Back to Basics
The new workplace accessory for profes-
sionals aged 35 to 54—the brown bag
lunch—is a clear indicator of a shift in
shopping patterns. Besides eating out less,
consumers are more selective—shopping
the clearance racks, buying in bulk, stock-
ing up on sale items and using coupons.
Although a store manager’s first reaction
might be to add more endcaps and cover
the shelves with “sale” and “clearance”
signs, retailers eager to respond to the
new recession-driven shopping habits
need to proceed carefully before relying
solely on deep discounts.
According to Bill Chidley, senior vice presi-
dent at Interbrand Design Forum, retailers
can be too aggressive pursuing price
tactics while not making enough changes
to the store based on understanding the
new behaviors.
“Adding more ceiling signs and promo-
tional messaging seems to be something
everyone’s doing today. But there’s a
point of diminishing return on in-store
communications. Past that point every-
thing becomes clutter,” says Chidley.
“Don’t let the economy force you to back-
slide into clutter. It’s a good time to get
back to basics.”
Lack of clutter, key items in stock, logical
adjacencies and a rational traffic flow.
Together, these elements make up the
first fundamental of a loyalty-building
shopping experience. It’s one that super-
markets and big boxes in particular have
been known to ignore by filling aisles with
muddled signage, pallets and displays for
shoppers to dodge.
“You may actually do a better job of in-
creasing basket size by being more precise
with messaging—by framing value around
style or benefit stories.”
To bring their benefit stories alive in the
aisles, retailers can borrow a page out of
the playbook for advertisers, who have
always been good at reframing the
proposition. You’re no longer shopping
light bulbs for price, but for their ability
to reduce your energy bills. Cold remedies
are sold not as cures, but as ways to avoid
missing days of work. Prepared meals
aren’t just shortcuts, they’re healthy.
Promoting a message that “you can still
afford to make the holidays special,”
Kmart and Sears, as well as T.J. Maxx and
Burlington Coat Factory, are attracting
shoppers with old-fashioned layaway pro-
grams. Customers feel helped rather than
handicapped by their limited credit.
Grocery chain Stop & Shop’s strategy is not
to slap points, rewards or discounts on
every SKU. It recognizes that many of its
customers belong to a generation that
never really had to work with household
budgets. The grocer now teaches “afford-
able food summits,” advising shoppers on
how to keep meals creative while control-
ling spending. It’s a tactic that’s relatively
inexpensive, adds value and encourages
loyalty through personal interaction.
Talbots is hoping women will want to
relieve their recession blues by going to
parties at its stores, thrown by loyal cus-
tomers. The company provides food and
drink while helping women update their
looks from its holiday line, created around
the concept of how to be the perfect
hostess. The goal is to build relationships
which will translate into higher sales.
“Store experience builds equity that lasts
a lot longer and goes a lot deeper than
these episodes of message bombardment
and promotional frenzy,” says Chidley.
“Yes, you need to give the worried brown-
bagging consumer reason to shop.
But your brand needs to build long-term
equities that matter in an up or down
economy. So strategy must be informed
by shopper insights if you expect to im-
prove performance and deliver meaning
to the customer.”
Ideations
A Retail Publication
October/November 2008
As the economy struggles to recover,
companies can do more than resort to
survival mode. They can take small steps
that will drive growth long term. Stores
in key markets can be cost-effectively
refreshed, or departments with the most
potential future growth can be identified
and upgraded. Behavioral insights can be
deployed into the current environment to
fine-tune adjacencies and new merchan-
dising opportunities.
According to Chidley, “You should be
continuously auditing stores to find the
places where you can add differentiated
value to the shopping experience. Most
retailers have already moved aggressively
on reducing costs, but the fact is, prices
have gone up on many consumer goods
due to earlier jumps in fuel prices. You can
institute strategic sourcing or rationalize
inventory to free up capital. You can get
more from existing sales resources by op-
timizing your assortments. You may even
be able to rework the floor plan to make it
easier for people to shop while improving
the perception of service.”
Despite the uncertainty ahead, compa-
nies can still find ways to keep the brand
story fresh. “Some behavior changes will
last, some won’t,” says Chidley. “The most
resilient retailers will understand their
immediate opportunities better because
they have a shopper-centric point of view
that allows them flexibility. Their brand
character can quickly be brought to bear
under changing circumstances, with less
danger of diluting what they stand for.”
 Chairman’s Commentary
Strong leadership and a shared vision
drive growth in tough times.

When everyone is insecure and anxious
from economic distress, it’s time to pull
out one of the strongest business tools
you’ve got—communication.
Communicating the company vision
tightens the emotional bonds among
all your stakeholders—employees, store
associates and online staff. It inspires
confidence and energizes people with
common ideals so they can believe in the
company. And belief is a great strategy.
If you want the best talent, your company
needs to mean something and offer people
a way to contribute to the common good.
If you want loyal shoppers, your beliefs
and the special way you do business must
clearly differentiate you from the competi-
tion.
More and better communication of your
brand story through actions, answers and
offerings—not just banners and posters—
gives people more control and confidence
in their own choices and actions. More
control helps allay the fears.
Communication
and Courage
has saved more companies than most of
us have ever managed. And the new White
House team will inherit one of the tough-
est turnaround efforts in history.
Yes, governments and retailers alike need
careful cash management, strength and
determination. But they also need the
spark of inspiration that will reinvigo-
rate business. In unstable times, growth
comes from leaders who inspire their orga-
nizations with ideals, not from those who
simply push people to do more for less.
Defensive postures tend to be boring. And
just because we’ve all had to trim our bud-
gets, react to stock prices, make layoffs
and carefully reallocate resources doesn’t
give us an excuse to bore people!
Luckily, a direct effect of continuously
communicating an authentic, meaningful
message is the responding upward flow
of relevant new ideas. Your story—what
we call your brand narrative—is at the
heart of empowering your people to
make change and find fresh ways to
stand out. It inspires creativity, enterprise
and innovation.
And of course, your brand message isn’t
authentic unless your business is custom-
er-centric. You’ve got to have your shop-
per’s needs at heart. If you’re stuck in the
And frankly, it looks like the markets will
remain weak for a couple more quarters.
There’s a new conservatism on the hori-
zon, in fashion, food and home-dwelling
and many retailers are already altering
their mix accordingly.
Crowds will fill the shops on Black Friday,
even though the pattern for the last
several years has been a surge of spend-
ing the week before Christmas. Pent-up
demand coupled with retail sales and
deeper, earlier discounts will loosen purse
strings after we all count our blessings on
Thanksgiving.
Generally speaking, tough times are
toughest on the mediocre players, the
companies who don’t stand for anything.
I urge you to use this time to find sig-
nificant ways, small or large, to use your
vision and passion to pursue growth and
renew shopper confidence.
Thoughtfully,
D. Lee Carpenter

One guy who believes in over-communi-

cating company values is master merchant
Allen Questrom. In his recent presentation
at the WWD CEO Summit, he was outspo-
ken on the need to navigate through rough
weather with your brand vision. And the
need to take your vision into the future, to
explore risk and to keep up with people’s
changing value systems. If our president-
elect had a cabinet position for Secretary
of Retail, it would be Questrom. As CEO he
status quo, afraid to move forward until
the economy recovers, it means you’ve
stopped creating value. To have value,
Ideations
you need to stay relevant, and for that
A Retail Publication by
customer centricity is crucial.
And so is courage. Courage to bet on the
opportunities you can find in a down
7575 Paragon Road, Dayton, Ohio 45459
economy. However, you won’t hear me
P +1 937 439 4400
claim that finding growth is ever going to F +1 937 439 4340
be a piece of cake. It’s a constant mara- retail@designforum.com
thon, just as challenging now as it will be
when the economy recovers. D. Lee Carpenter, Chairman & CEO
Jill Davis, Editor
Mike England, Design/Production

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Strategies to Keep Shoppers
Shopping…in Spite of Themselves
Shoppers want to stay home. At the same time,
42% of women tell us they’ve been doing it for
months, and are feeling a need to break out.
It’s hard to imagine a more perfect—or
imperfect—convergence of events: the
financial crisis, the US presidential elec-
tions, and the fast-approaching holiday
shopping season. It’s no wonder I find
myself constantly quoting Thomas Paine,
“These are the times that try men’s souls.”
(Women’s too.)
So what to do? We can think like Chicken
Little (the sky is falling, isn’t it?). But we’d
better not act like him if we expect to
encourage shoppers to spend over the next
few months and coming year. This is a time
that demands boldness, flexibility, tak-
ing giant leaps, and thinking outside that
infernal box—because there isn’t one any
more. Smart design, great merchandising,
and sensitive messaging really matter now.
Not only the lowest prices in town.
Feel their Pain
The same old messaging won’t work. Let
shoppers know you understand what
they’re going through.
In our 2008 How America Shops® MegaTrends
study, 60% of women said they can no lon-
ger control the big things (gas prices, home
values, the grocery bill) so they’re “trying to
control the little things.” Helping them is the
opportunity right now.
J. Crew has delivered the perfect mes-
sage with its new “Just Ask” initiative. It’s
relevant, authentic, has humor, and it’s
actionable. “How can we help you? Introducing
J. Crew’s answer to anything and everything
you need. It’s simple—just ask.” (Take a look
at jcrew.com.)
It’s about Value and Values
Shoppers want, must get the best value
right now. Or else they won’t even show
up. But how to do that in a way that gives
the nod to their inherent concerns and
values—not only value?
Target’s new “This is a brand new day” cam-
paign focuses on what shoppers need and
new ways to save: the new commute (by
bike), the new gym (an exercise ball), the
new salon (DIY hair color), the new family
room (tent in the backyard). Shoppers
Guest Feature
by Wendy Liebmann
spirits are lifted, they can act. The message
addresses their concerns about everything
­—their family, health, gas prices. The little
things.
Wendy Liebmann
Brighten their Day
Founder & President,
Pop-up stores are a perfect vehicle—a great WSL Strategic Retail
way to add news, get people excited, fill an
empty store in a mall, reinvigorate a dull As president of WSL Strategic
department store, create a reason for shop-
Retail, Wendy helps clients
pers to come more often.
build marketing strategies
During Fall Fashion Week in NYC, GAP’s with maximum impact on the
pop-up collaboration with icon Paris fash-
consumer at retail, be it store,
ion store Colette made even hardened fash-
catalogue or Internet. Clients
ionistas stop and shop. Target’s Bulleseye
Bodega pop-up looked like an Andy Warhol include leading global brands
painting. Soup cans and all. Why not pop it in beauty, fashion, health,
up in the stores themselves? food, publishing, financial
Grand Opening in NYC changes its theme services and advertising. Since
and merchandise every three months— 1989, WSL has published How
from a Ping Pong parlor (the table took America Shops®. A noted
up most of the miniscule 350-square foot speaker, she is regularly cited
store) to a drive-in movie theater where
by The Wall Street Journal, The
people sat in a convertible car—6 at a time
New York Times, BusinessWeek,
—to watch the movie. This concept could
fit perfectly into any space. and frequently appears on
ABC News, CNN, The Today
Make Trading Down Cool
Show, CBS Sunday Morning
In our biweekly How America Shops® PULSE,
and others. Contact
61% of women said they feel “proud of all the
little ways I’ve found to save money.” Wendy at 212-924-7780;
info@wslstrategicretail.com.
One way they’re doing this is purchasing
pre-owned product. Whether it’s pre-
owned clothes, home décor, baby furniture,
lowest prices but it also offers compelling
toys, books or music. Why don’t retailers
trade-down options that help people “take
add a “pre-owned” department so shoppers
control of the little things.” Whether it’s
can trade in or even trade up? Four out of
cereal or shampoo or jeans.
10 of women told us that they “buy pre-
owned products if it allows me to get a brand Beware The Hermit Factor
name I couldn’t afford new.” Now that’s an Shoppers want to stay at home. At the
opportunity. same time, 42% of women tell us they’ve
been doing it for months, and are feeling a
Keep Them in the Store
need to break out. We need to find ways,
It’s all about options today. Good-Better-
however small, to encourage them to come
Best was never more important. Especially
out into our stores to buy our brands. Sure,
“good.” If you don’t give them an option to
this is a time for companies to watch costs,
trade down to, regardless of the category,
trim inventories, conservatively manage
then shoppers will go elsewhere.
budgets… but in the end, this is also a time
That’s what Wal-Mart is doing now. It’s to leap forward, to be bold. No Chicken
not only that it’s perceived to have the Littles need apply.
www.interbranddesignforum.com Ideations