October 2009 Archives

A fascinating war is shaping up in the retail book selling category. The stakes are being raised as the prices fall just as far. The bidding is bold and fast - the price for pre-ordered bestsellers is now $8.98 at Wal-Mart. Amazon matched the original $9.00 price tag, but Wal-Mart, always low-price leader, dropped it to $8.99. Target entered the fray, matching the $8.99 price. Wal-Mart countered with $8.98. It was like watching gas station wars in the 1970's, stations dueling by being a penny lower. All of this follows the fanfare of $9.99 eBooks for your Kindles and Sony Readers.

October 22nd, a day with lots of fanfare for Microsoft. The release of the new Windows 7 operating system has mercifully arrived. Adios, Vista. Take your time leaving, much like you did when I booted up my computer!!

Two marketing events struck an emotional chord with me this week. Many brands die, day in and day out, but just as many get pulled out of the brand deathbed and are brought back to life. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the beer, wine and spirits category. College students across the country are probably rejoicing at the news about the $10 Million revitalization effort for Genesee Cream Ale. I don't know about you, but I know lots of people, including myself, who enjoyed Genny Creams in their college years. Ah yes, the glory years for me and Genesee Beer. Why? Because, it was cheap! Genesee Cream Ale owned the college crowd. In recent years, that position was usurped by Pabst. PBR's were the brand of choice for the college set. In fact, Pabst rode many years of sales growth based on the nostalgia craze. It was the ultimate fad brand. Ten million dollars buys a lot of visibility, but can Genesee Cream Ale accomplish the same results?

From an overall retail channel perspective, there has been nothing more fascinating than watching the home center and hardware retail category battle it out over the past couple of decades. It's a channel anomaly that the big boxes haven't destroyed the local hardware store entrees and offerings. I'm talking about Home Depot and Lowe's and their continual battle to crush anything in their way. In fact, they're losing their way these days.

Is it just me, or does every retail concept have a defined life cycle that gets shorter and shorter? Retailers go from red hot to irrelevant faster than ever before. No retail category is left untarnished. It is eat or be eaten. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the DVD rental category. The pace of change is staggering to watch.