Bills Blog

It's utterly amazing today the amount of news that is centered around retail shopping figures. If it isn't Black Friday, it's Cyber Monday. Year over year sales figures are continually quoted. News stories feature the hot retailers and those going to the retail graveyard. The mighty Wal-Mart is always covered with close scrutiny. Wasn't it just a couple of years ago that Wal-Mart wanted to remake its brand? It's now back to its core of low prices and value and doing extraordinarily well. November sales were up 3.4% over last year. Everywhere you look, the retail news is dismal. To combat slumping sales, it's interesting to see how retailers are going back into their marketing playbooks and finding mediums and media that haven't been used in years. So much for social media and all the New Age media mix to stimulate sales. Back to basics is the new marketing mantra!

Many retailers are going back to their marketing roots. Many of you are too young to remember layaway programs. Layaways were spawned coming out of the Depression. Essentially, you would "lay away" a product you wanted to purchase but didn't have the money for at that time. You were able to leave a deposit, make layaway payments and then purchase it. It was essentially capped in retail escrow. This year Kmart, Sears, TJ Maxx and Marshalls have reintroduced new and improved layaway programs. The last time layaway programs were in their heyday was during the Carter administration. In my opinion, Carter's presidential tenure was something that should have been laid away.

Back in the nineties, the telecommunications brand, MCI (which has since gone to brand heaven), started a break-through program called "Friends and Family." MCI's Friends and Family endeavor helped penetrate new accounts and grow market share. It extended the brand among people's inner circles, much like what happens in today's social medium world. Everywhere you look, companies seem to be inviting friends and family into their inner brand circles. It's great to have friends, but I don't think any of my friends would be happy for me to sign them up for Restoration Hardware's program. That means more gadgets in their house and potentially more do-it-yourself projects on weekends. They could do without a friend like me recommending Restoration Hardware to their respective spouses. Of course, the 25% off a single item at Sports Authority might be a different story for say, a new golf club driver. That's called being a true friend.

Then there's the old standard, coupons. The cache of coupons my wife has accumulated from the major retailers is mind boggling. If it isn't Orvis, it's Eddie Bauer, Talbots or the aforementioned Restoration Hardware. Discounters, high-end retailers, sporting goods stores, book sellers, big boxes and independents alike are all into couponing in a big way. This year it's trendy and smart to shop cheap. Conspicuous consumption is out. If you want to make a statement about yourself, pull out your brand affinity card and combine it with a coupon; maybe put it on layaway or invite your friends and family to share in the purchase. Retailers are trying to make this a decent holiday shopping season in light of what's going on in the economy by employing these sales motivators.

What it says to me is that right now there really are no new marketing ideas, only those that have been buried and then uncovered and recast in a different wrapping. All of these marketing programs have worked at one time or another. Why not in today's retail marketing world? Some are proving to be more successful than others; but they're all back and better than ever. Will it make people shop more? That remains to be seen. What is readily apparent is the old adage that there are no new ideas, only those that are recast and reconstructed.