How do Retailers Do it, anymore?

I remember, years ago, we did our shopping at Rikes and Elders in Dayton, and a few other stores. I think, all the Christmas gifts we bought were at the regular price. Everyone was excited, after Christmas, to shop the same stores and see what was on sale.

Today, everything is ON SALE before Christmas, just to get people in. It has to be a retailers headache.

Case in point. Kohls has a neck massager that I looked at. My neck and back felt better when I put my hand on the pillow and felt those finger-like undulations going round and round. I knew it would change my life, but I didn't even look at the price. Plug-in, variable controller, I knew it would be more than I wanted to spend.

I went on-line, found the company and the product, I was right, %65. I can rub my own neck for that.

I mentioned it to my wife, who does some "marketing" work at Kohls, she told me they had it ON SALE for $29. They had that entire line of products ON SALE, at what looked like about one-half off. Two weeks before Christmas.

What do they do after Christmas, go back to full price?

I remember the day when Christmas "made the year" for a store. If they had a good Christmas, they had a good year.

How can you have a good Christmas, if your leader items are half price or less.

I guess WalMart is right. Low prices all the time, some break-even prices, and sell it all, food, clothing, furniture, hardware, just sell it all. One stop shopping.

Southgate Men's Shop, as I recall, had one sale a year, and it was one heck of a sale, everyone knew when, and it was a gigantic success.

I remember too, I worked at Montgomery Wards, in Oregon. Everyone knew when, certain items would go on sale, and that's when they bought certain items. They knew that tires would go on sale at certain times, White Sale at a certain time, and that is when they bought those items.

Of course, there aren't many small retailers anymore, the big boys have seen to that. Even some of the big boys have gone out of business, at least those that offered "service."

WalMart should start building their new stores, multi floors, with condos on the upper floors. If you lived there, you would never have to leave. No car, no car insurance, just spend your retirement years at WalMart, we do that pretty much anyway.

More Traffic! More customers! More sales!

Subject: The Right Mindset Makes It Easy To Make Blogs Work For Your Business

Blogging is taking off like a wildfire. People are blogging about just about anything you can think of. From the daily routine of their cat, to technology reviews, to politics. Until the blogosphere sorts itself out and matures a bit more, it may be difficult to tell exactly how this new frontier of instant publishing can help you and your business grow. But don’t worry – you’ll start getting a flood of new ideas in the coming months.

For now, the most important thing you can do is develop the right mindset about business blogging. What you think about something, and how you strategize applying it in your business very often has more to do with success than the technology, tool, or resource itself.

With that in mind, here is the most important thing you can do. Keep your eye on people.

DO NOT get stuck on the “technology.” That’s what drove all the pie-in-the-sky dot.com dreamers into the financial abyss. It’s people and personal communication that matter most, and should always be a the center of all your thoughts, strategies, and actions.

Blogging is just a tool. But it’s a tool that can and should become a major support arm of your business. Why?

Because it exponentially multiplies the world's oldest, most favored, and trusted form of information sharing -- word of mouth.

Just ask yourself, whom do you trust the most to give you advice, recommendations, and information about opportunities, purchases, or choices? Someone you know and trust, right? Someone who you feel is just like you.

That type of trust comes from personal communication, social interaction, and the joining together of like-minded individuals. Blogging simply magnifies and expands that sense of community and more personalized communication, and then expands the reach across the entire world!

Link trust; with respect, positioning, and word-of-mouth and you have the makings of a powerful marketing arm that can initiate an ever-growing stream of highly targeted prospects.

Remember, it’s the relationships that matter most. Keep your eye on that fact, and you’ll always have the right mindset for business blogging that’s a benefit for you and your readers.

More Traffic! More customers! More sales!