Editorial Blog: January 2008 Archives

It's the Thought that Counts… No Really, It is

My inbox filled up with all kinds of interesting items on retailing while I was on my Christmas and New Year's holidays. The first piece that caught my eye was an article called "Re-Gifting to Re-Homing," which came my way via the very good email newsletter from www.retailwire.com. Written by Bernice Hurst, managing director of the Fine Food Network, the article described how close to a million items were listed on eBay between December 26th and 30th. Here's part of what she wrote:

New listings rose by about a third after the company [eBay] introduced a discounted rate in the UK of 10p, giving the original recipient not only a chance to make someone happy but also the wherewithal to purchase something they themselves wanted.

An estimated £1.2bn was spent on unwanted gifts in Britain this Christmas with hundreds appearing for sale on the Internet within 24 hours. The average cost of the "turkeys under the tree," as The Guardian said they have been dubbed, is £20 a person, according to a survey by YouGov for eBay, the auction site.

Richard Kanareck, spokesman for eBay.co.uk, was quoted as saying, "Whether it's the wrong size, you have it already or it's just not for you, re-homing a present means it will find a new owner who will really appreciate it."

Some unopened gifts were hyped with assertions that the givers were likely to have spent generously, according to The Times. As one seller said, "this is a pot luck lucky dip. I do not have poor friends so the gifts should be good." Another rejected something from his father, saying that knowing him, "it will not have been cheap." Yet another seller said an easy-to-knit scarf kit was "a lovely idea [but] I cannot knit and really don't have time to learn." And a father was selling a mobile telephone given to his son that was just "too complicated."?

Re-homing means that unwanted, unloved gifts become wanted and appreciated. Friends and relatives can stop dreading re-gifts and both original and new recipients can enjoy the gift giver's largesse. Happy ending or what?

The article is followed by a discussion of how the opportunity to re-gift online changes the holiday for consumers and retailers, and whether the number of returns to retailers have been reduced. What's your experience this holiday season? Are returns up or down?

Posted by Lori Smith on January 10, 2008 2:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Not all Jobs are Created Equal

Just before Christmas, my colleague Elena Opasini, the editor of Hardware and Home Centre Magazine, interviewed Will Dunning, chief economist to the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals. In the interview, Dunning explained that jobs, affordability and consumer confidence were the cornerstones of a solid housing market and currently, Canada had all three. Elena took him to task on the "jobs" issue, a part of the good-economy discussion that I'm also having trouble with.

Today's newspapers are all carrying the results of Statistics Canada's latest data on jobs. The agency reports that in December the economy lost 19,000 jobs following seven months of gains. It is the largest monthly loss in three years. Here are some other figures from the report:

* The manufacturing sector has dropped 33,000 jobs.

* 10,700 public sector jobs were created

* 21,900 were added to the ranks of the self-employed.

Statistics Canada says that job growth for the year is 2.2 percent (370,000 jobs). In 2006, job growth was 2.1 percent. What the facts don't reveal is information on the quality of jobs being created versus the quality of the jobs lost. When a plant closes down are its employees finding work with comparable compensation and benefits? Or, are they moving to lower-paying employment in the service sector or "self-employed" sector (What are they self-employed at?)? Not all jobs are created equal and that impacts a family's income and what they spend in your store.

Here's a link to the video of Elena's interview with Dunning. The job question aside, he thinks it will be another good year for housing resells and renovations--and we hope, redecoration.

Posted by Lori Smith on January 11, 2008 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Entering the (Inflated) Expectation Economy

Trendwatching.com's latest newsletter hit my desktop today. It delivered the news that we are now entering what its authors call the "Expectation Economy," a consumer mindset that they're seeing in "mature (and rapidly maturing) consumer societies." Here's how they define it:

The EXPECTATION ECONOMY is an economy inhabited by experienced, well-informed consumers from Canada to South Korea who have a long list of high expectations that they apply to each and every good, service and experience on offer.

"Their expectations are based on years of self-training in hyperconsumerism, and on the biblical flood of new-style, readily available information sources, curators and BS filters. Which all help them track down and expect not just basic standards of quality, but the 'best of the best'."

Reading the report, I wondered how people knew something was the "best of the best." Yes, word-of-mouth is effective and influential. I do recognize that. But if you haven't actually experienced (or purchased) something yourself, all you're doing is taking someone's word that a product or brand encompasses everything that would make something the best of the best to you. It seems to me to be a mindset at odds with customization and individuality.

Then there's the fact that expectations have always been part of human behavior. The change is that we are now in what I would call an Inflated Expectation Economy. People expect great products at low, low prices and then are upset when they fall apart. Everyone thinks that they should have big salaries, corner offices and lots of holidays. Marketers make grandiose claims for products (anti-aging? age-defying?) that we buy in to continuously with the expectation that they will work. We expect to have great social services and tax cuts!! Expectation inflation is rampant. If you don't believe me, just try getting through the day without having one big expectation of another person, or a product, or whatever. It's pretty difficult.

What would actually be new would be a shift to a "Realistic Expectation Economy." But, I doubt that will happen any time soon.

Posted by Lori Smith on January 21, 2008 4:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Croc Attack!!!

I was enjoying reading Marketing magazine's new "Pop Culture Blow Out" issue until I came across ad guy Scott O'Hara's cry for the demise of Crocs (see page 26 of the January 28, 2008 edition). O'Hara, who is the managing director of GMR Marketing in Toronto, completed the sentence "The hot thing in '07 that's now so over is…" with the following:

"I can only hope it's the ugliest shoes I've ever seen, Crocs, and the kings of jock rock, Nickelback."

I don't have an opinion either way on Nickelback but with regard to the "ugliest shoes" he's ever seen I'd have to say, don't knock'em until you've walked a show or ten in them. For a long time, like O'Hara I was deterred from donning Crocs because of their less than lovely appearance. But, after watching retailers and suppliers comfortably walking the halls of gift shows in them for a couple of years, I finally gave in and bought a pair myself. They are show-shoe heaven. I don't care what they look like. This summer I walked the Toronto shows and then some of the European shows in them. Not a peep from my feet. No tired legs. Crocs are a fashion sacrifice worth making.

So, far from being a trend that should end, I hope Crocs are here to stay. I've been walking gift shows for a long time and my feet have never been happier.

Posted by Lori Smith on January 23, 2008 5:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Editorial Blog

Commentary on retailing, shopping, consumers and the gifts and tablewares industry today by G&T editor Lori Smith

January 2008 Archives

January 10, 2008

It's the Thought that Counts… No Really, It is

January 11, 2008

Not all Jobs are Created Equal

January 21, 2008

Entering the (Inflated) Expectation Economy

January 23, 2008

Croc Attack!!!

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About January 2008