Online retailers await ‘Cyber Monday'
"Online sales on Thursday and Friday, however, rose 11 per cent to $913-million, according to data released Sunday by comScore, an Internet research firm.
According to preliminary figures released Saturday by ShopperTrak, a research firm that tracks more than 50,000 outlets, sales rose 0.5 per cent to $10.66-billion Friday, compared with a year ago. That was on top of a 3 per cent increase last year."
Read full report from The Globe and Mail - The Associated Press
Showing posts with label sales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sales. Show all posts
Monday, November 30, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Are you convinced of the need for Social Media?
Social Media....the buzz, the confusion, the variety and the Choice!
After spending over 20 years in the technology field, I decided to build my own website to promote my existing Gift & Incentive business online. Now everyone knows that the place to build retail businesses right now is online, correct?
In fact I was introduced to the S-Curve of technology - a theory by Harry S. Dent when I first began with an online business in 1999 and as predicted by this theory Internet shopping has passed the 10% mark in the past 10 years. Therefore, over the next ten years we are going to be witnesses to incredible growth.
With my product offering in the Gift & Incentive market and experience with website development from my full time job at a website solution company Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies, I decided to launch a website. Next came the marketing research...social marketing that is. I reviewed all the traditional marketing methods and put my plan together to begin with the less expensive social media arena.
After many, many hours I learned some incredible lessons about social networking and believe I was born for this time in history. Social marketing is nothing more than relationship building! This has always been and will always be the root of sales; customers are people that need to be respected, appreciated and provided with a value in order to part with their hard earned money.
There are incredible resources available to learn where and how to begin your path of creating a web footprint, regardless of your industry. I know the first thing I do when I meet a prospective client or source is to search them online to check their reputation. Have you checked yours? What does the first page of the searches tell you about your company?
Creating loyal customers is part and parcel of brand recognition, integrity and the relationship building. Customers purchase based on trust. I encourage you to do your homework, check out some of these resources and become proactive about your reputation. It won't consume you if you understand the big picture and know where to start and what to spend your time on.
I recommend reading this USA Today Article about More marketers use social networking to reach customers!
1) Chris Brogan is a NYT and WSJ best selling author for his book Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust. Chris is a ten year veteran of using social media and technology to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Chris speaks, blogs, writes articles, and makes media of all kinds at chrisbrogan.com.
Here is a link to one of Chris's articles; Starting Your Social Media Case
2) Seth Godin's latest book, Tribes, is a nationwide bestseller, appearing on the Amazon, New York Times, BusinessWeek and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. It's about the most powerful form of marketing--leadership--and how anyone can now become a leader, creating movements that matter. The Miami Herald listed it among the best business books of 2008. Seth writes the most popular marketing blog in the world;
is the author of the bestselling marketing books of the last decade;
speaks to large groups on marketing, new media and what's next;
and is the founder of Squidoo.com, a fast-growing recommendation website.
Here is an excerpt from his blog; "Connecting people to people. Over and over again, that's what lasts online. Folks thought it was about technology and it's not."
3) Social Media training; that's right if you don't know where to begin, ask someone. Invest your money in someone that has done the research and let them shortcut your learning curve and teach you what works. Your future is in your hands! Feel free to contact me for direction and encouragement, it really is not difficult to maintain if you are setup correctly and ready to recognize that an hour a day online marketing is a fundamental part of business.
Wishing you all the success you are willing to work for!
After spending over 20 years in the technology field, I decided to build my own website to promote my existing Gift & Incentive business online. Now everyone knows that the place to build retail businesses right now is online, correct?
In fact I was introduced to the S-Curve of technology - a theory by Harry S. Dent when I first began with an online business in 1999 and as predicted by this theory Internet shopping has passed the 10% mark in the past 10 years. Therefore, over the next ten years we are going to be witnesses to incredible growth.
With my product offering in the Gift & Incentive market and experience with website development from my full time job at a website solution company Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies, I decided to launch a website. Next came the marketing research...social marketing that is. I reviewed all the traditional marketing methods and put my plan together to begin with the less expensive social media arena.
After many, many hours I learned some incredible lessons about social networking and believe I was born for this time in history. Social marketing is nothing more than relationship building! This has always been and will always be the root of sales; customers are people that need to be respected, appreciated and provided with a value in order to part with their hard earned money.
There are incredible resources available to learn where and how to begin your path of creating a web footprint, regardless of your industry. I know the first thing I do when I meet a prospective client or source is to search them online to check their reputation. Have you checked yours? What does the first page of the searches tell you about your company?
Creating loyal customers is part and parcel of brand recognition, integrity and the relationship building. Customers purchase based on trust. I encourage you to do your homework, check out some of these resources and become proactive about your reputation. It won't consume you if you understand the big picture and know where to start and what to spend your time on.
I recommend reading this USA Today Article about More marketers use social networking to reach customers!
1) Chris Brogan is a NYT and WSJ best selling author for his book Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust. Chris is a ten year veteran of using social media and technology to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Chris speaks, blogs, writes articles, and makes media of all kinds at chrisbrogan.com.
Here is a link to one of Chris's articles; Starting Your Social Media Case
2) Seth Godin's latest book, Tribes, is a nationwide bestseller, appearing on the Amazon, New York Times, BusinessWeek and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. It's about the most powerful form of marketing--leadership--and how anyone can now become a leader, creating movements that matter. The Miami Herald listed it among the best business books of 2008. Seth writes the most popular marketing blog in the world;
is the author of the bestselling marketing books of the last decade;
speaks to large groups on marketing, new media and what's next;
and is the founder of Squidoo.com, a fast-growing recommendation website.
Here is an excerpt from his blog; "Connecting people to people. Over and over again, that's what lasts online. Folks thought it was about technology and it's not."
3) Social Media training; that's right if you don't know where to begin, ask someone. Invest your money in someone that has done the research and let them shortcut your learning curve and teach you what works. Your future is in your hands! Feel free to contact me for direction and encouragement, it really is not difficult to maintain if you are setup correctly and ready to recognize that an hour a day online marketing is a fundamental part of business.
Wishing you all the success you are willing to work for!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Customer Loyalty Reward Programs: A Way to Increase Revenue
So, what can we learn from these examples? First, it’s a great idea to offer a customer loyalty/reward program. It’s less costly to keep current clients than it is to find new ones. Add to that the idea that you should try to capture all of the business you can get from your current clients and you’ve got the foundation for a loyalty program.
Second, make sure it’s something easy to implement and explain. If it’s too complicated no one will use it because they won’t understand it. Moreover, you don’t want to create a plan that is costly.
Third, create a program that can’t be hi-jacked. Consider the Panera example. The loyalty card was too easy to duplicate so someone did. Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous people out there.
Interestingly, participation in loyalty/reward programs is up in this recession. According to Colloquy research,
“U.S. consumer participation in rewards programs is on the rise across all demographic segments, . . . Consumers are leaning on loyalty programs to stretch household budgets further by earning rewards for their purchases.“
What does this tell us? That using loyalty/reward programs can be an effective strategy for increasing revenues even in a recession.
Excerpt from Small Business Trends article by By Diane Helbig read the full article here ... http://cli.gs/Rz0T62
Second, make sure it’s something easy to implement and explain. If it’s too complicated no one will use it because they won’t understand it. Moreover, you don’t want to create a plan that is costly.
Third, create a program that can’t be hi-jacked. Consider the Panera example. The loyalty card was too easy to duplicate so someone did. Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous people out there.
Interestingly, participation in loyalty/reward programs is up in this recession. According to Colloquy research,
“U.S. consumer participation in rewards programs is on the rise across all demographic segments, . . . Consumers are leaning on loyalty programs to stretch household budgets further by earning rewards for their purchases.“
What does this tell us? That using loyalty/reward programs can be an effective strategy for increasing revenues even in a recession.
Excerpt from Small Business Trends article by By Diane Helbig read the full article here ... http://cli.gs/Rz0T62
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