Letters to the Editor
Everyone’s Eureka
“Eureka” indeed! Finally, a publication, All About ROI, is willing to really dive into the challenges that multichannel marketers, like ourselves, struggle with every day. The topics in All About ROI delve into the detailed decisions we need help with NOW. Today, we are all discussing how much spend we should give online versus offline promotions and how to allocate response to multiple channels. As Paul Miller says in The Editor’s Take, our customers want to use every channel as they wish. For us to be competitive, we need to provide what they want.
Mary Ann Kleinfelter, L-com Global Connectivity Reinvented Wheels
Really enjoying your new read! Especially the cover story about Gaiam. All the folks at National wish you great success with the new magazine — which really is a great combination. Your magazine is a fine example of reinventing yourself and staying viable — we all must do that to a degree.
Lynda Swann and crew, National Wholesale
Clear Focus
Congratulations on the new name! The ROI focus is clear. I like the change! Your electronic format works quickly and smoothly. The implementation of choosing pages to print is intuitively simple.
Bill Singleton, The Allant Group
Relevant and Useful
Congratulations on your new publication, All About ROI. Content in your inaugural issue certainly is relevant, and I hope that readers will find it useful, as I did.
Joseph Patterson, e-LYNXX Corp.
Facing Facebook
Re: Check it Out and Bonobos’ use of Facebook, what a great story! It’s good to see small businesses being able to tap outlets like Facebook. If Facebook ads work so well and are cost-effective, is that all they need to get to profitability?
Frank Strong, Sword and the Script (swordandthescript.blogspot.com)
Outlook Went Overboard
As a multichannel merchant with a 72-year history in the retail industry, what a good thing it was that I so carefully read your June 2009 issue! Carefully tucked in the back of this issue was an article proclaiming the end of the retail industry as we know it! Certainly, an article of this importance should have been the cover story so that other merchants in the retail industry would be sure to be apprised of this breaking news. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next issue so that I can find out what date the retail industry will be expiring as this will allow me to properly set up for our going out of business sale.
In all seriousness, the authors of this article have gone just a tad overboard. Surely, the retail industry faces many challenges, but this is hardly a new revelation. Any merchant that doesn’t commit to outstanding customer service, aggressive pricing, brand differentiation and great attention to detail is not going to survive. But effectively managed companies that adhere to these principles will continue to prosper … even in the retail model.
Bruce Green, Lady Grace Stores
P.S.: I generally find most of your articles to be informative and stimulating. This specific article did not merit the space.
The Authors Respond:
We’re not saying the retail business is expiring, Bruce. We are simply saying that the same old way of doing things is not working anymore. It seems that you are, in fact, in general agreement with us when you say that “the retail industry faces many challenges.” We are just taking your statement a step further in pointing our fingers more specifically at the fixed distribution model (i.e., stores).
The proven retail marketing strategies you refer to — outstanding customer service, aggressive pricing, brand differentiation and great attention to detail — are still critical to retail success. But alone, they don’t solve the problems of inventory management and distribution; the high costs of commercial space; the glut of look-alike stores; the difficulty in rising above the noise; and the problem of finding, training and retaining top retail sales personnel.
We’re suggesting that by taking a fresh look at the Internet and a number of the more innovative Web-based research analytic and business development tools, retailers can redefine their business models. That’ll go a long way toward mitigating some of these challenges and thus help to ensure their continued success.
Donn Rappaport, ALC and Zumbox;
Rick Braddock, FreshDirect
