Flipflops, crocs, sandals, loafers, pumps, boots, sneakers – everybody wears some sort of shoe. Across all cultures, climates, and incomes, the shared experience of buying shoes is more universal that any other apparel item. Have you been to a Kinney Shoes, Footlocker, Payless, DSW, or shoe departments at Walmart, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Selfridge’s or Gallery Lafayette? From self-serve to elegant serve, the culture of how you sell shoes has been a research topic for us at Envirosell for more than 35 years. That the price of shoes can vary from $10 …
Experience
It’s Midlife Crisis Time for Millennials. Here’s What They’re Buying
Geriatric millennials are turning forty, but don’t expect us to make the same big-ticket purchases as our predecessors. Millennials currently fall within the age range of 27 to 42. Many are staring down the barrel of the big Four-O. But, due to the perilous state of the economy, millennials have more to fear than our mortality. Although millennials’ minds and bodies are of a certain age, our net worth is not. Millennials still only account for 7 percent of the nation’s total wealth. Before you start saying that everyone struggles in their …
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What Ever Happened to Caring About Brand Dilution?
Remember when you couldn’t open your laptop without getting bombarded by “race to the bottom” brand messaging? They were selling Coach and Kate Spade at T.J. Maxx and we couldn’t stop talking about it, and whether the brands would be able to retain their value positioning. Analysts feared that brand dilution would be the death of retail. Not one of us had an inkling about the global pandemic that was about to turn the retail industry on its head, bringing fashion retail closer to swimming with the sharks than anything to precede it. The …
Shoptalk Takes One-to-One Meetings to the Next Level
Shoptalk. Uber. How did these brands transform each of their industries? The answer, according to Shoptalk’s founder, Anil D. Aggarwal, is technology that facilitates the right connections at the right time and place. Aggarwal is also the founder and CEO of Personatech, the company behind the event tech platform used by Shoptalk for over five years to power its Hosted Retailers & Brands Program. Technology is the fundamental game changer for the entire events industry going forward, but you already know that if you’ve participated in the …
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How to Diffuse an Artisanal Brand
When New York magazine’s Grub Street newsletter recently asked the question, “Why does every store suddenly look the same?” It was using the term “Shoppy Shops” to describe the look-alike trend for artisanal brands. But the question came as little surprise to anyone in the business. The homogenization of what we call “artisanal market” stores selling consumer product goods and other niche products for the home has been an ongoing trend for some time. What’s changed more recently is the way that process has accelerated, largely due to shifts …
Gen Z Nostalgia is Accelerating: Categories to Watch
Oxford Languages (the dictionary people) defines nostalgia as “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.” But nostalgia isn’t relegated to time periods that we’ve personally experienced. Remember the late 60s resurgence in the early aughts? I remember scouring Woodstock DVDs for footage of my teen dream, Roger Daltrey from The Who. I also ransacked my mom’s boxes of high school mementos to resurrect a pair of vintage Levi’s cords and hot pink running shorts that …
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Slow Checkout Is a Competitive Advantage
Express lines. Self-checkout. Online virtual orders. Contactless checkout. But slow-moving, chit-chat checkout lines? Yes, bucking the trend of shorter, faster, and more efficient shopping – the descriptive terms that have been the hallmarks of the modern consumer retail experience over the past decade or more – is a burgeoning phenomenon that is becoming known as Slow Retail. It’s a movement that has actually been something of a runaway success in Europe. Or shall we say, a walkaway success? Perhaps leisurely strollaway success is more …
A Growing Segment of Gen Z is so Over Social Media
Misinformation, vitriol, body dysmorphia…all proven results of prolonged social media use. Just because Gen Z grew up in an era of portable handheld technology doesn’t mean that they’re going to choose digital lives. While the effects of growing up inundated by social media and advertising are still largely unknown, based on the mental health issues we’re seeing with next gens so far, prospects for a utopic, technology-based future aren’t looking good. Generation Z consumers have a long history of putting changes into action that their …