23:29
Shivaram
Retailers where are you ?
Youngsters are your market :- Do they really know, where are you , when they are searching for products to shop ? Many of them are new to your city !
As youngsters become the main stay for many retail businessess, it is no longer enough to just advertise in your favourite newspaper and hope it will attract your customers to your store. Bangalore's MG Road, Brigade Road and Commercial Street are no longer the attractive places to shop ! Who has the time to travel to them on the only sunday they get ?
More and more young people work more than just the normal 9 to 6 now a days 5 to 6 days a week and then take home to work on their laptops . We see less and less of them reading news papers, including those using company buses. Considering that many of them are staying all alone or with friends or even having small families, the habit of reading newspapers is coming down amongst this as a source of information about brands, offers etc.
New Media for advertising :-
Since many of them spend literally all their working time in front of computers, mobiles, and the now status symbol of a ipad ( I pad 3 has just been launched), it is important that retailers including the brands begin to embrace the social media world of http://www.facebook.com, http://www.twitter.com, http://www.linkedin.com, http://www.pininterest.com, etc and a host of new media. A website is almost like a phone no today. If you are not uptodate on your website, then you are seen as dated. In fact mobile websites are the order of the day.
Caution :-
Retail as an industry and more so, retailers and franchisees of brands have always been slow to get on to the technology bandwagon.
It is time that retailers not wait for the Brand Owners/ companies to give them a few lines under the address of dealers on their company websites, but start to experiment with various social media.
Like this blog on indi-blogger, it is even free and smarter young entrepreneurs are beginning to blog about their stores, their new introductions, their customer feedbacks etc . In the initial stage, it might be worth while to take the help of website and social media developers ( like a local advertisement agency) you are using for your local advertising and get a presence. One such company is http://www.jademagnet.com ( I am using them for my own website http://www.retailgurukul.com )
Remember social media is now a 365 days 24 hours advertising and the earlier you adapt this, the better benefits you will get. All this can be done from the store, using your email and phone ! to get started.
Surprisingly, costs are much lower than a half page advertisement that your brand gives once in a way on your behalf, just before a big shopping season.
Retail Metrics :-
After publishing your advt in a newspaper, do you know how many actually saw it ? As a saying goes, 50 % of all advertising is a waste, but you dont know which one !
Is it different for online social media ? What do you think.. ?
Best of luck and share your experiences.
Youngsters are your market :- Do they really know, where are you , when they are searching for products to shop ? Many of them are new to your city !
As youngsters become the main stay for many retail businessess, it is no longer enough to just advertise in your favourite newspaper and hope it will attract your customers to your store. Bangalore's MG Road, Brigade Road and Commercial Street are no longer the attractive places to shop ! Who has the time to travel to them on the only sunday they get ?
More and more young people work more than just the normal 9 to 6 now a days 5 to 6 days a week and then take home to work on their laptops . We see less and less of them reading news papers, including those using company buses. Considering that many of them are staying all alone or with friends or even having small families, the habit of reading newspapers is coming down amongst this as a source of information about brands, offers etc.
New Media for advertising :-
Since many of them spend literally all their working time in front of computers, mobiles, and the now status symbol of a ipad ( I pad 3 has just been launched), it is important that retailers including the brands begin to embrace the social media world of http://www.facebook.com, http://www.twitter.com, http://www.linkedin.com, http://www.pininterest.com, etc and a host of new media. A website is almost like a phone no today. If you are not uptodate on your website, then you are seen as dated. In fact mobile websites are the order of the day.
Caution :-
Retail as an industry and more so, retailers and franchisees of brands have always been slow to get on to the technology bandwagon.
It is time that retailers not wait for the Brand Owners/ companies to give them a few lines under the address of dealers on their company websites, but start to experiment with various social media.
Like this blog on indi-blogger, it is even free and smarter young entrepreneurs are beginning to blog about their stores, their new introductions, their customer feedbacks etc . In the initial stage, it might be worth while to take the help of website and social media developers ( like a local advertisement agency) you are using for your local advertising and get a presence. One such company is http://www.jademagnet.com ( I am using them for my own website http://www.retailgurukul.com )
Remember social media is now a 365 days 24 hours advertising and the earlier you adapt this, the better benefits you will get. All this can be done from the store, using your email and phone ! to get started.
Surprisingly, costs are much lower than a half page advertisement that your brand gives once in a way on your behalf, just before a big shopping season.
Retail Metrics :-
After publishing your advt in a newspaper, do you know how many actually saw it ? As a saying goes, 50 % of all advertising is a waste, but you dont know which one !
Is it different for online social media ? What do you think.. ?
Best of luck and share your experiences.
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