ANSOM

After a long and highly successful career in publishing, including over four decades as the owner-then-publisher of ANSOM magazine, Howard Wasserman has retired. He enters retirement in good health and will be able to spend more time with his family (wife Arline, daughters Mandy and Camela, son Bryan and grandsons Max and Jack). Traveling, playing tennis and raquetball and enjoying books, theatre, movies and fine dining are also in the plans.

We wish him well and thank him for his efforts and wisdom throughout the years.

We invite readers to pass along best wishes to Howard through this blog, through our Facebook page or by email at mark.hawver@ansomonline.com.

What are your leadership tips? How about: “Praise in public, criticize in private,” or “Never ask a subordinate to do something that you wouldn’t do yourself?” Here’s one man’s opinion:

“The boss drives people; the leader coaches them. The boss depends on authority; the leader on good will. The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm. The boss says ‘I’; the leader says ‘we.’ The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown. The boss says ‘go’; the leader says ‘let’s go!’”
–H. Gordon Selfridge,
American-British retail magnate

Well, we went ahead and sent out another ANSOM e-Newsletter, with news, calendar of events, links to the latest issue of ANSOM online, a look at the upcoming ANSOM issue, and our new monthly Marketing Tip.

This month, we delve into the wonders of co-op advertising; a useful promotional and advertising tool for retailers and suppliers alike. Want to find out what that’s about? Sign up for our e-Newsletter right over here.

A new report from the NRF Foundation (the research and education arm of the National Retail Federation) and KPMG (an audit, tax and advisory firm) indicates that 43 percent of retailers plan on maintaining the same number of stores while 37 percent plan on expanding in 2010.

Nearly half (49 percent) of respondents claim that personalization of their web sites will become a major priority in 2010. Another 67 percent cite database/data mining as a goal for 2010.

These figures are prominently featured in the eighth annual Retail Horizons: Benchmarks for 2009, Forecasts for 2010 report. More numbers and words here.

As consumers shrink away from their free-spending ways, retailers have had to adopt ever more extensive and creative methods of siphoning dollars from pockets.

The loyalty program is becoming a more prevalent choice for retailers to attract and retain customers, while simultaneously rewarding them for their generosity and spending largesse. Store-branded credit cards or club cards that offer points for dollars spent or other perks have been successful in energizing customer spending in many stores such as Target and Best Buy. For the whole story, amble on over here.

Every month, we send out an electronic newsletter to thousands of our readers and advertisers with news items, links to the newest ANSOM issue on www.ansomonline.com, an industry event calendar and a sneak peak at upcoming ANSOM magazine topics.

Our latest e-newsletter introduces the ANSOM Monthly Marketing Tip, of interest to suppliers and retailers alike. This new feature is exclusive to the ANSOM e-newsletter. That is, not found anywhere else, not even in your grocer’s dairy case.

If you would like to subscribe to our e-newsletter (it’s free or even cheaper), sign your fine self up here.

In an article entitled “How America Now Shops: Dollar Stores, Online Retailers” posted on the Wall Street Journal’s blog, a case is made that although consumer spending is beginning to ramp up, shoppers are even more price-conscious and making more frequent, smaller purchases at the expense of higher ticket, bulkier goods. They are also turning more to online purchasing.

This trend is seen as good for discount outlets such as dollar stores and other niche “Price is King” retailers, less helpful for big box department stores and megastores.

These trends are found in a study released by WSL Strategic Retail, a New York-based consulting firm. Although major supermarket chains and Walmart are still the top two retail channels, dollar stores have surpassed stores such as Macy’s on the list. Online shopping surged into third place; nearly half of all women (47%) shopped online in the last quarter.

Another interesting finding was that online-only retailers such as Amazon.com are growing faster than hybrid “brick and click” retailers such as Walmart, Target and Costco.

According to WSL president Candace Corlett “The internet is redefining… choices and significantly impacting every other retail channel.”

This is one more signal to army/navy suppliers and retailers that an online presence, especially an e-commerce presence for retailers, will be the gateway for survival and growth in the coming years. The increasing value-consciousness of shoppers should also play right into the hands of army/navy retailers, who already have the best price:quality ratio in town.

You’ll find the full story here.

The forthcoming August 2010 ASD Show (including the Military Tactical Outdoor Show subset) will be held in its entirety at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Exhibitors formerly ensconced at the Sands Expo Center will be integrated into both the North Hall and the South Hall (the latter being the familiar location for many).

According to our sources, all August ASD Shows will fall into this pattern, while the February/March shows will continue to utilize both the LVCC and the Sands Expo Center. The reason? While ideally it would be best to gather under one roof, there is a heavy construction equipment show that takes place in the Feb/Mar time period that takes weeks to both set up and knock down, making the North Hall of the LVCC unavailable.

The next ASD Show dates are August 8-11, 2010 and February 27 - March 2, 2011. If you’re a planner-aheader type of person or not a believer in that whole Nostradamus thing, and you need the 411 on other upcoming trade events, please transport yourself here

Business use of social networking Internet sites Facebook and Twitter have grown by leaps and bounds over the past six months, according to a study released on Monday, 9 November by Palo Alto Networks, a maker of firewall technology. Companies using Facebook to promote their businesses grew 192%, while Twitter sites grew over 250% The report indicates that workers are using social networks to promote business both with and without management knowledge.

Palo Alto Networks reports that the down side of this explosive growth can lead to security problems and in some cases worker productivity is hurt. Nuclear Research, an IT research company, reported that companies allowing employee use of Facebook in the workplace lose an average of 1.5 percent in employee productivity.

We feel that with proper supervision and a firm strategic plan in place that is executed with professionalism, the use of Facebook and Twitter to promote a company’s products and services, to disseminate news and announce events and the build the brand footprint in a competitive marketplace make these Internet networking services a benefit to business growth and identity marketing. It is also a highly cost efficient means of marketing and extending brand identity over a worldwide audience. What do you think? What are your experiences with mixing business with social media?

For more on this topic, the full story resides here.

Got a minute or several? Take a gander at the new, pixelicious ANSOM page on Facebook. Become a fan, make a comment, post a link, sit a spell, take your shoes off.

We hope to grace the page with more surprises than a pallette of Cracker Jacks. For now, you’ll find links to new info on the ANSOM web site. As the page grows, who knows what you’ll find; who the heck knows?

Just go here to check it out; or in Facebook search look up “ANSOM magazine.”

Please help us build a thriving Facebook community. As the neighborhood grows, so will the fun and frolic on the page. And couldn’t we all use a little more frolic (or garlic) in these uncertain times?