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stuff you can use
Jerry Epperson
Things you can do to get ready for RECOVERY!
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n his Furnishings Digest Newsletter for October, industry analyst Jerry Epperson—an eternal optimist who’s always looking for the opportunities in any crisis—offered a list of things retailers can do to get ready for the coming business recovery. Here are Jerry’s ideas: Offer new products. Replace and upgrade one-third of the retail floor mix. Move around and dust/wax/replace the remainder of old floor samples. Look new and different! Look at your store and your signage. Replace, paint, refurbish. Appear to be ready for business! Consumers look at ads and consider promotions for weeks or months before they actually shop. Make your presence known now. Explore new media opportunities (email, Twitter, Facebook, etc.). Involve your staff in preparing for the recovery. Offer new
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Dialing for sleep on your iPhone
10 SleepSavvy • November/December 2009
incentives and spiffs. Use updated educational programs for the new merchandise. Encourage enthusiasm. Renew old contacts and leads while seeking new ones. Connect with realtors, designers, homebuilders, kitchen and bath remodelers, bankers, mortgage brokers, electronics retailers, etc. Think and evolve. ● Aggressively buy for your in-store clearance center. ● Turn the catalog counter into a “Seek and We Shall Find” department to help meet customers’ needs. ● Offer both credit and rental options. ● Take trade-ins. ● Start a “gift” area with accessories. ● Make the youth area kidfriendly. ● Offer decorating seminars and in-home decorating suggestions and services. ● Offer your off-duty vehicles to help community organizations (with your drivers, of course). ● Host health seminars on the benefits of better mattresses,
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massage chairs, etc. Have a legitimate reason for a sale, e.g., replacing lines, seasonal changes, store refurbishing, etc. ● Offer to “adopt” customers from failed competitors. ● Host special events for members of local community banks, credit unions, service organizations, etc., to increase your visibility. Confirm that your store’s product mix coordinates perfectly with your neighborhood demographics and your advertising mix. For example, do not advertise beanbag chairs in nursing home publications. Rename your store and change your product mix accordingly, if necessary. This is the right time to do it. Begin to return to a more “normal” pricing mix. Consumers will not seek $188 sofas forever! ●
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Thanks, Jerry. We needed that. For more information about Jerry and his firm, Mann, Armistead & Epperson, go to www.maeltd.com.
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eave it to two young computer geeks to develop an iPhone application for sleep. University of Wisconsin Madison students Daniel Gartenberg and Justin Beck met at an innovation competition and decided to integrate their skills in computer science and scientific research to create new technology to help iPhone and iPod-touch users improve their sleep. The Proactive Sleep App lets users track sleep patterns with a sleep diary and set a wake-up alarm to any song in their iTunes library. The app automatically calculates how much the user is sleeping based on alarm settings. It also features an eye-opening game to help users wake up and comes loaded with information about sleep, sleep problems and behavioral solutions. If you’ve got an iPhone or iPod-touch, just type in “Proactive Sleep” for more information.
www.sleepsavvymagazine.com