December 2008 Archives

It's utterly amazing today the amount of news that is centered around retail shopping figures. If it isn't Black Friday, it's Cyber Monday. Year over year sales figures are continually quoted. News stories feature the hot retailers and those going to the retail graveyard. The mighty Wal-Mart is always covered with close scrutiny. Wasn't it just a couple of years ago that Wal-Mart wanted to remake its brand? It's now back to its core of low prices and value and doing extraordinarily well. November sales were up 3.4% over last year. Everywhere you look, the retail news is dismal. To combat slumping sales, it's interesting to see how retailers are going back into their marketing playbooks and finding mediums and media that haven't been used in years. So much for social media and all the New Age media mix to stimulate sales. Back to basics is the new marketing mantra!