Chad Thiele

Think About What You’re Sharing Online: Is That Statistic Really Accurate?

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in blogging, business, content marketing, Inbound marketing, market research, Recycled Ideas Tagged with Blogging, business, content marketing, Inbound marketing, market research, Recycled Ideas May 31st, 2018 @ 8:00 am

There is a lot of information being shared on the Internet.

This is great if it is used to entertain, mobilize people to action, or help people make educated decisions.

The problem is that people often share things online without really thinking about what they’re sharing. This leads to the spread of misinformation, rumors, or even the dreaded fake news.

When evaluating the validity of the information that we share, we need to look at the words that are used and the statistics that are provided as supporting evidence.

This post focuses on the latter—the statistics.

This is a topic that I have written about a few times in the past.

In fact, each of the subheadings listed below is a headline or title of a former blog post.

I feel it’s time to revisit these posts, because the lessons that can be learned are of the utmost importance.

The Importance of Reliable Sources

Maybe the most important thing to do when evaluating the data that you see online is to ask yourself whether or not the source providing the information is credible.

If the source is unknown to you, be skeptical.

If the information is coming from a reliable news outlet, chances are the information was fact-checked.

However, with the increased emphasis to be the first one to report the news, even the experts make mistakes. Typos are inevitable. After all, the writers are human—at least they are most of the time.

Therefore, it is often a good idea to check with the original source before making any major business decisions based on data you find on the Internet.

Mind Your Bases When Analyzing Data

Checking with the original source is also a good idea because percentages can be misleading.

In fact, if we don’t know what population the percentages are based on, then the percentages are virtually useless.

Furthermore, if only part of the data gets shared or data tables get recreated, an incorrect population or subpopulation is often assumed. In this case, the percentages can be extremely misleading.

A similar thing can occur if quotes are taken out of context.

If you have the time, I strongly recommend that you read my original blog post on this topic, as it goes into further detail about the importance of knowing what population or subpopulation percentages are based on.

A Lesson Worth Remembering: Correlation Doesn’t Imply Causation

This one is pretty self-explanatory, but it is also one of the things that we’re all guilty of forgetting from time-to-time.

It is therefore not surprising that many college professors try to drive this lesson into the minds of their students.

The key thing to think about here is that when analyzing data, you can’t always assume that just because there is a positive or negative correlation between two variables, that one is causing the other to occur.

In some cases, it might be a third unknown variable that is influencing the change in one or possibly both of the original variables.

Weight – Are Your Survey Results Biased?

This topic might be getting into the weeds a bit, but I feel it is important enough to bring up.

If the data that is being reported is not based on a complete census of a population, then there is inevitably going to be a disproportionate number of respondents from a demographic group that can lead to biased data.

Weighting is basically a way to be sure that the data that you are using to make population estimates actually reflects the true population distribution.

For example, according to the United States Census Bureau, 50.8 percent of the 2010 Census population were female, while 49.2 percent were male.

Now, assume that we conducted a research project in 2010 where two-thirds of the respondents were female. If female respondents are also more likely to respond one way or the other on a particular question, then the estimate for the overall percentage of United States citizens who feel one way or the other for that topic would be biased.

This is something that I think many people who are conducting survey research today often overlook.

While weighting your data might not seem like a big deal, it can potentially have a huge impact on the overall estimates of the averages, ratios, proportions, or percentages for a given population.

Again, if you want to learn more, check out the original blog post that I wrote in 2011.

Final Thoughts

If you spend any time reading information shared on social media, you know that there are a lot of statistics being cited to support opinions about all sorts of topics.

Sometimes the statistics are coming from a reliable source. On the other hand, sometimes it seems like the numbers were just made up. In other words, they are fake statistics.

As I have pointed out in this post, even if the data is coming from a reliable source, it is often a good idea to check with the original source before making any business decision that will have a big impact on your company.

A lot of things can happen when data is passed on from one person to another online.

As I have said before, it is ultimately the responsibility of the consumer to make sure that the information is factual before making decisions based on what he or she read, hears, or sees on the Internet.

Hopefully, this post will help give people some idea of what to look for when deciding what statistics to believe and what ones to dismiss.

Photo credit: craftivist collective on Flickr. (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license – CC BY 2.0.)

Marketing analyst and strategist, content curator, applied sociologist, proud UW-Madison alumnus, and an Auburn-trained mobile marketer. My goal is to help businesses identify trends that will help them achieve their marketing objectives and business goals. I'm currently looking for my next career challenge. Please feel free to contact me anytime at: chadjthiele@gmail.com.

The Future of the Retail Sales Associate—Another Reason Why Retailers Need to Provide More Mobile-Optimized Content Online

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in business, content marketing, employees, market research, mobile, mobile marketing, mobilemarketing, retail, shopping, social media, technology, trends Tagged with business, content marketing, employees, market research, mobile, mobile marketing, mobilemarketing, retail, shopping, social media, technology, trends May 23rd, 2018 @ 8:00 am

The way customers shop, in general, is changing with more and more customers going online to research and buy products. Furthermore, smartphones have also modified the way customers shop in brick-and-mortar stores.

This means that retailers are going to need to rethink everything. And, that means everything.

For store employees, this means that their world is going to be altered dramatically.

In 2014, Doug Stephens, one of the world’s foremost retail industry futurists, wrote a very informative blog post that predicts what a “typical” retail sales associate’s job will look like in the near future.

In the post, he predicts that in the near future there will be fewer humans working in brick-and-mortar retail stores, with technology there to fill in the gap.

In the post, he cites a study from Oxford University that estimates that there is a 92 percent chance that retail sales associates will be replaced by technology in the next decade. (Keep in mind, this was over four years ago. Therefore, if the predictions are accurate, retail sales associates should be retraining for other positions now! Even if it takes a little longer than experts think it will, the world that they are predicting will arrive someday… soon.)

While this is an alarming figure, people who want to work in retail stores should be heartened by the other prediction that Doug Stephens makes—that those employees who do survive will be paid much higher than they currently are. But this is going to mean that they also are going to need to get a lot more training.

Other sources again support his position.

Some of the recent articles that discuss retail trends point to the fact that there will always be a need for some human salespeople at most brick-and mortar stores. However, they will have a slightly different background.

As far as I can tell, four types of non-management employees will emerge to replace the generally unskilled workforce that currently fills many of these low-paying retail sales associate jobs.

Professional Salespeople—The Customer Service and Product Experts

In the blog post mentioned earlier, Doug Stephens writes, “Although retailers will point the finger at price as the smoking gun behind showrooming, research shows that in fact, it’s more often the pursuit of adequate and accurate information that drives customers online.”

Therefore, in order to compete with online retailers, brick-and-mortar stores are going to have to hire a core group of employees who really know their stuff.

These employees won’t be the ones who check people out at the cash register.

They will be like the salespeople of old who thought of their position at the store as a career, not just a place to work until they find other jobs. These employees will be experts in customer service and they will know everything about what they are selling.

The stores that realize that there is a need for this type of employee and hire and train people who really want to excel at their job will be the stores that will succeed.

As Doug Stephens also points out, the people who fill these positions will be paid more than the average salary of a retail sales associate today.

This probably means that stores won’t hire many of these employees, if they still want to keep their costs down. But, the employees who are hired to fill this type of role will be an invaluable resource to customers and the store.

To be qualified for this role, the employee will also have to invest in additional training.

Organizations like the National Retail Federation (NRF) are already recognizing that this type of training is needed and have begun offering it at a reasonable price.

Part-Time Associates—Knowledgeable Salespeople Augmented With Technology

This group of employees will most resemble the current retail sales associate.

They will be the young adults who are working their way through high school or college. They will have some basic product knowledge and business acumen. And, they will have grown up using technology, therefore they will be very comfortable assisting less tech-savvy customers with the technology that the store will use to assist in the sales process.

They will also use technology (e.g., smartphones, tablets, etc.) to access mobile-optimized content that will answer the product-related questions that customers have.

Because these employees will be in the process of completing their training, these positions will probably still be on the lower-end of the pay scale. However, to attract the best employees, retailers will still have to pay more than minimum wage.

With technology to augment the sales process, fewer of these associates will be needed on the sales floor of tomorrow.

Temporary Workers—The On-Demand Workforce

The gig economy is here, with some employees being hired to work for only a short duration of time to fill a specific business need.

As a Washington Post article points out, it is already changing the workforce in many mainstream restaurants (e.g., Five Guys, McDonald’s, Papa John’s Pizza, etc.)

Will brick-and-mortar retail stores be next?

Retailers have always hired temporary workers around the holidays. This would just take this concept to the extreme.

It is entirely possible that stores could hire employees for one or two days to staff a large sale similar to those on Black Friday.

And, again, if stores bring in the right technological solutions to assist with the sales process, these temporary workers could be quickly trained to work the cash register or again help the less tech-savvy customer in the shopping process.

Some retail experts say using temporary workers is a bad idea. But, the reality is that only time will tell.

Non-Human Employees—Mobile-Optimized Online Content and Other Technological Solutions

The fourth type of employee that will replace the current retail sales associate is not a human at all. However, in many cases technological solutions will be able to do the same job… maybe even better than the current retail sales associate can.

As mentioned above, customers are already reaching for their smartphones to get product information while shopping in brick-and-mortar stores. In fact, some customers would rather use their smartphones to find product information than talk to the retail sales associate on the sales floor.

This might be because they often get incorrect or incomplete information from improperly trained retail sales associates. Therefore, we might have a chicken and the egg situation at play.

Either way, the one thing we do know for certain is that customers want to be able to quickly and efficiently find product information either online via their smartphone or by talking to a retail sales associate.

Having the right information available online is going to be a must for the retailer of tomorrow. And, as mentioned above, it will also help human salespeople do their jobs better.

As Doug Stephens points out in his post, there are companies like Hointer that are working to bring additional technological solutions to market to help automate the retail sales process even further.

However, I will leave that topic for future blog posts.

Final Thoughts

In order to compete, brick-and-mortar stores will need to be able to provide customers with the same accurate and complete product information that they can find on Amazon or other online retailers.

If the brick-and-mortar store provides the information first, customers will have one less reason to visit another store’s website or mobile app, and therefore will be less likely to use the store as a showroom only to buy the product elsewhere.

This can be accomplished by having better trained retail sales associates and by creating the right mobile-optimized content that customers can search for on their smartphones and tablets. Furthermore, other technological solutions like “smart mirrors” in fitting rooms will also be used to deliver product information to customers.

Given the changes in the marketplace, it’s not a question of whether to invest in employees or in technology.

Successful stores will do both.

In fact, technology will help less knowledgeable retail sales associates meet the needs of the store’s customers more efficiently and effectively. In other words, in many cases technology and humans will work together to provide a better shopping experience.

Note: This is a very general prediction of what the “average” retail store of the future will need to do in order to meet the needs of its customers. There will be variation based on the products and services sold, who shops at the store, the store’s location, etc.

Photo credit: Zepfanman.com on Flickr. (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license – CC BY 2.0.)

Chad Thiele

Fashion Retailers Could Benefit by Providing Basic Fashion Tips Online

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in app, apps, business, content marketing, Inbound marketing, market research, mobile, mobile marketing, mobilemarketing, retail, SEO, shopping, trends Tagged with app, apps, business, content marketing, Inbound marketing, market research, mobile, mobile marketing, mobilemarketing, retail, SEO, shopping, trends April 30th, 2018 @ 12:00 pm

It has been well documented that consumers often turn to their smartphones while shopping.

In fact, according to a study conducted by Salsify in September of 2016, 77% of all shoppers report using mobile devices while shopping in a brick-and-mortar store. In comparison, only 35% say that they would turn to a salesperson to obtain similar information.

As a Salsify press release published in April of 2017 states, “With so many turning to mobile while shopping in-store as well, the need for strategic and informed product content has never been more essential. In fact, 87 percent of consumers say accurate, rich, and complete product content is very important when deciding what to buy.”

A study conducted by Retail Dive examined how consumers use smartphones while shopping in a brick-and-mortar store. The most common response to the question was to research products and/or look up product information (58%), followed by checking or comparing prices (54%), accessing or downloading digital coupons (40%), accessing a specific retailer’s mobile app (33%), and scanning a QR code (22%).

The type of product information that retailers will want to provide will vary from store to store based on the products and services sold, the customers it serves, the time of year, where the store is located, etc.

While some content could be expensive to create, sometimes providing basic information could be enough to help convince the customer to make a purchase.

For fashion retailers it could be as simple as providing basic fashion tips to customers.

Insight From the Sales Floor

Recently, I have spent some time selling men’s clothing at a department store just outside of Saint Paul, Minnesota. In that time, I have witnessed many customers using mobile devices while shopping in-store.

While it appears that many of these customers are taking photos to send to another person to see if they approve of a purchase, I would venture a guess that other times customers are using their smartphones in the ways reported in the studies that I wrote about earlier in this post.

If the questions that customers ask associates is any indication of the information customers are searching for on their smartphones, then providing basic style advice should be something that fashion retailers would want to provide on their mobile websites and apps.

In particular, online fashion tips could be extremely useful to customers who are purchasing clothing that they don’t often purchase (e.g., suits, ties, dress shirts, etc.) This would include explaining the correct fit, as well as letting customers know what articles of clothing compliment each other.

And, if the information provided online is optimized for search, customers might find it while shopping in a competitor’s store. While this might seem like you are helping the competition, just think about where the customer will turn to if your competitor can’t deliver the goods. My guess is that those customers would at least consider shopping at the store that just provided the information that they were looking for.

Providing this type of basic information wouldn’t cost the company that much.

However, a quick search on Google brings up a lot of information from fashion bloggers and websites like Esquire and GQ, but not much from major department stores, fashion retailers, or even the top designer labels.

Either they are not providing this information or they are not doing a good job of optimizing their content for search engines. In their defense, I did find some information from Macy’s and Nordstrom. However, they didn’t show up in all searches that I did. Furthermore, I think that additional information might be useful.

Keep in mind that I only searched for information on men’s suits. It’s possible that they provide more information for other types of clothing. Additional research would be required to get a more accurate picture of what information fashion retailers are providing their customers online.

Final Thoughts

Studies show that finding the right online content is very important to consumers who are looking for product information when they are deciding what to buy.

Because consumers are now searching for that information while shopping in-store, a time when they are actually going to make a purchase decision, providing the right information is now even more important than ever before.

If the questions that customers ask sales associates is any indication of what information customers are looking for, then fashion retailers and department stores should be providing basic style advice and fashion tips to customers. This is particularly useful for products that customers don’t buy often and are being purchased for specific important occasions (e.g., weddings, school dances, graduations, etc.)

Since department stores can’t control how customers search, this information should be available to customers in as many ways as possible. This would include on mobile apps and on the mobile web. Letting customers know that it is available through notifications on in-store signs might also help increase conversions.

Sales associates could also help get the word out that this type of information is available to customers who don’t want to engage in a conversation. This information could also be used as a visual aid when associates are helping customers.

Finally, don’t forget to optimize your content for search. Because if customers can’t find it, then it doesn’t exist.

Photo credit: Angelbattle bros (Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license – CC BY-ND 2.0.) and Banalities on Flickr. (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license – CC BY 2.0.)

Chad Thiele

How Smartphones Will Influence the Future of Visual Merchandising and Store Design

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, app, apps, business, mobile, mobile marketing, mobile payments, mobilemarketing, retail, shopping, social media, technology Tagged with advertising, app, apps, business, mobile, mobile marketing, mobile payments, mobilemarketing, retail, shopping, social media, technology April 23rd, 2018 @ 8:00 am

It has been over a decade since the iPhone was first introduced to the world.

In that time, smartphone use has skyrocketed.

In fact, Deloitte expects smartphone penetration to approach 90 percent in the United States, with much of the growth being fueled by increased smartphone usage among older Americans.

Customers Use Mobile Devices When They Shop and Buy

As we know, having a smartphone has changed the way many consumers shop and buy products and services in brick-and-mortar stores. In fact, mobile is changing the way that we do almost everything in life.

Over the years, retailers have experimented with different ways that they can use mobile devices to improve their customers’ shopping experience.

In the near future, successful retailers will find ways to leverage mobile technology and incorporate it into all parts of their business. This will have a huge impact on the way retailers merchandise and design their brick-and-mortar stores in the future.

It is important to point out that retailers should not look for ways to use mobile devices just for the sake of using mobile devices.

Instead, retailers that will succeed in the future will find additional ways to provide value to customers. Often this means providing them with memorable shopping experiences.

In other cases, it might be finding ways to make their shopping experience easier or providing the customer with ways to save money.

Often these things can be achieved by leveraging the same mobile devices that their customers are already using.

After all, if mobile phones are changing the ways that people shop, wouldn’t it be smart for retailers to make adjustments and make it easier for their customers to find what they want when they want it using the same technology.

Using Mobile Devices to Improve Visual Merchandising and Store Design

Here are some of the ways that smartphones and tablets will change visual merchandising and store design at successful retail stores in the near future.

As already pointed out, retailers need to take into account the way customers use smartphones when they shop and buy in their brick-and-mortar stores. This includes customers using smartphones to comparison shop, find product reviews, look for coupons, and use shopping apps to do all the above. Smartphones are also changing the way customers actually pay for the products once they have made a selection.

With this in mind, retailers need to make sure that their digital marketing teams and their visual merchandising teams are talking to each other and are on the same page.

In the future, retailers that find ways to have their digital teams and their visual merchandising teams work together or even better, actually interact and play off each other will see positive results from their efforts. The goal should be to provide a seamless shopping experience, no matter what channel the customer is using.

Customers see one @macy‘s – not individually through brick and mortar, #Mobile and online experiences. @jilleramsey

— Jeff Hasen (@jeffhasen) April 10, 2018

Retailers should strive to delight customers and provide a remarkable shopping experience. In other words, retailers should be trying to create a shopping experience worth talking about.

Ideally, retailers will be able to inspire customers to take a photo of their shopping trip and post it on social media for their friends and family to see. This is some of the best advertising the store can get.

Another way that retailers can use mobile devices is to create efficiencies and improve productivity by having staff armed with smartphones and tablets and then create the right software, content, and processes that leverage mobile to the fullest.

It is not enough to just provide mobile devices to employees. Management needs to explain to retail staff how and why to use them at different points in the shopping experience.

And, don’t forget that mobile can help improve processes throughout the store, not just while staff are interacting directly with customers.

While having staff use mobile devices to enhance the way they do their job is not going to directly influence merchandising and store design, it will help the store better understand the customer and make improvements wherever possible. It will also help management gather feedback and collect valuable data.

As just mentioned, retailers can use mobile phones to help better understand the needs and shopping behaviors of their customers by using these mobile devices to collect valuable data about their customers’ shopping behaviors while in the store.

This data will influence the way stores are merchandised and designed in the future.

However, as we have seen from many of the recent stories in the news, customers can be wary of the way data is collected and used. It is therefore important to proceed with caution and follow all of the rules and regulations. While retailers will use data to improve every part of the brick-and-mortar shopping experience, it is important that customers are aware of what is being done.

Final Thoughts

Smartphones and tablets have changed the way that customers shop and buy.

This post has focused on how mobile devices have changed how customers shop once they are in the brick-and-mortar store. However, as we know, mobile devices play a role in the whole shopping experience, even before customers enter the store and long after they purchase the product or service.

Knowing this, successful retailers with learn to adapt and leverage this knowledge to improve their customers’ shopping experience no matter how and when they choose to shop.

It only makes sense that retailers would find ways enhance their customers’ shopping experiences using that same mobile devices customers are already using.

This post has provided a few suggestions for retailers to consider.

This includes maybe one of the most important ways mobile devices can influence visual merchandising and store design… as a way to collect data. By providing valuable data that allows retailers to better understand their customers shopping behaviors, mobile devices will improve the way the store meets their customers’ needs now and in the future.

Photo credit: Antoine K on Flickr. (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license – CC BY-SA 2.0.)

Chad Thiele

The Importance of Photo-Worthy Visual Merchandising and Store Design

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in business, Facebook, Instagram, mobile, mobile marketing, mobilemarketing, Pinterest, retail, shopping, social media, Twitter, word of mouth advertising, word-of-mouth marketing Tagged with business, Facebook, Instagram, mobile, mobile marketing, mobilemarketing, Pinterest, retail, shopping, Twitter, word of mouth advertising, word-of-mouth marketing March 31st, 2018 @ 8:00 am

For years, retailers have obsessed over every detail of the brick-and-mortar store, with the goal of optimizing the shopping experience to get customers to spend more money.

Store designers would examine the design and placement of the signs that are found throughout the store, where the shopping carts are located, what music is playing in the background, where the cash registers are located, what department is located where, etc.

However, with the advent of mobile phones and the increased use of social media, many retailers are being forced to change the way they design the store.

One of the things that retailers are now thinking about is whether or not the store inspires customers to take a photo of the store and post it on Instagram or any of the other social networking sites out there.

In the long run, having a photo-worthy store could be more important to the bottom line than one might think.

A Majority of U.S. Adults Use Social Media

According to a new Pew Research Center survey, roughly two-thirds of U.S. adults (68%) are Facebook users, 35% use Instagram, 29% use Pinterest, 27% use Snapchat, 24% use Twitter, and 22% use WhatsApp.

It is also interesting to note that over half of current Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram users visit these social networking sites on a daily basis.

This means that there are a lot of opportunities for retailers to get their stores featured in customers’ social media posts.

The key is giving customers a reason to post a photo or comment about the store online.

Is Your Store Instagrammable?

One of the ways to get featured on your customers’ social media posts is to create a shopping environment that just begs to be photographed.

Therefore, it is not surprising that many retail experts have started to use the adjective “Instagrammable” to describe the way a store is designed.

“Instagrammable” could be translated as a photo-worthy location or item that inspires customers to actually take a photo of and then upload it to any social networking site. Because Instagram is known for being able to make ordinary photos look extraordinary with filters, people tend to use that social networking site to represent all the other social networking sites that their customers use.

Others claim that “Instagrammable” goes beyond that.

In an article titled, “Do It For The ‘Gram: How Instagram is Changing the Design Industry,” Lucy Leonard contends that, “Consumers nowadays want to lead Instagram-worthy lives.”

“What does this mean, you ask?” she continues. “It means spending more money on cool, Instagrammable experiences. It means living a life full of adventure—or at least posting pictures that make it seem like you do.”

The way stores create this type of shopping environment will vary from store to store. Therefore, it is beyond the scope of this post.

Final Thoughts

The intention of this post is to point out that retailers need to start thinking about store design not only from their current customers’ perspectives, but also from the perspective of all the potential customers their current shoppers are connected to.

If a user sees the store in a post on a social networking site, there is a chance that it will influence his or her decision to shop at the store in the future.

Therefore, in addition to getting the current shopper to spend more money, now store designers also need to encourage customers to take photos of their shopping experience and upload them for their friends and family to see online.

Furthermore, store designers need to make sure that the store will be portrayed in a positive light and in a way that is consistent with the brand’s image.

Retailers also need to keep in mind that some customers might wonder if it is acceptable to take a picture of a store display while in the store.

Therefore, once you have created a store design that you think is “Instagrammable,” it is important to encourage in-store photography!

But, don’t get too carried away, because asking customers to take photos could make it look like you are begging, or even worse, it could backfire and create bad feelings.

This topic and others associated with the post will be explored, in detail, in future posts.

Photo credit: YL Tan on Flickr. (Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license – CC BY-ND 2.0.)

Chad Thiele

Social Media Props: The H-E-B Limited Edition Selena Shopping Bag (Case Study)

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, business, case study, cause-related marketing, Facebook, Instagram, retail, shopping, social media, Twitter, YouTube Tagged with advertising, business, case study, cause-related marketing, Facebook, Instagram, retail, shopping, social media, Twitter, YouTube March 20th, 2018 @ 8:00 am

“Fans of the late “Queen of Tejano” Selena Quintanilla caused the website of Texas-based supermarket chain H-E-B to crash after they released a limited-edition reusable shopping bag honoring the singer,” writes Thatiana Diaz in a March 9^th post on people.com.

H-E-B clearly hit a homerun when it teamed up with the Selena Foundation to sell a limited quantity of special-edition shopping bags that honored the late singer Selena Quintanilla.

However, the real story goes beyond the fact that people waited in line to buy the bags or that the bags sold out so fast.

The real win was all the earned media coverage that the brand received when fans of the singer posted photos of the bags online and the press covered the story after the bags sold out so quickly and caused the H-E-B website to crash in the process.

The Selena Bags Generated a Great Deal of Earned Media

In addition to the article on people.com, the story was covered on today.com, popsugar.com, retailwire.com, and on local news affiliates’ websites around the country.

This definitely helped put the brand front and center, making it visible to a lot of potential customers.

And, as most marketers know, the best thing a brand can get is a positive mention of the brand from a customer on social media, as friends and family are the best influencers out there.

So, when fans went online in droves to post photos of the bags, as well as photos of the lines of people waiting to receive their bags, the retailer scored… big time!

To see what people posted, search for #SelenayHEB or #Selenabag on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

Here are just some of the posts that I found on Instagram and Twitter:

My mom & grandparents on the front cover of the paper for snagging themselves some #Selena Bags 🎶 #SouthTexas #SelenayHEB #LatinX pic.twitter.com/I1rlMidcwV

— Veronique Medrano (@Veronique956) March 4, 2018

The struggle, it’s real y’all.#SelenayHEB #dontaskwhyimatHEBat10pmonaSaturday pic.twitter.com/qKQtGV0N4i — Justin W. Waldrop (@JustinWWaldrop) March 4, 2018

Shout out to my mom and dad for buying these!!!! #SelenayHEB pic.twitter.com/q9mqAjwn7o

— Vivianna Brown (@viviannabrown) March 3, 2018

¡La reina de tejano! I hope HEB is planning to issue some more of these! #SelenayHEB pic.twitter.com/8mBcC04lgK — Angelica Lopez-Torres (@La_LopezTorres) March 3, 2018

Literally screaming right now #SelenayHEB pic.twitter.com/4OGt1yzkAA

— Erika “life uh finds a way” Rose (@ErikaRose817) March 3, 2018

Got one ❤️❤️❤️❤️ #lareina #selenayheb @HEB pic.twitter.com/BVvzP1i8kp — IVYP (@IvyPThaOG) March 3, 2018

My daughter got some gold today. She got em yo give them to family.
Crazy how some folks selling for $100 bucks on Ebay.#SelenayHEB #SelenaBags #Selena #anythingForSelenas pic.twitter.com/4SIzuSn4pz

— Tex Mex Frank (@TexMexFrank) March 3, 2018

Dreams come true!!!!!! #mesientomuyexcited #SelenayHEB pic.twitter.com/ttm1liYJt0 — Juany Torres (@juany5torres) March 3, 2018

My local @HEB sold out of the Selena bags!! Plus I was told that it was a one day only event ! #SelenayHEB pic.twitter.com/6txVSRMd83

— Kristina (@houstoncoen) March 3, 2018

got mine 😌💃🏻🙌🏼🙏🏼 #SelenayHEB pic.twitter.com/NtVR7dRyij — Liz López (@snixliz) March 2, 2018

#SelenayHEB #selenaquintanilla #HEB pic.twitter.com/tbn0QgQsUv

— Juan Carrasco (@juan_carrasco08) March 2, 2018

Got mines!! #SelenayHEB @KVUE pic.twitter.com/EETayBxpze — drew ‘B’ (@lifesaDrew) March 2, 2018

Yayyyy! Thank you so much Mr. Q !!💜💜 #queenofcumbia #selenayheb @heb

A post shared by Isabel Marie💗 (@isabelmarieofficial) on Mar 5, 2018 at 4:41pm PST

Anything for Selenas! Safe to say they loved their bags! Am I Tia of the year yet? 😘🌹#selenaquintanilla #selenayheb #nieces #happy #corpuschristi #comolaflor #reinadelacumbia #selenaforever #selenafans #selenafamily A post shared by Ruth Ramirez 🧜🏼‍♀️ (@ruthrenae08) on Mar 4, 2018 at 10:34am PST

Got some! #heb #selena #queenofcumbia #anythingforselenas #selenayheb

A post shared by Monica Velasquez (@lemon78644) on Mar 2, 2018 at 8:56am PST

You know your a Texas Dachshund when you get a Limited edition Selena Tote bag @selenaqofficial #weinerdog #sausagedog #dachshundsofinstagram #ilovepets #dog #puppy #weinerdogsofinstagram #paws #wigglebut #meme #sanantonio #dogs #dogsofinstagram #selena #selenaquintanilla #selenayheb #selenaheb #anythingforselenas #bidibidibombom A post shared by Rocket (@rocket_the_texas_dachshund_) on Mar 3, 2018 at 3:18pm PST

Im so excited I was able to grab a couple of these!! #SelenayHEB

A post shared by Gabrielle Nichole (@gabbyrielles) on Mar 2, 2018 at 6:27pm PST

Anything for Selenas. #SelenayHEB A post shared by Lisa Letchworth (@512panthacat) on Mar 2, 2018 at 7:01am PST

These sold out so fast in stores and even caused the @heb website to crash. I’m so lucky I got them! 💃🏻🌹🎤 #selena #selenaquintanilla #selenayheb #queenofcumbia #queenoftejano #lareina #siempreselena

A post shared by JAS♀ (@adeviantscene) on Mar 2, 2018 at 3:20pm PST

600 Selena tote bags in San Antonio. Courtesy of @lolie_10 #selenayheb #selenaquintanilla #sanantonio #texas #heb #corpuschristi #corpus A post shared by FlingCostumery (@fling_costumery) on Mar 2, 2018 at 3:07pm PST

Thank you to @lolie_10 for letting me know there was a line for bags in San Antonio. I was able to get to an HEB in time for my bags! #selenayheb #austin #atx #heb

A post shared by FlingCostumery (@fling_costumery) on Mar 2, 2018 at 1:19pm PST

QUEEN OF CUMBIA!!!! #heb #selenayheb #vivaselena A post shared by Cristina Davila (@cristybexar) on Mar 2, 2018 at 7:46am PST

ME SIENTO MUY… EXCITED!! WE GOT OURS!!!💓💓💓 #SelenayHEB A post shared by Bek🏋🏽🐾🍕🌮🧀 (@yourstrulybek) on Mar 2, 2018 at 7:17am PST

The Limited Edition Selena Bag as a Social Media Prop

This isn’t the first time that I have written about shopping bags as a way to get a store mentioned in user-generated posts in social media.

In fact, it was about two years ago that I wrote a post explaining how to use visually appealing luxury shopping bags as photo props to get included in the posts when customers upload photos of their in-store purchases after a long day of shopping.

In this case, though, the shopping bag was not only used to carry home the products purchased, it was the product.

A product that was the star of a lot of photos posted online shortly after the bags went on sale.

The Upside of “Sold Out”

Because the sale of the bag helped the Selena Foundation while honoring the beloved singer, I think H-E-B did almost everything right.

I say H-E-B did almost everything right, because the website did go down and they did run out of bags on the first day. Clearly there was more demand than the store anticipated.

But then again, maybe the fact that they ran out so fast was also a good thing, because the limited quantity of the bags increased their perceived value. If you don’t believe me, just look what they are selling for on eBay! (Many have sold for over $50 per bag, with one selling on March 7, 2018 for $169!)

And, if the website hadn’t crashed, would the press have covered it? Who knows? Therefore, that might be a good thing, as well.

Final Thoughts

As I have said before, offering customers a trendy shopping bag is a great way for retailers to get included in the post-purchase photos that customers upload to social networking sites after a long day of shopping.

As highlighted in this post, H-E-B offered a limited edition reusable shopping bag that honored a beloved singer and benefited the Selena Foundation. In this case, the bag was the product.

A product that a lot of customers wanted, as demonstrated by the long lines and the many posts on social networking sites from customers bragging that they got the bag or complaining that they weren’t able to purchase one.

Either way, the reusable shopping bag honoring Selena Quintanilla generated a lot of earned media for the store. And, that is a good thing.

On that note, I want to end the post with a YouTube video from a customer who just missed out on getting the bag. He was gracious even though he waited in line only to leave empty handed… twice! (He waited in line in the store and couldn’t get a bag online before the website crashed.) Hopefully, he will still be able to purchase the bag online on eBay.

Photo credit: Todd Morris on Flickr. (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license – CC BY-SA 2.0.)

Video credit: Aaron Sanchez on YouTube.

Chad Thiele

How Social Commerce Can Help Increase Sales

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, business, CRO, shopping, social media Tagged with advertising, business, CRO, shopping, social media February 27th, 2018 @ 8:00 am

Social networking sites have been around for over two decades.

However, it wasn’t until recently that many businesses realized that social media was a viable way to get the word out about their products or services and maybe even a place to sell directly to the consumer.

That doesn’t mean that these social networking sites weren’t trying to find ways to get businesses to use their sites to sell products early on, it was just that many businesses were slow to catch on.

While many social media platforms rely on advertising that ultimately drives users to advertisers’ websites, many of the most popular social networking sites have at least experimented with ways to get consumers to buy directly from businesses without even having to be redirected to another website.

To illustrate this, an infographic created by 16best.net has some interesting facts about social networks as ecommerce gateways. The part of the infographic that lists a “Timeline of Social Commerce” is shown below. Although not all inclusive, it highlights some of important points in the brief history of what people often refer to as social commerce.

Additional Comments on Social Commerce

In a blog post about social commerce on the Conversion Sciences Blog, Jacob McMillen states that, “Social commerce is selling that takes place directly through social platforms. Instead of using social marketing to drive visitors to your website, where you then convert them into customers, visitors are sold to directly on social media either in the form of a complete checkout experience or a “Buy Now” style click-through that triggers an off-platform checkout.”

It appears that this is what 16best.net is using as the working definition of social commerce in their infographic.

However, I need to point out that others have a much broader definition of social commerce. If you are interested, Wikipedia.org has additional information on social commerce and its other definitions.

Final Thoughts

As shown in the infographic provided by 16best.net, many of the most used social networking sites are constantly looking for ways to help businesses convert sales directly on their sites without redirecting users to another website.

This is good for the businesses selling the products because it reduces the number of steps needed to make a conversion, thus eliminating some of the lost sales that might otherwise occur because of website friction.

It is also great for the social network because it adds value to their service, not to mention the fact that it keeps the user on their site.

Remember this is only a small part of the story, as social media is often used for reasons other than conversions. In fact, often social media is part of the awareness and consideration phases of the buyer’s journey. (Note: This depends on the type of product, of course.)

That said, from a business standpoint, it is important to keep up with the options available so that you can reach your customers where they are when they need your product.

Again, your business might experience increases in sales by taking advantage of the social commerce options available, because there are fewer chances to lose the customer in the conversion process.

Photo credit: Jason Howle on Flickr. (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.)

Infographic credit: 16best.net blog.

Chad Thiele

28 Things to Watch in 2018 and Beyond

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in business, technology, trends Tagged with business, technology, trends February 1st, 2018 @ 8:00 am

The world that we live in is changing at a rapid pace.

To prepare themselves for the future, leaders need to keep an eye on the things that will influence their businesses.

With this in mind, one of my first posts each year lists the things that I think will have the biggest impact on the world we live and work in in the next few years.

This list not only helps me stay focused on the important topics, but also serves to track whether or not I am watching the right things.

This is the list so far [with the year that the items were added]:

1) Rapid advancements in technology [2013]

2) Mobile (user experience and marketing) [2013]

3) Mobile payments [2013]

4) Mobile-influenced merchandising [2013]

5) Privacy issues [2013]

6) Emerging markets [2013]

7) The Internet of Things [2014]

8) The evolution of retail (including omni-channel retail) [2014]

9) A global marketplace [2014]

10) 3D printing [2014]

11) Cyberattacks [2014]

12) Ethics [2014]

13) Online video [2016]

14) RFID, NFC, and beacons [2016]

15) Augmented reality (AR) [2016]

16) Virtual reality (VR) [2016]

17) SEO for the Internet of Things [2016]

18) Experiential marketing [2016]

19) Wearables [2016]

20) Dynamic pricing in brick-and-mortar stores [2017]

21) Machine learning & artificial intelligence (AI) [2017]

22) Voice-activated technology [2017]

23) Business collaboration with the competition [2017]

24) The evolution of work (changing skillsets required and the influence on the economy) [2017]

25) Robotics [2018]

26) Subscription business model [2018]

27) How online communications influence public opinion [2018]

28) Market research techniques for the 21st Century [2018]

Final Thoughts

Each year, I add a few new items to the list.

However, this year, I combined omni-channel retail with the evolution of retail. Although omni-channel retail is important enough to stand alone, nearly all retail will need to be omni-channel in the near future. Therefore, I think it makes sense to combine these two items.

I also deleted the evolution of marketing and public relations because it is implied when you consider all the other items on the list, in aggregate.

Finally, I broke augmented reality and virtual reality into two separate categories, because we are starting to see some interesting things happen with these two technologies.

So again, you have my updated list. If there is anything that you think that I should add, please feel free to comment below.

Photo credit: Binoculars on Flickr. (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.)

Chad Thiele

Continuous Education Will Be Required to Keep up with Technological Change

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in business, education, employees, technology, trends Tagged with business, education, employees, technology, trends January 23rd, 2018 @ 8:00 am

The rapid advancements in technology, including artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, are changing the work that we do and the way it’s done.

In fact, an article published on the CNBC website in October of 2017 cites a 2013 study conducted by Oxford University that “estimates that 47 percent of U.S. jobs could be replaced by robots and automated technology within the next two decades.”

This means that the human workforce is going to need to adapt to keep up with these changes.

In the same article, Jeff Hesse, PwC principal and U.S. people and organization co-leader, is quoted as saying, “It varies a bit by industry, but over the next five years we’re going to see the need for workers to change their skills at an accelerating pace.”

As the article goes on to point out, this doesn’t mean that employees are going to have to go back to school to get a degree. There are alternatives offered by community colleges, reputable trade schools, and even internal training and recruiting programs offered by companies looking to keep their human workforce employed.

Major universities and colleges have also noticed the need to train people for the jobs of the future and have started to offer online training programs directly to students.

Some universities and colleges have also partnered with tech startups to make massive open online courses (MOOCs) available to people who want to continue their education without paying a lot in tuition fees. Some of the most popular MOOCs include Coursera, edX, Udacity, and Udemy, just to name a few.

Will These New Educational and Training Programs Be Enough?

A report published by the Pew Research Center in May of 2017 tackled this question. The report included findings from a largescale canvassing of 8,000 experts and members of the interested public by the Pew Research Center and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center. The study was conducted from July 1 to August 12, 2016.

According to the report, 1,408 respondents answered the following question:

“In the next 10 years, do you think we will see the emergence of new educational and training programs that can successfully train large numbers of workers in the skills they will need to perform the jobs of the future?”

The authors of the report state, “The nonscientific canvassing found that 70% of these particular respondents said “yes” – such programs would emerge and be successful. A majority among the 30% who said “no” generally do not believe adaptation in teaching environments will be sufficient to teach new skills at the scale that is necessary to help workers keep abreast of the tech changes that will upend millions of jobs.”

Respondents were then asked to further explain their answers and to consider a few additional questions. The responses to these questions highlight some of their predictions, both optimistic and pessimistic. Some of their responses influenced my thoughts below. I encourage you to check out the report for additional information.

The Future of Education Is a Continuous Process

Education will need to evolve.

That doesn’t mean that we will need to scrap the current education system entirely, at least in the near future.

However, I believe it will need to be supplemented.

If recent trends continue, having a bachelor’s degree will continue to be important and having a master’s degree will definitely be a plus.

A study conducted by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce highlights this trend. According to their research, there has been an increase in job opportunities in recent years for workers with at least some level of postsecondary education and training. However, the distribution of good jobs has increased the most among those workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Keep in mind, the past doesn’t always predict the future, but it’s a good indicator of what will happen in the short-term.

That said, I don’t think that having a bachelor’s degree or even a master’s degree will be enough.

If the experts are correct and the skills required to fill good jobs continue to change at an accelerating pace, then workers will need to constantly retrain for the jobs of future.

As mentioned earlier, some of this training will occur through self-directed online training programs or through training provided by companies trying to keep their human workforce employed. Mentoring programs or apprenticeships that provide hands-on training will also be important.

As we are already seeing, formal certifications that require passing rigorous testing will often be required to validate the quality of training employees receive. However, as the report mentioned above points out, determining which organizations to trust with this testing will be an issue.

This might be an area where universities again step in, as some already offer certificate programs or give students college credit for passing exams without requiring formal classroom attendance.

But, then again, who knows?

Right now, we are all trying to figure out the best ways to handle the challenges that we face.

In the more distant future, the education system that we know might need to be completely reimagined.

In my opinion, the best we can do is try to keep up with the changes by taking advantage of the educational resources currently available. Even experts in their field can benefit by updating their training on an ongoing basis. In the process, they might learn something new. And, at a minimum, they will be able to help validate what is and isn’t quality training.

Photo credit: Wolfgang Greller on Flickr. (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.)

Chad Thiele

A New Year’s Resolution to Read More Books With the OverDrive and Libby Apps

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in app, apps, mobile Tagged with app, apps, mobile January 9th, 2018 @ 8:00 am

Last year, I read a total of eight books. But, eight just isn’t enough.

The problem that I have is that I like to read part of a book, then think about it for a while before moving on. That takes time.

So I had to find a way to consume the information while doing other things.

My first thought was to find a way to read while running.

As you can probably guess, the solution that I turned to is the audiobook.

As you know, Audible is a great place to start. I have downloaded a few books there. I haven’t subscribed yet, but I was thinking about it.

That was, until I found the OverDrive and Libby apps.

These apps let you download audiobooks from your local library for free. I repeat… FREE!

I am currently listening to my first audiobook on Libby now and it seems fairly easy to use. And, the selection of audiobooks at my local library is fairly good. It definitely should give me enough choices to last me the year.

While I do have a lot of books on my to-read list, I am always looking for suggestions.

To get a feel for the books that I am looking for, here is a list of the books I read in 2017 and those that I am currently reading:

Books Read in 2017

The Distribution Trap: Keeping Your Innovations from Becoming Commodities by Andrew R. Thomas (Actual book)

Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson (Audible audiobook)

The 86 Percent Solution: How to Succeed in the Biggest Market Opportunity of the Next 50 Years by Vijay Mahajan (Actual book)

Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business by Jeff Howe (Actual book)

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell (Actual book)

How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie (MP3 audiobook)

The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence by Ray Kurzweil (Audible audiobook)

Knocking on Heaven’s Door: The Path to a Better Way of Death by Katy Butler (Actual book)

Books That I Am Currently Reading