Sears Kmart Store Closings

Sears Holdings on Thursday released a partial list of Sears and Kmart stores that the company will close, two days after announcing that an unspecified 100 to 120 stores would be shut.

The list released Thursday contains 79 stores. Company stock was walloped when the news

broke on Tuesday, tumbling 27%, off 83% from an April 2007 high of $195.18. Company

stock  was down 0.9% for the day Thursday as the closing bell approached.

Here is the partial list of store closings. 

TWELP - How did they build their million base?

TWELP - How did they build their million base?


We all know the 140 word micro blogging has become so popular and a standard communication code, especially over the last 3 years. We have witnessed how some of the leading media companies and celebrities enjoy multi million base of followers. 

There are two different sides to having this volume of followers. 

One. Attention required in customer services especially in retail is so huge in number. A retail customer who tries to communicate through twitter with companies and if the customer gets immediate responses, it boosts the brand loyalty my many leaps. 

Two. On the other side, a customer can use this medium and tag to complain about services and products too.  So the perfect balancing is called for to have desired results.

It is interesting to read these pieces of fact on how these three giant companies built their base and being able to communicate with customers directly in the fiercily competitive retail world! Some of their most pain handling situations and how they turned it to their advantage by making the customer a winner, ultimately! READ MORE....

Smart Retailers Young Shoppers and Deal Values

Black Friday and Cyber Monday this 2011 season has opened eyes of retailers, marketing companies and young shoppers. Surge in sales year over year is due to that with economy and buying power not changing much.

According to The NPD Group, Best Buy was the fourth most frequently shopped retailer behind full-line merchants Walmart, Target and Amazon, which sell a much wider variety of products. Best Buy also enjoyed the highest conversion rate, with more than 58 percent of shoppers actually making purchases, compared with just 38 percent last year, representing the largest gain among the four rivals.

Some of the smart retailers put their efforts on internet medium, attract the new and young buyers and made it appear that these deals exist only for few days around now. However most of the deals are continuing even after a week. It is smart thinking from the retailers.

Independant buying decisions from young shoppers facilitated further. Percentage of young people getting employed (ages between 17 and 24) has gone up this year. Mobile as a medium of marketing is right on to target this group.  They are seeing future value with these purchases. 'Big surge in purchases through small devices' - many report this.

Some of the giant companies such as Apple, Amazon, eBay offering discounts and deals such as free shipping have influenced the finicky customers in their favor.

ComScore has published this informative report, very interesting facts:

2011 Holiday Season To Date vs. Corresponding Days* in 2010 Non-Travel (Retail) Spending Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases Total U.S. – Home & Work Locations Source: comScore, Inc.
	Millions ($)
	2010	2011	Percent Change
November 1 – December 2	$16,257	$18,697	15%
Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 24)	$407	$479	18%
Black Friday (Nov. 25)	$648	$816	26%
Thanksgiving Weekend (Nov. 26-27)	$886	$1,031	16%
Cyber Monday (Nov. 28)	$1,028	$1,251	22%
Week Ending Dec. 2	$5,164	$5,959	15%

*Corresponding days based on corresponding shopping days (November 2 thru December 3, 2010)

Weekly Holiday Free Shipping Analysis vs. Corresponding Weeks* in 2010 Non-Travel (Retail) Spending Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases Total U.S. – Home & Work Locations Source: comScore, Inc.
Week Ending	Percentage of Transactions with Free Shipping
	2010	2011	Point Change
11/6/2011	41.8%	52.2%	+10.4
11/13/2011	44.7%	51.2%	+6.5
11/20/2011	50.2%	56.0%	+5.8
11/27/2011	55.0%	64.4%	+9.4
12/4/2011**	52.2%	63.2%	+11.0

*Corresponding weeks based on corresponding shopping days (November 2 thru December 5, 2010)
**Data based on partial week of data thru Dec. 2, 2011
.

Q: “When making a purchase online this holiday season, which of the following statements best describes how important free shipping is to you?” November 29-December 1, 2011, n=1,013 Total U.S. – Home & Work Locations Source: comScore 2011 Holiday Survey
Response	Percentage of Respondents
Very important – I will not make a purchase without it	36%
Somewhat important – I actively seek out free shipping deals	42%
Neither important nor unimportant – I would like to find it, but do not require it	12%
Somewhat unimportant – free shipping has very little effect on my purchase decision	1%
Very unimportant – I will make my purchase regardless of shipping costs	2%
Don’t know/not sure	6%

Retail success of Apple

As the former vice president of retail at Apple, Ron Johnson partnered with Steve Jobs to plan the first Apple store. Now the CEO of J.C. Penney, Johnson reveals why Apple stores work.

Writing about his efforts in fashioning the Apple store in a Harvard Business Review guest post, Johnson explained that a store has to do more than just offer products for sale. It has to create an experience--something that turns it into more than just a store.

"Any store has to provide products people want to buy," Johnson wrote. "That's a given. But if Apple products were the key to the stores' success, how do you explain the fact that people flock to the stores to buy Apple products at full price, when Wal-Mart, Best-Buy, and Target carry most of them, often discounted in various ways, and Amazon carries them all--and doesn't charge sales tax!"

The secret?

READ MORE....