What is the best way to reach consumers? Consumers prefer email over mail, according to a survey summed up by HomeWorld. In addition, the survey focuses in on younger shoppers' habits.
HFN shares insights into the registry market. Using the TheKnot.com's data, HFN shares that 92% of registries are managed online. Over 80% of registries include a kitchen item, and about 26% include a fine china item. Since most registries exist at Bed, Bath and Beyond, the top casual China brand was a private label brand (Bed, Bath & Beyond).
One could conduct a similar survey amongst independent stores and one would find the leading independent store trends and brands.
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November 6, 2015
November 6, 2015
How does your brand rank in the home goods industry? Find out.
Bridge invites vendors to complete a 2 minute survey and be entered to win $100 in food and beverage at Shake Shack - as well as skip the line there.
If you're a retailer or sales rep, please forward this survey invitation to your home goods brands. You can help your brands learn more and sell more. And win $100.
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September 16, 2015
September 16, 2015
Retailers are having trouble balancing their physical store and their online stores, according to a survey summed up by HFN's Allison Zisko.
One sore spot is returns. Excerpt:
Eighty five percent of retailers noted the high cost of online returns to a store, particularly when the item is not carried in that store. And when returning to a fulfillment center or supplier, retailers incur incremental freight costs, the possibility of shipping-related product damage, as well as a lost opportunity for a...
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March 19, 2015
March 19, 2015
HFN's survey reports that price is the leading factor for all shoppers at all major outlets.
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January 15, 2015
January 15, 2015
Home World Business shares some insights from an IBM shopping survey:
+ 60% of surveyed consumers said it is important for them to be able to find out if an item is in stock before going to the store.
+ 46% of consumers said it's important that retail employees use mobile devices to fix an out of stock issue, up six points from last year.
+ 48% percent of shoppers value initiating a personalized communication with a retailer when they are online.
Home World adds: "Additionally, the study found that ...
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May 1, 2012
May 1, 2012
Organised by Restaurant magazine, The World's 50 Best Restaurants list is an annual snapshot of the opinions and experiences of over 800 international restaurant industry experts. What constitutes "best" is left to the judgment of these trusted and well-travelled gourmets.
The results are a simple computation of votes. Given that this well-constructed list is based on personal experiences it can never be definitive, but we believe it is a honourable survey of current tastes and a credible...
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April 17, 2011
April 17, 2011
Consumers wish companies would catch up online
The following article from Advertising Age says that consumers wish to do more business online, but that companies may not be adequately meeting him/her there. Ad Age included a survey that companies can take to measure their communication preparedness. I'm including it with this post.
MARKETERS FAILING INTERACTIVE PART OF INTERACTIVE MARKETING Forrester Study: Consumers Want Cross-Channel Engagement, but Companies Are Falling Behind
Advertising Age's Steve Cone recently wrote about successfully using e-mail to connect with customers.
I found these two excerpts below interesting A link to the full article is below the excerpts.
What's the biggest mistake marketers continue to make with e-mail marketing?
It's still too much of a one-way street. Marketers send offers, ask for opinions or do customer surveys and provide no means for the recipient to directly communicate back to them. All types ...
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October 21, 2009
October 21, 2009
Should you offer free shipping on your website?
Please see below. This article from today's Wall St. Journal explores the expectation for free shipping when buying online. My advice to clients: - Let's better promote our free shipping offer for orders made online. - Let's e-mail a coupon to past customers either for an amount off the purchase, or something about free shipping. - Can we lower our free shipping baseline, or offer a free upgrade to quicker shipping? aka: 2 day shipping?
Tracking abandoned shopping carts and retrieving lost sales
Below is a good article from Inc. magazine about tracking abandoned shopping carts. How can the home goods industry get sales from this area?
Excerpt: The median abandonment rate is 40 percent for consumer-products companies and 58 percent for service companies, according to a recent survey by MarketingSherpa, a research firm based in Warren, Rhode Island. During periods of economic decline, shopping cart abandonment tends to spike, ...
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June 8, 2009
June 8, 2009
Giving tableware and home good products green ratings and labels
The Ad Age article below describes how the European Commission may propose a system to put color-coded labels on cars designating how 'green' they are. What if this was done for home goods brands? For individual products?
Europe May Put Green Grades on Car Ads Proposed Rating System Would Color-Code Brands by Their Carbon Footprints
By Emma Hall Published: June 23, 2008
LONDON (AdAge.com) -- In a move that could have ...
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November 30, 2008
November 30, 2008
2008 Online Sales to Grow 12% Over 2007
From Advertising Age magazine regarding online sales:
Overall retail sales are projected to grow only 2.2% by the National Retail Federation, making online growth projections of 12% downright cheery.
Deloitte's annual holiday survey also presents several compelling reasons to maintain spending online. The category is ranked by consumers as the No. 2 shopping destination this year behind discount department stores. A full 21% of consumers plan to shop ...
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December 28, 2007
December 28, 2007
How to Best Advertise Online
According to this survey from Advertising Age, the top three ways to advertise online are paid search, e-mail lists (in-house list), and rich media ad (i.e.: Flash ads). Paid search constitutes the majority of advertising so it stands to reason that it's first. E-mails second place finish suggests earlier reports about e-mail marketing providing great value.
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December 18, 2007
December 18, 2007
Two Insights Into How Consumers Are Shopping for Tableware
James Surowiecki in this week's The New Yorker offers some insights into how buyers shopโthereby helping us serve this audience. He writes:
In an experiment in the early nineteen-nineties, people were first asked whether they preferred a $110 microwave oven made by Emerson or a $180 oven made by Panasonic. Only forty-three per cent chose the Panasonic. But when a higher-priced Panasonic model, costing $200, was introduced into the mix, ...
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October 25, 2007
October 25, 2007
Taco Bell on Rosenthal china?
In a blog entry on October 1st, I questioned HFN's brand survey results that lumped women 18 yrs. old in with women that are 64, and women that earn $25,000 with $100,000. I'd have really liked to see a few age and income break downs. A point that drives home how differently these groups perceive brands is the accompanying Ad Age graphic. Taco Bell on Rosenthal china? I don't
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My name is Jason Solarek, and I met you at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens this past spring at an antique garden furniture show. I was there with some ...
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My name is Jason Solarek, and I met you at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens this past spring at an antique garden furniture show. I was there with some ...
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October 1, 2007
October 1, 2007
Who is the Tabletop Buyer?
Reviewing HFN's Brand Survey
Last week's HFN issue was dedicated to a brand survey. It promises to tell you how your brandโand your competitor'sโranks nationwide. At the top of the tabletop popularity contest we see Corelle, Oneida, and Lenox. I wish the survey showed results by more factors, such as by age and income. In particular, I'd like to see the results broken into two categories: women 18-27 and 28-64. The survey clumps together women18-64 with household incomes...
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