Daily Archives: January 14, 2009

Can Moms Rescue Us From the Recession?

January 14, 2009
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There is an article in the online version of Advertising Age that asks the question “Can moms save us from the recession?” It then goes on to list five tips/trends affecting moms (which the article says is responsible for 85% to 90% of all household purchases; I believe that) and how marketers can reach out to moms so that they don’t cut back on their spending.

Those trends are:

  1. Understand her priorities
  2. Recognize that economic “nesting” is in
  3. Help her celebrate savings
  4. Help her help you (not a great subhead since it’s not clear what they’re getting at but basically now that moms are “insourcing” as opposed to “outsourcing”, they need help learning new skills. Heck, I’m still gonna pay someone to do my highlights.)
  5. Green is still the new black

I think that the writers of this article are pretty spot-on in their analysis of us moms, but I almost think that their suggestions don’t go far enough. For example, as I posted in a comment on AdAge.com, if green truly still is the new black, making green products affordable won’t be enough to sway moms–or any other shoppers for that matter–on a budget to buy that product. However, if marketers can figure out a way to show how these green products can save us green, then that changes everything.

What’s your take on this story?

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The ABCs of Frugality

January 14, 2009
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OK, why didn’t I think of writing this?

This post from The Art of the Coupon spells out reasons for and ways to be frugal, A to Z. It’s a quick yet worthwhile read.

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Blue-Light Special Redux?

January 14, 2009
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I guess it all started when K-Mart debuted its Blue-Light Special back in 1965, an idea a store manager had for moving slow-selling items. K-Mart literally turned on a blue light somewhere in the store and then said those famous words over the intercom, “Attention, K-Mart Shoppers…” That was the cue buyers had been waiting for to signal that they were about to get a deal on something in the store.

These days the retail environment has changed so much that getting a great deal at an “odd” time of the day, shall we say, is usually limited to Black Friday, before-dawn sales and other oddities like that.While the Blue-Light Special came back to K-Mart a number a years ago, after being on hiatus for about a decade, it’s no longer the go-to experience for great deals.

A couple of years ago Lands’ End attempt to recapture the Blue-Light Special days of yore when it debuted its “On the Counter” sales in the overstock section of its website. Here’s how Lands’ End explains how “On the Counter” works:

Each Saturday, we put a new group of products “On the Counter,” in very limited quantities, substantially reduced from the original catalog price. On Monday, that discount price is reduced another 25%. On Wednesday, 50%. And on Friday, 75%.

Now it seems that, on the heels of its #1 customer service rating, L.L. Bean is attempting to do Lands’ End’s “On the Counter” deals one better.

Starting yesterday, according to Consumer Reports, L.L. Bean began slashing prices on random products and rotating those discounted prices on an hourly basis. You have to visit the L.L. Bean website to see what’s up for grabs that hour, because you never know what you’ll find. Just now the “Daily Markdowns” was for an insulated rain jacket for kids that was $29.50 and is now $15.

I’m not sure I have enough time in a day to keep revisiting the L.L. Bean site on an hourly basis to keep up with “Daily Markdowns,” which rotate between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. However, if L.L. Bean were on Twitter and could tweet that hour’s deal, then that might just get my attention–and the attention of a lot of other tech-savvy shoppers looking for a bargain. (Speaking of Twitter you can follow me @leangreenmom.)

Have you guys taken advantage of any of these kinds of super-sweet savings’ deals? If so, let me know when, where and what you got–and for how much.

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Killer Customer Service

January 14, 2009
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llbean_logoGiven my affinity for L.L. Bean and its lifetime guarantee with its products, I guess it should come as no surprise that L.L.Bean has once again been hailed as the cream of the crop, so says a National Retail Federation (NRF) press release. (L.L. Bean was number one last year, too.)

According to the fourth annual NRF Foundation/American Express Customers’ Choice survey, conducted by BIGresearch, shoppers revealed that L.L.Bean delivers the best customer service in all retail formats.

Interestingly, in the four years that NRF has been doing this survey, shoppers have increasingly identified internet-only retailers among those who offered the best customer service.

Here are the other retailers take top spots in the survey–notice how some of the top ones are dot coms:

  1. L.L. Bean
  2. Overstock.com
  3. Zappos.com
  4. Amazon.com
  5. Lands’ End
  6. Newegg (I’d never heard of this website before, but when I logged onto Newegg.com, I discovered that it’s all about affordable electronics and computers.)
  7. JC Penney
  8. QVC
  9. Coldwater Creek
  10. Nordstrom

Like L.L. Bean, Lands’ End offers a lifetime guarantee on its products, which I’m sure boosts it in the eyes of its customers.

Here’s another reason I’ll bet Lands’ End got top marks–it knows how to treat customers well in nearly all situations. Case in point: after my post that mentions free shipping earlier this month, a reader sent me the following message (which she has given me permission to reprint here) about a positive Lands’ End experience:

I recently placed an order with Lands’ End.  The next day there was an email from Lands’ End with a notice of free shipping for the next 3 days.  I called customer service, told  them about my order, they gave me the free shipping.

Now Lands’ End didn’t have to honor the free shipping offer, since this customer had already placed and paid for her order. But in extending the free shipping offer to her, that was certainly the right thing to do.

As far as my own customer-service experiences, I know that for the longest time Nordstrom offered a no-questions-asked return policy, which made shopping there and returning anything much more pleasant than at other stores.

I’m a bit surprised that Target wasn’t anywhere on this list. Overall, I’ve had a good experience with the store, especially in regards to returns. Well, wait, there were a couple of times when I didn’t have receipts and making a return wasn’t as easy as it had been in the past. But these days Target spits out gift receipts without your even having to ask for them, and a gift receipt is usually your ticket to a hassle-free return.

Finally, while I haven’t always had great experiences with Gap as far as returns go (see my post on buyer beware when shopping at Gap outlet), yesterday Gap surprised me by coming through on something that I thought was a lost cause.

My mother in law had given me a Gap gift card for Christmas, which I decided to cash in with an online order. I placed the order well before New Year’s and was getting a little nervous when it hadn’t arrived by this week. When I went online to check its status, I discovered that it had been delivered to my old house. Now how that happened is beyond me–I’ve placed a number of orders with Gap.com since I’ve moved, and none of those orders went to my old house.

Whatever.

I’ll just call the people who bought my old house and ask them to put the package on their front step so I can come by and pick it up. Except they don’t recall getting a Gap package. Now either their lying (why would they?) or UPS screwed up. As luck would have it, the package was delivered “no signature required” so there was no holding anyone accountable for the package’s whereabouts.

I really thought I was SOL as far as my clothes were concerned. Here’s where Gap surprised me.

When I called customer service and told them what happened, they told me that they will make a one-time replacement shipment when an order is lost in delivery or can’t be recovered. That’s so cool! What isn’t cool is the fact that three of the seven items I’d originally ordered have sold out. Well, at least Gap is sending me a gift card with a credit on it for the irreplaceable items.

Can you recall instances of killer (as in “good”) customer service? Do tell!

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