Stores Magazine - November 2007 - (Page 16) trEnDS COMPILED BY STORES EDITORS Ice, Ice Baby There’s just something about an icecold drink, and no one knows that better than Coca-Cola. That explains why the world’s largest soft drink manufacturer is on the verge of introducing technology that would assure icy goodness from the first sip to the last. According to European consumer technology website Tech Digest, this new technology allows ice cubes to form in bottles of soda; when the cap is twisted off, a mechanism inside the bottle will create ice from the drink itself. Sprite Super Chilled is expected to appear on U.K. shelves as early as next year. If this cool idea receives the warm reception company executives are anticipating, Coca-Cola will eventually offer it across all its drinks. Weaning Isn’t Working Macy’s has been trying to wean customers off the 15- to 20- percent discount coupons that have been prompting shoppers to head to stores for years. But executives are now saying that their approach has backfired. With fewer coupons to rip, shoppers across the country have been snubbing the national chain. Therefore, shortly after the fall season started, CEO Terry Lundgren announced plans to issue plenty of coupons for the holiday shopping season. Lundgren attributes the reversal to four consecutive months of declining store sales, beginning in the spring, and admits he didn’t anticipate the slip. When Macy’s began weaning shoppers off coupons, the pain was much less acute – but it did so gradually over a five-year period. At the former May stores, however, the cuts were faster and deeper. Company reports say 30 percent fewer coupons have been issued since the merger, but others say the pullback was greater than 50 percent in some markets. For years, industry experts have been critical of retailers that push frequent off-price promotions, warning that shoppers would come to expect discounts — and would delay purchases until items were on sale. 16 STORES / NOVEMBER 2007 WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG
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