When the Internet started to become popular – way back in the early 90s – there was a prediction that by the 2000s, the brick and mortar store, as we knew it, would be as obsolete as vinyl records.

Fast-forward twenty years later and vinyl records are as popular as ever. And so are brick and mortar stores, with a sigh of relief from commercial developers and “New Starbucks  Coming Soon” sign-makers. (more…)

As if you didn’t already know, there’s a lot of information out there. Of course, your job as a marketer is to keep looking for the latest and most innovative ways to get your message across to the right audience.

You know about Twitter, Facebook, and even trans-media storytelling as new and effective ways of engaging and connecting with your customers. But with so much clutter and noise, is there a better way to keep an audience’s attention? (more…)

Twice a year in Paris, retailers stage huge sales. Here in America, of course, there’s a sale every other day, sometimes even several within a single day.  But in the land of the Louvre, retailers only really hold massive sales every spring and winter.

The main difference between their sales and American sales, though, is one of quality over quantity.

While we may enjoy 15% off here and 10% off there, Parisians enjoy up to 80% off of hoity-toity handbags and, one could only assume, tiny dogs that fit inside of them.

Think of them as Black Friday Sales that come twice a year. (more…)

Last week, NPR’s This American Life had an amazing episode about money, or rather, its invention.

At one point, they talked about how a retailer got rid of a jar of olives that was not selling not by discounting its price, but by raising it. To eight dollars. Naturally, the jar was sold within hours, its perceived value ratcheted up. It’s kind of funny how a perceived value can be added to a product just by raising its price. (more…)

A few years ago, housing was hot. White hot. So hot that you had to get a prescription-based deodorant just to go to an open house.

Today? Not so much. (more…)

As you know, this Friday marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season, when consumers, fresh off their tryptophan trip, gobble up as many bargains as possible while trying not to be crushed by a mosh pit of rabid retail wranglers.

Or not. (more…)