Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
Starbucks Experience
In order to differentiate itself from McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts, “The Starbucks experience will now include the whir of the grinder and the smell of the aroma all day”, according to new written procedures for the 7000 units of the U.S. chain. According to the Wall Street Journal, Starbucks Coffee, “will now grind beans each time a new pot is brewed”. Seems like telling the baker to vent his fresh baked goods into the shop than out the back. But, something does not smell right when the most basic of assumptions must be converted into a manual. Sounds more like a statement in a failure of a corporate culture than a lesson in process management?
Best Buy
Facing a number of challenges including new competition, Best Buy reported a 15% drop in earnings for the first fiscal quarter of 2009. While the company is projecting cautious numbers for the balance of the year, officials are upbeat with recent increases in market share and increases in margins. After the closure of Circuit City, the firm’ overall market share increased to 21% of all consumer electronics, about 2% higher than 2008, reflecting gains in a computer notebooks, flat panel televisions and mobile phones. Likewise, the company’s gross margins improved from 23.7% a year ago to 25.3% in 2009. However, new competition from Wal-Mart, Amazon and regional players such as HHGregg have also taken market share away from Best Buy. One other challenge is the lack of consumer stimulus checks for 2009 to match those given out in 2008 unless Congress caves into to fund another rounds of consumer confidence for 2009.
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Tags: Retail, Retail Changes, shifting retail trends
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Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
Contemporary film often reflects the sentiments of its audience and initiates varied emotions that are generated well beyond the subject matter of the movie itself. In this regard, the music, location, and lighting can serve as a window into a deeper set of emotions and yearnings. This is for the simple reason that images and sounds link our consciousness with the unconscious to bring back memories of the past that ultimately reinforce the thoughts and feelings about the present.
In the movie You’ve Got Mail, Meg Ryan plays the role of Kathleen Kelly, an owner of a children’s bookstore in New York. It is a quaint intimate and well stocked independent and profitable shop that is a clear extension of her own sensibilities, perhaps allowing Ms. Kelly a needed connection to a lost childhood. But, life was good for Ms. Kelly’s and her devoted patrons until Foxbooks, mega-big-box-store, announced plans to move next door, seemingly to quickly serve the role of category killer.
Hugh Grant, in the 1999 film Noting Hill, played the role of William Thacker who also owned and operated another independent book store in a vibrant London neighborhood, known for its antique shops, small cafes and one of a kind specialty stores. Perhaps the shop was a frivolous commercial experiment with a recent inheritance or a deliberate move to a more pragmatic phase of life after a recent divorce, but it served a vital role in the neighborhood as a place of socialization and community connection. In real life, Notting Hill is an area in West London, close to the north-western corner of Hyde Park, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is a multinational district, once considered as a slum, now known as a creative community and home of the annual Notting Hill Carnival and the Portobello Road Market.
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Tags: death of shops, little shop, Retail, retail in movies, shifting retail trends
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