School Shopping is Here!

School shopping is here again, most stores are running their lost leaders again this season. Some of the highlights include 5 to 10 cent folders, a penny for pencils, 29 cent glue and more. Staples and Office Depot seem to be in the forefront of these specials.

Right now in most stores that include JC Penny, sears and many others they are offering 50 to 70 % off. I purchased a shirt at DOTS the other day for $3.00. This is the best time of year to stock up on summer cloths that can get you through the some of the fall. If you have kids that are still growing, you typically can purchase one or two sizes bigger. (be sure to check with return policies, I know JC Penny's just changed their return policy to 30 days).

Clothing Sales, Do Customers Shop Online More Than at Clothing Stores?

Do customers shop online more than at clothing stores?

We believe that your customers will spend more at clothing stores than online in a given year.

Null hypothesis: clothing store spending=online spending

Alternative Hypothesis: clothing store spending>online spending.

Online spending is very straight forward, if the customer makes a purchase from a website it is considered an online purchase. Online shopping has several factors that appeal to internet users. Online shopping provides the right level of product information, can find a product easily, convenient, and quickest way to shop (Retail Industry, 2005). According to the United States Department of Commerce, in 2003, e-commerce spending accounted for 1.6% of total sales*. This is a relatively low number in relation to total retail sales. If customers are spending habits are similar to the National Averages, then they can only receive incentives on 1.6% of their purchases. However, the Incentive Program may increase the customers online spending. Instead of going to a store to purchase something (as they normally would), they might take advantage of the incentive program and order it online instead.

On the other hand, spending at clothing stores is a lot more complex. The first thing to understand about clothing store purchases is what we consider a clothing store. Would a super mart like Target or Wal-Mart be considered a clothing store because they sell clothes? Would e-commerce sites like JC Penny, and LL Bean be considered clothing store purchases? If we consider all stores that sell clothes clothing stores, then it is obvious that they would spend more at clothing stores in a year. They could get incentive credits for buying items other than clothing as long as they bought them in a "clothing" store. For instance, if one was looking for new bedding, they could buy it at a Department Store that also sells clothes and receive credit on their Department Store Card for the Incentive Program.

The statistics and results of Pricewaterhouse Cooper's survey:

Clothing Expenditures results, % In Order by Stores, Catalogs, Online Shopping Sites, and Other

All internet users 78% 11% 10% 2%

Online Purchasers 75% 11% 12% 2%

Online Non-Purchasers 87% 9% N/A 3%

Based on this survey, it would be best to offer cash back when consumers make a purchase at clothing stores. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, their survey revealed brick and mortar stores are still preferred over online shopping. Internet users prefer stores because of several factors: returns and exchanges, customer assistance, charges fair prices, quality, enjoy shopping and carries related products (Retail Industry, 2005). However, online shopping is quickly catching on. Pricewaterhouse Coopers surveys approximately 500 internet users a month. In conclusion, without consumers changing their current spending habits, it is our belief that the customers will be able to take advantage of the Clothing Store Incentive Program more than the On-line spending program.

*given a 90% confidence interval

King, Carol. Scheleur, Scott (2004) United States Department of Commerce News retrieved July 26, 2005 from http://www.census.gov/mrts/www/current.html

Retail Industry (2005). Retrieved July 28, 2005, from www.retailindustry.about.com.

Victoria Secrets Clearance Sale

Victoria Secrets is having their Semi-Annual Clearance Sale. I don't know about you, but I love their products. In addition to their clearance sale, they are also offering free shipping on orders of $100 or more. It is not hard to ring up a $100 order from this store.
Enter offer code SEMI at their check out to get free shipping and handling.

Fizzled on EBay

Fizzled on EBay

EBay use to be the place where you went to list those garage sale items you couldn’t sell. EBay use to be the place where when you cleaned out your basement and you found all kinds of neat old stuff you could list it for sale online. EBay use to be for the average consumer. People like you and me.

That is not what EBay is today. Today you find all sorts of companies on EBay marketing their products. Listing brand new products with links to their website to get you to purchase retail. Links to EBay now comes up with almost every search you do on the Internet. Pretty cheap advertising for only fifty cents for a listing and most list their products are at retail as a starting bid.

I’m fizzled on EBay.

I would like to offer you some good alternatives to EBay. My favorite site is shopgoodwill.com. On this site they list items that have been donated to local Goodwill store throughout the country. You do have to pay a small fee for purchasing from them but the good news is, it is tax deductible. Many items that are donated are put on this site so that Goodwill stores can raise money to keep their stores open and keep helping the public.

Another alternative I would like to add is Ubid.com. Ubid sells mostly refurnished items that you can bid on. Most of these products are like new and I have had some very good success with this site.

Bidz.com is another alternative that may be worthwhile. They buy closeout items and then auction them off. This would be new items you are bidding on. Although I’ve not had any success in winning any auctions from this site, it is always fun to look at their site to see what they have new.

If you are fizzled out on EBay try a few other auction sites.

Shopping Deals after the New Year

I noticed that most of the shopping deals out there this last week have been organizational items from many of the "Dime Stores" and places like Home Depot and Lowes. This is the time to year to get these items in preparation for your spring cleaning.

I also have noticed a lot of Grocery Deals. Both Kroger and Farmer Jack are running their 10 for 10 deals which include name brand foods such as Progreso soups. They also both my have my favorite on sale, Alaskan King Crab legs for $6.99 a pound. WOOT!

Macy's 20% Off Coupons, Was anyone able to use them?

I had a terrible shopping experience yesterday at Macy's. Besides the store looking like it was hit by a tornado, not being able to find anything and the store being short on help (They had one person working the shoe department), I also was unable to use any of the coupons printed in the paper to get you into the store.

Below is a letter I wrote to the Customer Service Department this morning, I do want to add one important thing, although it was somewhat busy in the store, the Sales Associate was very pleasant and tried to be helpful.

________________________________

Dear Customer Service,

After a great holiday my daughter and I decided to spend some of our Christmas cash at your store. Macy’s printed up coupons in the paper (Detroit New and Free Press) reading;

“Good through December 26 – 28, 2006

Take an Extra 20% Off

The sale or clearance price of a single item in Women’s Men’s or Kids’ Apparel, Accessories, Shoes, Intimate Apparel or the Fur Vault.”

In the Finer Print it read;

“Excludes Women’s designer, Bridge and Contemporary Sportswear Appeal, Man’s Tailored and Designer clothing, Women’s Men’s and Kids’ Outerwear, and Ralph Lauren Children’s wear.”

I didn’t purchase much for my daughter who shops in your Juniors Department. A brand I didn’t recognize (Glimmer) sweater, a pair of jeans (Hydraulic), a pair of grey dress pants (Next Phase). All are from brands that I have never heard of or would consider being designer. Except for maybe the blue jeans, I think that brand is real popular with the kids.

I have to say the sales clerk was extremely nice however I couldn’t use my coupon on any of these items.

Does Macy’s sell anything that is non-designer?

I feel like this was false advertising, everything I picked up was on the clearance rack or on sale. None of the cloths was from designers I have ever heard of before except for the jeans! Maybe you need more directions with your coupons or you need to train the sales clerk better on what is considered designer, because when I asked her the same question as above, “What do you carry that is non designer” the sales clerk was speechless and said “I don’t know”.

Target Has Poor Return Policy after the Holiday

A friend of mine just copied this letter to me, I will let you read her letter and decide for yourself about how companies handle return policies.
_____________________________

Dear Customer Service,

I was extremely disappointed in your return policy for holiday returns. Let me tell you what happened. My daughter received a book from her Uncle for Christmas, he had no idea if she had the book or not. So her purposely purchased from your store knowing there was a Target near our home. He sent her the book with the receipt. Since my daughter already owned that book, she took the book and the receipt back to your store on Haggery in Novi to exchange it for another book. The clerk explained to my daughter who is 16 that she could only get her Uncles Credit Card credited since that is the way she purchased it, than unless she choose the same book she could not exchange it, nor could she get a Target Gift Card with the cash on it to pick something else out.

I called my brother, her uncle to explain to him what happened and to say the least he was not happy. He already spent over $5.00 to mail to book to the house, and now he has to get her another gift because your store wouldn’t let her exchange it for another book. The words he used to express his dissatisfaction I will not repeat in this letter however, lets just say, he wasn’t happy to have to start over again with a Christmas book.

What is the purpose of Gift Receipts if you REFUSE to allow customers to exchange gifts?

Due to your poor exchange policy, I feel bad, her Uncle feels bad and most of all she feels bad.

I will recommend in the future that no one purchases gifts for any holiday from your store, it is a waste of time if someone has to exchange or return merchandise.

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