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Millennial Retail Blues

sales downWhen it comes to their sales numbers and their future predictions, are retailers “terrified”? An article entitled “An emerging American trend is terrifying news for Macy’s, Kohl’s, and JC Penney” suggests that they should be. Another one says, “Kohl’s is getting crushed.” Also, “Macy’s offers an ominous insight about American consumers.” Another piece (without a sexy title, sorry) details the decline of high-end organic grocer Whole Foods.

So, what’s the deal? Is retail in decline? Or is it a certain slice of retail that’s in decline? The answers, it seems, are maybe and definitely.

Once again, the arrow points straight at the Millennials – people born since 1980 or so. They are becoming the dominant purchasing force in the economy – and they simply have less money to spend. Their money is going toward RENT, which is very high right now, and toward personal electronics.

The money they have left over is not going toward a $40 shirt at Kohl’s or Macy’s, or locally sourced/organic/free range/sustainable/expensive salmon at Whole Foods. They’re going to Walmart instead.

So, this might be troubling news for higher-end retailers, but maybe a good thing that the younger generation (which will soon be calling the shots) is getting smarter about spending? Maybe? I guess? What do YOU think? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a great weekend!

May’s Best Bargains

The Memorial Day sales are already starting at retailers such as Sears, JCPenney, Overstock and Macy’s, so it’s a good time to look at your best bargains for May. What’s on tap?

  • Cell phones and service deals
  • Kitchen Appliances
  • Handbags
  • Swimsuits
  • Sandals and Spring Clothing
  • Tires
  • Linens and Mattresses
  • 3D HDTVS
  • Jewelry and watches

Here are some links to help you compile your May shopping list!

Are any of these items on your to-do list for May? They say you could save up to 75%! What are you in the market for? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page!

 

Mother’s Day by the Numbers 2015

mothers day2The National Retail Federation says that average spending for Mother’s Day is up this year – $173 vs. $163 last year, which is the highest amount since they began the survey. So, how do we spend those precious mom-dollars?

  • Total spending: $21 billion
  • Average spent per mom: $173
  • 80% will buy a greeting card, spending $786 million,
  • 67% will buy flowers, spending $2.4 billion.
  • 36% will buy clothing items, spending almost $2 billion
  • 34% will buy jewelry, spending $4.3 billion
  • $3.8 billion spent on special brunch or activity
  • $1.8 billion spent on smartphones or e-readers
  • $1.5 billion spent on spa days
  • $890 million spent on housewares or gardening tools
  • $480 million spent on books and CDs

There is much more info at the original piece, so check it out!

How about you? Is your Mother’s Day spending up, down or about the same? What are your plans for Mother’s Day? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and…Happy Mother’s Day!!

MindField’ers Make a Difference!

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colaDid you hear that Pepsi Co. recently decided to change the recipe for their diet drinks? That’s a big deal. Millions and millions of people enjoy Diet Pepsi, Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi and Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi. You don’t just change the recipe without a lot of careful thought and research.

So where did Pepsi turn for guidance? To YOU! That’s right, MindField Online panelists participated in in-home tests of potential new recipes for diet Pepsi products. That research helped Pepsi to decide on the final formula that will be mass-produced later this year.

MindField is pleased to be connected with the researchers making a huge difference in today’s marketplace and even more thrilled that MindField’ers across the country had the opportunity to be involved in such revolutionary decision making.

Congrats on being heard and making a difference!

 

Tech Flops of the 2000’s

QR codeFor tech companies, it’s always a scramble to capture the imagination of the public and, of course, market share. Sometimes, though, the scramble leads to some wacky decision making, and to products that never quite hit for one reason or another.

Techie blog SpecOut took a fond look back at the big tech flops of the new millennium, inspired by the quiet death of Google Glass (that eyeglass mounted mini-computer.)

As we mourned (celebrated?) Glass’s passing, we got to thinking. Where did Glass rank among the millennium’s biggest tech flops, from gadgets to online services to companies? We scoured company histories, reviewed the most tragic collapses, and sorted through major product launches to pick the biggest flops since 2000.

Here are a few examples. And remember, they aren’t calling them bad products, just that they didn’t work out:

35. QR Codes: People don’t use them, IMO because manufacturers slap them on without really utilizing them. I once was reading the side of a package. It said “Scan the QR for more info!” I scanned it, and was presented with a picture of the side of the box I was reading!

34. Windows Phone: A well-liked and well-reviewed smartphone, but it just never caught on. See also Facebook Phone.

30. Qwikster: Remember when Netflix split in two, half online and half DVD rental? The old DVD business became Qwikster, and everybody hated it. Hard to believe Netflix survived that to be one of the biggest streaming success stories today.

23. Blu-ray: Again, nobody doubts the quality. And many people have it. But in no way has it (or will it) “Replace DVD,” which was the goal.

  1. E-Readers not named Kindle: When even my grandma asks for Kindle by name, you have achieved market dominance! Amazon managed to succeed, even when it seemed like iPads would make them obsolete.

21. MP3 players not named iPod: I have 2 or 3 of these lying around. Want to buy one? Didn’t think so.

15. Google Glass: All I can remember about Google Glass is the backlash against it and the people who wore them. For fun, Google “Google Glass Backlash.” You get 958,000 results!

Windows, Windows, Windows! At #11, 10 and 2.  Windows ME was…not great, but they replaced it with XP, which was great. They replaced that with Vista, which was…not great. They replaced Vista with 7, which was great, and replaced that with 8, which is…not great. Stay tuned for 10!

And the Number One tech fail of the 21st century…Segway: Four words… Paul. Blart. Mall. Cop.

For the rest of the list, go here. How about you? Did you have or use any of these so-called “failures?” Do you think the list is right on, or too harsh? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a great weekend!

photo credit: http://m.state.gov

The Future of Shopping?

the futureWhen I think of “Future Shopping,” I think of George Jetson trying to give his wife a twenty, but she takes the whole wallet instead! Anyhoozle, there’s an article in the Wall Street Journal on the future of shopping entitled, oddly enough, The Future of Shopping. The basic nugget o’ wisdom goes like this:

Thirty years down the road, much of the change in retail is going to be driven by a complete reformulation of the relationship between how we make the stuff, how we sell the stuff and how we consume the stuff.

Here are some of the predictions:

Malls become “Alls”: I can remember our mall back in the 70s had not one, but two grocery stores in it. That seems ridiculous now but, apparently, it will be coming back. Aside from clothing, food and electronics, you will see “gyms and innovative fitness centers, medical services and even schools, grocery stores and luxury spas”.

Artisanal everything: Handcrafted clothes, furniture, foods, etc. “This is about the counter trend of being local. It is about a need to be different and nostalgic for things that are timeless and somehow pure.”

Highly personalized clothing: Super-precise tailored measurements for clothing made immediately by robots. They’re already doing it in Korea!

A Different Kind of “Mobile”: They’re doing this in Charleston SC already. There’s a restaurant on the well-to-do/upscale tourist part of town. They have long waits, so on weekends, this truck full of upscale ladies apparel/accessories parks outside the place to take advantage of the captive. (“Go ahead, honey; I’ll be in the bar.” – Me)

Are you seeing some of these already? Which ones? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page!

The Best Store Brands

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shopcartI’ve told this one before, but one of the great lines about the savings – and the stigma – of buying store-brand products comes from the old Rosanne sitcom.

Rosie is leading a home-ec field trip to the grocery store.  She tells the girls about saving with store brands as she reaches for some Brand-X corn flakes.  Her daughter is mortified. “But we don’t buy that…we use the good stuff!” Says Rosanne: “We use the BOX of good stuff. I fill it with this. It’s only SECOND best for MY family!”

Funny thing is, a lot of people don’t consider the store brand as second best anymore. If you’ve got bills to pay (you do, right?) then saving up to 36% on the generic label is pretty attractive! (According to Consumer Affairs magazine.)

Consumer Reports says that 65% of people buy store brands whenever they can. And 63% of those folks “were completely or very satisfied with the quality; only 5 percent expressed even a hint of dissatisfaction.”

All store brands are not created equal, however. Consumer Reports also surveyed items at 68 stores, and found that 49 stores earned average or above scores. Who does the store brand thing best? The overall winner was Trader Joe’s, followed by

  • Wegmans
  • Publix
  • Costco
  • Raley’s
  • Whole Foods Market, and
  • Harris Teeter

So what do YOU think? Do you use a lot of store brands? Like a lot of the folks in the survey, I also use them whenever I can. Who do YOU think does them best? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a great weekend!

A Modest Prom-posal

promProm spending peaked back in 2013 at $1,140. It fell to $978 in 2014, and this year is expected to slip again to $919.

While I would like to think that this means people are being wiser with their money, I have my doubts. There’s something new on the prom scene (well, it’s the first time Visa has mentioned it in its annual Prom Spending Survey, anyway) called The Promposal. Because the invitation to the prom has to be the dopest, raddest, illest event of the season, second only to Prom itself! Thank you, MTV.  The average cost of this nonsense is around $300, or one-third of the total Prom expenditure. If you absolutely have to learn more about this nonsense, go here.

Another sign that we aren’t minding our dollars and cents is that parents, who only kicked in 56% of the cost last year, have gone soft and are parting with 73% this year.

Now, to me, the best thing about the Visa Prom Spending Survey is that it’s not just a way for us to sit in judgment of the poor saps blowing all this money (of course, that IS part of the fun!) but it’s also a teaching tool. Visa has several tips for saving money, and has also published a prom budgeting app that helps you stay on track with your prom spending. Check it out!

How about you? Spending more, less or the same for prom this year? Are the kids chipping in, or not? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page!

Dining Out Beats Dining In

die out dine inThat squeak you just heard is the dollar amount that we spend in restaurants annually squeaking past the dollars we spend on groceries. That’s right, Bloomberg reports that, for the first time, Americans spend more on dining out than cooking at home, something like $51 billion vs. $50 billion. Twenty years ago, it was 2-to-1, or $30B vs. $15B, home vs. restaurant.

Who is driving the change? One hint: it rhymes with Shmillennials. And the Why of it may sound familiar, as well. Millennials have a talent for turning everything into a social experience, and eating dinner is just one example. Social, as in gathering with friends, and Experience, as in having an admirable desire to try new things.

Meanwhile, the Baby Boomers are going in the opposite direction. 50-to-70 year olds report that, while spending is also up, it is more concentrated on Needs than Wants, necessities over frivolities or luxuries. Why? Because they watched their 401K’s get murdered in the last crisis, and they’re spooked.

How about you? Are you a Boomer, Gen X’er or Millennial? Have your spending habits changed regarding dining out vs. dining in? Why or why not? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a great weekend!

Tax Day Freebies 2015

free stuffAnd now, a tradition not nearly as annoying as those corporate April Fools’ Day pranks we talked about previously: the Tax Day Freebie! Restaurants, bars, hotels and other retailers love to capitalize on our tax day grief, offering various freebies, BOGO’s and “$10.40”-themed deals on April 15. And the list grows every year! Here are some samples:

  • BOGO meals at Boston Market
  • Free document shredding at Office Depot and Staples
  • Free sandwich at Schlotzky’s Deli
  • Free shave ice from Kona
  • Half-off rib dinner at Sonny’s BBQ
  • BOGO at Yankee Candle
  • Free curly fries at Arby’s
  • Free cupcakes at Cinnabon
  • 15% off at PF Chang’s
  • IHOP kids eat free in April
  • Free breakfast coffee at Micky D’s
  • “Sing for Your Supper” at Hard Rock Café
  • $10 off at Bonefish
  • 15% off at Beef O’Brady’s

And that’s just FOOD. Check out THIS LINK for news about retail locations such as Ann Taylor, Dress Barn, Foot Locker, etc. More links below. Now, I am sure there are limits and restrictions, so be sure to follow the links. So, what’s your favorite Tax Day deal or freebie? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page!

Freebie Links: