Stores Magazine - December 2007 - (Page 22)

fullprice/markdown Something for Everyone DISCOVER CARD has a new promotion that allows shoppers to reLL FU CE ward themselves for the hours and PRI expense spent holiday shopping. “Turn Receipts into Rewards” gives a little something back to shoppers in the form of a $20 Discover gift card. How can you get one? Shoppers making purchases at one of the more than 160 participating shopping centers can take $200 in Discover Card receipts to the customer service or Discover Card booth and redeem them for a gift card. The promotion, which runs through December 31, is indicative of the ways that credit card companies are partnering with shopping centers at the busiest time of year. Rewards are typically more of a carrot than a present and are dangled in front of users to entice them to spend more. Will Discover Card shoppers spend more? Maybe, but it’s more likely they’ll shift usage from another credit card to Discover to reap the rewards. & RETAIL HITS MISSES Dear Consumer Reports: You Goofed CONSUMER REPORTS describes its RK- new campaign as “educational.” In MA WN truth, it’s filled with misinformation. O D Do Good 4 Debt HERE’S AN IDEA worth copying . . . quick! Match debt-burdened students with companies interested in sponsoring them to do charity work. It works on two levels – helping to relieve the financial burden students are often buried under when they graduate, and giving corporations greater control over their charitable contributions. The idea is just starting to take root in the U.K., where a recent university graduate, who finished his law studies with £14,000 in debt, came up with the concept and dubbed it Do Good 4 Debt. Students are paired with companies interested in sponsoring them to do charity work. They work for a participating charity for up to six months; at the completion of each set milestone, the student’s corporate sponsor pays off a chunk of the outstanding debt. Student-turned-entrepreneur Ian Wallace devised the program while working at a local factory to pay off some of his debt; he overheard the owner of the business bemoaning the way most charitable contributions never produce visible results for the donor. Wallace plans to officially launch Do Good 4 Debt (and the accompanying website) in January. Four companies and 100 students have already signed up. L FULCE RI P 22 STORES / DECEMBER 2007 The consumer advocacy group ran a full-page ad in The New York Times that read: “Dear Shopper, Last year, shoppers like you were out $8 billion because of unused, lost, or expired gift cards. Easy money for retailers. Lost money for you. Yours truly, Consumer Reports.” A bit more investigative work should have preceded the claim. According to the National Retail Federation, 92 percent of the nation’s top retailers have no expiration dates or dormancy fees associated with gift cards. Bank-issued gift cards are a different story; gift cards branded with Visa and MasterCard logos, for example, are more likely to have an expiration date or to tack on activation, maintenance and transaction fees. Consumers should be made aware that retail companies are not sitting pretty with extra money in their coffers as a result of unclaimed gift cards. In fact, retailers do not count a gift card as a sale when it’s purchased; it becomes a “sale” when it’s redeemed. And, gift cards that go unredeemed are considered “abandoned property” by many states. Several states have laws in place which allow them to collect “abandoned property” after two to three years. Can This Idea WINE AFICIONADOS are turning a ghastly shade RK- of pale. The latest news out of Spain and ArgentiMA WN na is that wine is being sold in aluminum cans. DO Syriaca Wine Company, a family-owned firm based in Barcelona, launched red and white wine in aluminium cans in September. Buenos Aires-based Iron Wine is introducing varietal wines packaged in cans that resemble those used for soda pop. The company is marketing a malbec-cabernet blend and a chenin blanc. Both companies tout the cans as a practical, convenient way to enjoy wine. They’re convinced that packaging wine in cans will resonate with younger wine enthusiasts. The wine companies say consumers should pour the canned wines into a cup or glass as they can have a slight tin taste to them if consumed right out of the can. Wonder how that plays against the convenience pitch? Buy a six pack . . . and don’t forget to pack the paper cups? WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Stores Magazine - December 2007

STORES - December 2007 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Holiday Shopping Extravagance What Shoppers Think 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Niche Marketing Eight Predictions for 2008 Concept2Watch Merchandising Strategy Sourcing E-Commerce Supply Chain Warehouse Management Software Contactless Payments Marketing Marketing Online Loeb Retail Letter ARTS Update Point of View NRF News Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

Stores Magazine - December 2007

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