Creative

Understand Web users -- Drive customers to your Website -- Show results. It57;s the name of the game! With this responsibility also comes increasing pressure to prove the effectiveness of your online strategies.

Ethan Allen's strategy to reposition itself with younger consumers. Americans in their 40s, 50s and 60s currently make up the brand’s core demographic. But Ethan Allen, which also offers interior design services, is looking to connect with consumers in their 30s and 40s who also have some discretionary income to spend.

Digital signage can be an effective means of attracting and engaging consumers. Can be, that is. For digital signage to work, above all, it must leave a memorable impression.

Regardless of the channels in which you sell, testing is invaluable to your business. And offer testing, in particular, is misunderstood in both practice and power. Yet testing seems complicated and time consuming. Is it worth it? The answer: You can't afford NOT to test.

Imaginative merchants have all worked hard to turn rather ordinary items into extraordinary “must haves.” Just how alluring is your product line? And how will you keep luring your customers into your brand?

As retailers head into the critical back-to-school season, the industry's second-biggest selling period, they're using an array of new tools and deals to spur consumers to buy.

REI may be one of the best companies at turning shopping into an experience and turning customers into devoted patrons. That's because REI isn't merely a place to pick up parkas, tents or bikes. It's a store where customers can go to learn how to use a GPS device on a trail, figure out which local waterways offer the best kayaking for beginners and discover what to pack for a summit attempt on a 14,000-foot peak. It's a place where outdoor enthusiasts go to be inspired.

With retailers forced to take a hard look at their bottom lines during the recession, catalogs are adjusting, but not disappearing, says Leslie Linevsky, founder of Catalogs.com. As postage rates climb and customers become concerned about the environmental impact, retailers are scaling back on the number of catalogs they mail out and are using them to drive traffic to their websites.

Many catalogers have merchants select the products for each two-page spread, then hand them to designers/copywriters to make them look and sound good. But that process can miss the middle step of analyzing how to make each two-page spread sell harder. Here's a prescription for a checklist to help you add that analysis step. Follow it and your catalog should sell better soon.

Mindful merchants know that one of their main roles as brand builders is customer motivation. They know just when the power of a gentle nudge (via strategic cross-sells, meaningful upsells or properly placed point-of-purchase teasers) or a more forceful jolt (you must have this!) is necessary to prompt a sale. In today’s selling environment, with consumers more cautious than ever about their spending, merchants are required to use their motivational jolt skills more often.