New school, old school
Jenny Heinzen York -- Kids Today, 1/28/2011 1:39:46 AM
I attended the Online Technologies Conference that our media group hosted in November at Chicago's Merchandise Mart. I was excited to go because I knew I would learn a lot from the high-level Internet brain-trust that our online manager, Penny Schneck, had lined up to speak.
And boy, did I learn. The data from the conference was fascinating - for example, did you know that online sales make up about 8% of the overall retail market now? Or that total U.S. online sales will top $220 billion in 2010? Those are pretty big numbers, but what's even more interesting is how fast they are growing. You, as a juvenile retailer, know what the major internet competition is doing to your business. But there's a lot you can do, too, to combat it.
Check out my coverage of the event on pages 22-23 for some ideas about how you can put some of the new technologies to work for you. I had a fun time using Twitter and Facebook to cover the conference in real time. I've never been able to report in that manner, and it was a great way to generate online conversation and push out lots of information throughout the day. I sat on the front row with a laptop, BlackBerry and digital camera to make it all happen. But, at my core, I'm still kind of an old-school reporter, so most of my notes I took by hand.
While in Chicago, I took a little time to do some "retailing" - where I visit home furnishings merchants to see what lines they are selling, how they are merchandising, how traffic is, and to make contacts for future articles in Kids Today and Home Accents Today.
As I was walking near Grant Park on one of my retail outings, I came to the corner of the building marked Marshall Field's. After a very brief heart-leap (because, really, who didn't love Marshall Field's??), the banners around the building reminded me that it was no longer Marshall Field's - it was just another Macy's. Oh yeah. Now, I'm actually a Macy's fan, but I felt a real pang of sadness that such a major part of this city's personality had evaporated into a national conglomeration that doesn't really have a distinguishing identity in Chicago, or New York, or any of hundreds of other American cities where it is located.
But one thing that Macy's does well is holiday windows. There's nothing quite like a big city department store when it comes to window displays - especially at holiday time. As I walked the street following the story of Virginia (of "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" fame), I thought of all of your stores and the power of a fantastic window storefront.
It's low-tech and old-fashioned to be sure, but is there anything more compelling to get you to want to shop?
Happy holiday season to you all. See you in 2011.
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