Black Wednesday at the Liquor Store

New Years Eve at the liquor store and it was Busy!  Busier than any retail stores I visited before Christmas.   If my sources are correct, alcohol and lottery ticket sales have actually increased during 2008 while sales in durable goods decreases.   What does this mean?   You can draw your own conclusions, but I waited in line for ten minutes at this "big box" liquor store this afternoon.   There had to have been at least 150 people there buying their favorite drink(s) of choice for a New Years blow out.  Granted this liquor store is much larger than your local neighborhood liquor store, but they had 8 checkout lanes open, and they were all lined up at least 6 - 8 people deep.

I think a lot of people just want to forget about 2008 and move on to 2009.   I hope everyone has a safe and festive new year.   Time to turn off the computer and twist open a cold beer!

Happy New Year!

Social Security a Ponzi Scheme?

Isn't the funding of Social Security a giant government run Ponzi Scheme? How many of you expect to receive Social Security benefits when you retire? I don't think many of us planning to retire in 25 years have any belief the system will be around to take care of us. So why do we continue to be duped into paying into this scheme?

We bring this up in light of the unraveling of a $50 Billion Ponzi Scheme initiated by George Madoff, a trusted investment authority and former chair of NASDAQ. His scheme was investigated three times by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), once in 1992, 2005, and again in 2007. Only once in 2005 did he receive a notice of violation of trading rules for which he paid a fine. Once again, our own government has proven ineffective to prevent fraudulent investing activity such as we seeking with the failed oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

As this story unfolds, it is time to take a serious look at how our Social Security system is funded. Look closely and you will see similarities to the Madoff scheme.

What is a Ponzi Scheme? Taken from Wikipedia:

"It usually offers abnormally high short-term returns in order to entice new investors. The perpetuation of the high returns that a Ponzi scheme advertises (and pays) requires an ever-increasing flow of money from investors in order to keep the scheme going."

Analysis: The current Social Security system generates an ever-increasing flow of money from investors (taxpayers) and is paid out to retired citizens. As the government sees fit, it will raise the Social Security tax in order to keep the scheme going.

"The system is destined to collapse because there are little or no underlying earnings from the money received by the promoter. However, the scheme is often interrupted by legal authorities before it collapses, because a Ponzi scheme is suspected and/or because the promoter is selling unregistered securities. As more investors become involved, the likelihood of the scheme coming to the attention of authorities increases."

Analysis: There are no actual earnings on the books, since the money received by the promoter, the U.S. Government, is quickly dispersed to those individuals collecting the funds. The first generation that paid into the system received money from the second generation, the second generation receives money from the third generation. But what happens when the amount of money dispersed to the second generation (baby boomers) exceeds the amount of money generated by the third generation?

Since local authorities will not interrupt its funding, we will have to wait for the Social Security system to self-destruct when the value of payouts exceeds the value of taxpayers payments. The sooner Social Security destructs, the sooner we can stop paying into this Ponzi Scheme.

Cyber Monday 2008 - Any Predictions?

So we're only a few hours away from the unoffical kickoff to the online holiday shopping season, better known as Cyber Monday. Last year, the National Retail Federation estimated 72 million shoppers visited the Internet to start their online holiday shopping. With an estimated 7% increase in Black Friday shopping from last year, will we see the same increase on Cyber Monday? With over 80% of retailers expected to offer online deals on Monday, I believe we will see a dramatic increase in retail traffic for the day. Expect around 75 million shoppers on Cyber Monday.

How will this affect the rest of the shopping season?

This will remain to be seen, but if the predictions are correct that retail numbers will be equal to last year, don't expect any record setting activity for the remainder of the shopping season. We may see a surge in shopping on Cyber Monday, then a two week lull, so retailers will be forced to discount their merchandise deeper and deeper. The last weekend before Christmas will be a record setting weekend, but will it be enough?

Savages

If you've been following the news today, you've heard about chaos and death during a Black Friday sale in New York. What is wrong with people? Complete savages have made the news again. A clerk is trampled to death in Long Island, NY after opening the doors at a Wal-Mart and the doors were ripped off the hinges, according to other reports. And there are reports a pregnant woman has miscarried due to being trampled at the same store.

The New York Daily News is showing pictures of the chaotic scene. What did you expect when you have a sign on the wall that says, "Blitz Line Starts Here". Check it out here:

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/11/28/2008-11-28_worker_dies_at_long_island_walmart_after.html

After you are well rested from shopping this morning, please share your Black Friday stories with me.

Hulu and Lulu

Hulu and Lulu are two of the most interesting websites I have seen in a while. They are both entertainment related, but serve entirely different purposes.

Hulu www.hulu.com/ is an online media service that features a great assortment of movies as well as many current network television shows. I just got caught up with recent episodes of Fox's Kitchen Nightmares and tuned into Eddie Murphy's classic standup movie, "Raw". There is no cost to sign up, and if you can endure about 3 minutes worth of commercials scattered throughout the broadcasts, you will enjoy them. It's like on-demand, without the cable company demanding money.

Lulu http://www.lulu.com/ is an online e-book and printed book sales site. They offer very reasonable rates for self-publishing if you are interested in saving on publishing costs. They also let you sell your e-book online, too and we have used their service to promote our first e-book called the "2009 Marketing and Promotion Calendar". Go to http://www.2009promocalendar.com/ for more information about our masterpiece. Lulu allows you to sell your work, and they only take a percentage of any sales created. It's a great feature to give your writing more exposure and there are no upfront costs.

Black Friday - Are you Ready?

A lot of hype is historically generated for Black Friday and this year will be no different. It is going to be even more competitive since the retail experts have suggested we will see a downturn in retail buying activity. With a great deal of uncertainty due to current economic conditions, retailers and shopping centers are using money to get you into their stores and shopping centers.

A recent article in the San Francisco Business Times indicated the Sunvalley Shopping Center in Concord will be giving away four $250 gift cards starting at 6 a.m. on Black Friday, November 28th. That should get shoppers into their shopping center, and hopefully visiting stores, too.

As a consumer, you will be in a position to take advantage of agressive disounting. As a retailer, however, you will be under a great deal of pricing pressure. Depending upon your industry you may either discount heavily, or focus on your service, product selection, and niche products.

If you are looking for help with promotional activity this year, it is not too late. Visit our website at www.miraretail.com and contact us for assistance.

Information Overload?

I was recently in a Target Store and a new end cap display caught my eye as I was walking down a main aisle. The display was advertising a new product for women's care, but what was unique about this display was that a dynamic digital LCD unit had been installed at the top of the display with an in-store commercial being promoted on the display.

Like it or not, this is the direction of marketing and in-store promotion. Performance metrics can be applied easily to these new Point of Purchase end-cap displays since the amount of product sold can be directly attributed to the effectiveness of the message and the value of the promotion.

One primary advantage of using a digital LCD display on an end-cap unit is that a new message can be created for a different product line. Essentially, these displays are re-useable. As a marketing professional, I have been involved in the visual display industry and can help businesses approach innovative point-of-purchase advertising using LCD displays, store fixture manufacturing, and digitally printed media. Our website www.miradisplay.com has more information about the interior display solutions available as well as an on-line FastQuote service for interior signs.

2009 Marketing & Promotion Calendar

It has been in the works for six months, but we are excited to announce that we have completed our first E-Book titled the "2009 Marketing & Promotion Calendar". This calendar has been designed to help businesses stay on top of their marketing efforts for the entire year. Each month's marketing activities can be entered on a linear calendar so you may visualize when and where your messages will penetrate the market. Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays are highlighted in red to keep you on track with weekend promotions, too.

At the end of the year, you may "look-back" to determine which promotions were most effective and least effective. Included in the E-Book is helpful information regarding promotional ideas to boost your creativity for each month. Each month includes a list of monthly, weekly, and daily observances that a business may incorporate for their next promotion.

Please visit www.2009promocalendar.com for more information about the E-Book and to take a look at a sample calendar.

The Fifth P

What is the fifth P in the marketing mix?

It ties together your promotion strategy with the products you have to offer and I call it personal selling. How often have you encountered poor service, or been the victim of poor sales techniques? I can think of many encounters I've had with sales people that have turned me off to whatever it was they had to offer. What about the sales person that follows you around the store? Have their activities or lack of professionalism forced you to leave? It has made me find the closest exit door, even when there was a great deal right around the corner.

Personal selling is a skill that requires practice and an understanding of the products offered, and the customers you are offering them to. Some of my best sales people have been confident, enjoyed people, and had an ability to roll with the punches and deal with objections in a confident manner.

If you don't have adequate personal selling skills, you can throw your 4 P's out the door. Unless, of course, you are dealing with a commodity like gasoline where the price has been severly monopolized. In most competitive environments, personal selling will influence a deal.