Marketing with Technology and More

Navigating to success

My daughter is in college, and is working on a project for one of her classes.  She is working on a presentation for her speech class about the effect of web design on consumer behavior.  She sent me a copy of the speech outline and one of the key items in her talk really hit me as it relates to web interfaces:  “Shopping patterns and consumer behavior are not just random acts.”

This is basic marketing, but it is amazing how often major organizations forget about this.  From experience I know that the challenges related to user interface design is that many organizational factions get involved and everyone has a perspective.  What you often end up with is a design that looks like the elephant that was described by six blind men. 

Never forget that in most situations, people come to your web site with a specific goal in mind.  Very few will end up there by random chance.  Don’t design a website or email message from your perspective as a marketer, but from the perspective of the visitor.  Marketers are so used to push marketing that sites are often designed from the perspective of “here is where we want to push you” or “this is what we want you to buy”.  When you do this with little regard to ease of navigation, your website is doomed to underperform.

A great example she uses to illustrate this is walmart.com.  Just visit the site and move your mouse around.  There are so many navigation components that you can easily get lost.  Her research indicates that on an average day, the number one retailer in the world has .2 percent of all global internet traffic (compare this to Amazon, whose daily reach is as high as 5 percent).

In addition to these points, as a father, it is wonderful to see your daughter have such insight – she makes me very proud.

Super Supermarkets

In keeping with my post yesterday about retail and the importance of adding value, I wanted to post about another retail experience.  I am visiting Columbia Missouri, and had an opportunity to go to a grocery store that is part of the Hy-Vee chain.  It is amazing to see how stores selling groceries can go to great lengths to differentiate themselves if they want to. 

As you walk through the doors at Hy-Vee, the first thing that hits you is how bright and clean the store is.  Then you realize part of the cleanliness comes from the level of order.  Everything is organized and well displayed.  The produce department displays are practically works of art.  The facing on shelves of caned goods are near perfect.  The display of Easter candy looks like the dream of the plan-o-gram designer at Hershey’s.

Hy-Vee is not the first supermarket I have visited that is like this.  There are a few standouts in the field that I’ve visited over the years.  Harris-Teeter in the South, Gelson’s in Southern California, Bashas’ in Arizona, and of course Trader Joe’s.  The difference in all of these stores in my mind is three fold.  Quality, care, and marketing though adding value in a variety of different ways.

At Hy-Vee for example, the meat department has a broad array of high quality meat including organic and prepared foods.  The produce department has your standard vegetables, but a broad array of unusual fruits and veggies that you won’t find in most markets, plus many items that are washed and prepared ready-to-eat.

These stores prove that no matter what you sell or what you do, you can differentiate your business and stand out in a crowded market.  It is also interesting to note that Hy-Vee is employee owned, Bashas’ is family owned.  There is something to be said for the pride of ownership.

Retailers Who Don't Add Value - Crushed by The Web

Sometimes the impact the web is having on the world of retail is painfully obvious.  I haven’t been in a Circuit City in some time, and based on my experience today, my guess is that neither have too many other consumers.  Great web experiences at web sites like Amazon, B & H Photo and many others turned this big box electronics retailer into a sad looking shadow of its former self.

If you look at the pictures that I took, you can see that the store is no longer filled with the latest and greatest electronics gadgets.  In fact, the only real reason I could figure a consume might want to venture there is to see how a particular televison looked, or to hear a set of speakers (my guess is then many shoppers might actually purchase it elsewhere).  There was no one with any knowledge to help you.  The display’s were sad and falling down.  In a word, Circuit City has done nothing to add any value to a trip into the store.

This does not have to be the case for retail in the digital age.  In fact digital and retail can easily go hand in hand.  One of the stellar examples in this category is Abt Electronics (full disclosure, SubscriberMail handles distribution of Abt’s email marketing messages).  If you ever are in the Chicago area, make time to visit their retail location.  It is a case study in value-added retail sales done right.  They have partnered with many of their manufacturers to create world-class display areas where you can see appliances and electronics in action.  Every time I go in the store, it is expanding.  It is a fun place to visit, you almost don’t want to leave.  Their web site, and electronic communications is top notch too.

So, the digital road will be littered with the bones of the likes of the Circuit Cities (I don’t give them long).  Visit their web site, and even that is complicated.  The retail future belongs to the brick and mortar value add retailers like the Abt’s and the innovators on the web like the Amazon’s.  Where does your company play?