that were made from nutria on display. Will we see other designers using nutria for their products and how will consumers react to this once they see the big picture?

Warner Brothers and Netflix partner to delay DVD releases

According to The Street, Netflix and Warner Brothers have come to an agreement about the release of DVDs. Netflix will now release new releases 28 days after they've hit store shelves.

According to Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, "We're able to help an important business partner meet its objectives while improving service levels for our members by acquiring substantially more units than in the past after a relatively short sell-through window. At the same time, we're able to extend the range of choices available to be streamed to our members."

How do you think the Netflix customers react to this? While it will help boost in-store selling of DVDs, will Netflix customer retaliate and drop the service? How many other major motion picture companies will follow through with the same thing?

Popular Author Deals Directly with Amazon.com

This post in retailwire discusses how the high-popular author Stephen Covey has given Amazon.com the exclusive e-book rights to two of his most popular titles. Musical artists have long partnered with big retailers to help increase music downloads and sales of their units, but this is a first in electronic publishing.

Amazon.com has offered Stephen Covey a royalty rate double that he would normally receive through the publisher. Is this the new route for popular authors? Will we see less book publishers in the future?

Official Call for Presenters is Now Open for the 10th annual Shopper Insights in Action Conference

The Institute for International Research (IIR) is currently seeking corporate practitioner presenters for the 10th annual Shopper Insights in Action Conference.

Due to the high volume of submissions, we suggest you submit your proposal early and no later than January 5th, 2010 to Amanda Powers, Senior Conference Producer at apowers@iirusa.com or call 1-646-895-7332. (Only proposals from brand and retail corporate practitioners will be considered, for all other submissions please see sponsorship section below).

Shopper Insights in Action is recognized as the world's leading conference focused on understanding shopper behavior and translating insights into action.

This year's theme is The new 360 degree sphere of influence: physical. virtual. mindset.

It addresses the game-changing paradigm shift from influencing shoppers in-store to influencing them whenever, where ever they are in a shopper mindset.

2010 will be a true best practice and idea exchange for those responsible for activating purchasing behavior across the brand and retail continuums. It is the only unbiased shopper-rooted platform where practitioners can properly benchmark their research/marketing practices against the leading brand and retail companies.

2010 Main Themes:
You may choose a specific topic or suggest a topic that fits within one of the themes.

1. STORE DESIGN & THE EXPERIENCE

2. REVOLUTIONARY RESEARCH PRACTICES

3. BRAND IDENTITY & PRODUCT INNOVATION

4. PRIVATE LABEL INSIGHTS: MEETING CHALLENGES WITH OPPORTUNITY

5. NEW & NEXT PRACTICES

6. ACTIONING THE INSIGHTS

7. WHAT'S NOW, WHAT'S NEXT...in the retail landscape

8. Other

Speakers receive FREE admission to the conference as well as any pre-conference activity such as workshops or symposium.

What if I am not a corporate practitioner (from a client-side company) but still would like to participate?

More than 75% of our content will be delivered by corporate practitioners. If you are a consultant or solutions provider and wish to be a part of the program, please contact Jon Saxe, Senior Business Development Manager at jsaxe@iirusa.com or 646-895-7467. We will customize opportunities to fit your needs from speaking, branding, networking and/or exhibiting.

CALL FOR PRESENTERS:
For consideration, please e-mail apowers@iirusa.com with the following information by January 5th, 2010:
• Proposed speaker name(s), job title(s), and company name(s)
• Contact information including address, telephone and e-mail
• The main theme you plan to address
• Which format you'd like to present
• A brief summary (75 words max)
• Please indicate what is NEW about the presentation
• What the audience will gain or learn from your presentation (please list 3-5 deliverables)
• Previous conference presentations
• Short Bio (2-3 sentences) & Speaker Headshot

If you are a retail executive and interested in attending the event but can not commit to presenting, you may apply to be a "retail thought-leader”. Write to Amanda at apowers@iirusa.com with your interest.

JCPenney Strikes a Deal with Mango

This recent post in retailwire discusses how JC Penney is striking up a deal with the fashion retailer Mango to setup a "store-within-the-store". This unique agreement will allow JCPenney to offer affordable contemporary fashion to women.

MNG, by Mango, which is an exclusive line for women aged 18-35 will also be sold at JCPenney beginning next fall. Enric Casi, Mango's CEO, mentions:

"Every time we bring Mango to a new international market, it has driven immediate, strong demand, and we have only begun to capitalize on the great desire for Mango in the U.S. JCPenney is the perfect match for us to take advantage of the opportunity we see for the MNG by Mango brand in this market."

Retailers Have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season

This post in retailwire highlights that retailers have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season. Economist feared a total economic collapse, and so far we have not yet seen that. They have been though entering this year's holiday season with a little more caution than they have in the previous years. What are some positives coming into the retail industry this year?

Costco No Longer Does Business with Coca-Cola

According to this article in retailwire, the largest warehouse club store in the US, Costco, has decided to stop doing business altogether with Coca-Cola. Costco has mentioned that Coca-Cola has not given the warehouse competitive pricing and so Costco is not able to pass along the discounts over to their members.

Brands associated with Coca-Cola like Coke Classic, Cherry Coke, Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite and Squirt, Dasani Water and Vitamin Water along with several energy drinks will also cease to be sold at Costco warehouses.

Shopping for Clothes is Not a Positive Experience for all Women

This post on retailwire highlights that research done in Australia shows that while thinner women view shopping as a therapeutic and pleasurable experience, many obese and slightly overweight women do not find shopping for clothes a positive experience. A professor from the University in Australia mentioned that the difficulty for larger women to find clothes that fit make the experience a negative one.

Women in the study were asked to rate their shopping experience a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being extremely pleasurable. Most of the thinner women rated their experience high while overweight women rated their experience lower on the scale. The study also concluded that thinner women shopped with fashion in mind while more obese women had intentions of camouflaging their figure when they went shopping.

Home-Depot Offers Trade-Ins to Promote Energy Efficient Products

This article from retailwire discusses how Home Depot is trying to get consumers to trade in their old, worn out power tools and drills for brand new items by offering them big discounts. The company is offering a 15% discount off the purchase of lithium-ion drills and is also offering consumers $3 off new holiday LED lighting. The company is doing this in light of its new Eco-options program which promotes more energy efficient products.

Are you contracting out production for private label items?

This post in retailwire discusses that the trend for grocery retailing is for merchants to seek out and contract out production for private label items. An exception though to this case is Kroger, they manufactures about half of the 14,400 private label items it sells. Kroger believes that buy manufacturing these items, it is better able to control production decisions and pricing. Is your outsourcing most of its production of private label items or keeping the bulk of it in-house?

Join us for the 2009 Private Label Impact Conference, this month in Chicago!

Consumers are not happy with online tracking

This post on RetailWire discusses how according to research done by the NY Times, more than two thirds of Americans object online tracking. Respondents of the survey did not like that ads tracked them at company websites and then followed them to other sites and offline stores. About 55 percent of respondents aged 18 to 24 objected to tailored online advertising, and in some areas about 49 percent of respondents said that tailored discounts were ok. Do you think that online behavioral targeting should be eliminated?

Kmart Provides Assistance to the Unemployed Through its Savings Card

This post on retailwire discusses how Kmart will be offering assistance to customers who have lost their jobs with a 20% discount on private label items through its Smart Assist Savings Card. This program allows customers to access discounts for a period of 6 months. Participants in the program are required to show Kmart their valid state unemployment ID. Tom O'Boyle, senior vice president, president, food and consumables for Kmart, recently mentioned:

"We've seen in Michigan that the Kmart Smart Assist Savings Card has helped cardholders keep good quality food on the table and their households stocked with staples while they get back on their feet. We hope that this program has the same positive impact across the country."

Government officials have already praised Kmart for their kindness in offering those in need. It shouldn't be too much longer before we see other retailer giants follow in the same foot steps.

Paper Coupons are a Thing of the Past

This post on retailwire highlights how J.C. Penney is rolling out a mobile coupon campaign in Houston in which consumers are allowed to download discounts to their cell phones, and then it can be scanned by a special reader at checkout. Is this the direction that coupons are headed in?

Mike Boylson, CMO for J.C. Penney mentioned:

"We've always made it easy for our customers to save money. These mobile coupons are the ultimate in customer convenience, because there's no need to clip or carry around a printed coupon, and they can be instantly scanned from a cell phone. It's another way we're innovating to enhance the customer's shopping experience."

J.C. Penney will try to rollout this digital coupon campaign to over 1,100 stores nationwide wide if it is successful. A NY Times report also noted that digital coupon usage is up 25% in the first half of this year versus last year. We should definitely be on the lookout for more and more companies adopting this in the future.

The evolution of shopper marketing

Brand Week recently sat down with Dorothy Allan, the senior vice president of retail strategy for TracyLocke and looked at how shopper marketing has evolved over the years. She talks about the importance of understanding human mind when it comes to reaching in-store audiences. Read Dorothy's full interview here.

One of the things Dorothy mentions in the article is the importance in reaching the shopper and getting them to make choices in the store. How do you best identify what's getting in the way of your shoppers when they are making decisions in your store?

Price Comparison Works for Retailers

According to this article in retailwire price comparisons might not only work insurance companies, but it will also work for e-tailers. The article reveals research conducted by the e-tailing group that shows that 36 percent of consumers spend more than half an hour comparison shopping before they make their purchase decisions. Almost two thirds spend at least 16 minutes.

What this mean for retailers? Consumers want to be able to view competitors' prices when shopping at a retailer website. More than seventy five percent of consumers mentioned that they would return to a site that showed competitors' pricing. This is definitely a great way to increase customer loyalty.

Retail Brands are not Engaging Women Through Social Media

This post on retailwire discusses how a recent study conducted by ad:tech Chicago and Q Interactive finds that three out of four women do not feel engaged when interacting with a brand via social networks. Matt Wise, president of Q Interactive mentions, "Although women are socializing a lot more with each other, they are not interacting with brands more. The brands are falling behind in this game and they are not opening dialog with women in this arena. We're seeing a divide right now of where the women are leaping ahead of the brand and the brands are struggling to find how best to interact with them."

A small percentage of women who friended brands actually had a positive reaction. Sixty four percent of survey respondents felt neutral and nineteen had a negative reaction. Brand marketers will have to improve on engaging women on social networks in the future.

More Online Stores Might Give Amazon a Run for Its Money

This post on retailwire highlights how Walmart.com might soon surpass Amazon.com's online retail success with its new launch. Kerry Cooper, Walmart.com's CMO recently mentioned:

"We've added nearly one million new items to our online assortment with the introduction of Walmart Marketplace, making it even easier for customers to find more of what they want when shopping Walmart.com. Working with select retailers, known for their strong customer service and large online assortments of new merchandise, gives our customer more reasons to choose Walmart.com when shopping online."

Walmart is expanding its product offering through product merchants, but they are not alone as well. Sears.com, Overstock, and Buy.com are among others that also do this.