Website Design for Home Goods
This blog tracks what we read, question, and execute in web design. We build online sales tools for retailers, brands, and manufacturers that sell tableware, fine china, and home goods.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Small businesses being hurt by Amazon.com
Today's New York Times reports on large, online only retailers competing against physical mom and pop stores.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Spam / phishing alert for Thomas Kevin
Received this message today. Likely spam or phishing:
From: Thomas Kevin
Date: January 9, 2012 8:31:26 AM EST
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Bcc: jason@solarek.com
Subject: Order
Hello,
Am Mr.Thomas Kevin and I will like to place an Order regarding Tableware.What is the cost price per each?what type do you have in stock,And also what type of credit cards do you accept for payment, hope you answer to my request ASAP.
Regards
Thomas ..
Monday, December 19, 2011
Spam / phishing alert for Tom Parker / Cyprus / California, US.
I received today this e-mail and its most likely spam / phishing scam:
From: "Tom Parker"
Date: December 19, 2011 2:38:44 AM EST
Subject: Order
I would like to place an order with you to Cyprus, but I am located in California, US. I am wanting to know if you can ship direct to Cyprus, but if not, i can handle pick up from your door step. Also, let me know what type of Credit Cards you accept for payment. {Visa / MC / Amex / Discovery}.
Looking forward for your swift email response & Kindly attach your current price list sheet or direct website link to your full product page.
Kind Regards,
Tom....
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Amazon.com hurts small businesses?
This article below is from today's NY Times. Amazon is now running promotions that specifically take sales from small businesses. Amazon seems to wish small businesses with physical stores would be 'showrooms' for Amazon's sales leads.
If a retailer knows of a brand that sells to Amazon, it may wonder why the brand is doing so.
December 12, 2011, 11:00 AM
By ROBB MANDELBAUM
THE AGENDA
How small-business issues are shaping politics and policy.
For years — since its inception — Amazon has been at implicit war with local brick-and-mortar stores. Last week, the implicit seemingly became explicit when Amazon began a promotion that encouraged customers to check out prices at local retailers and use a specially designed "Price Check" smartphone app to report what they found back to Amazon. Customers who then purchased the same item from Amazon received a 5 percent discount, up to $5. (The deal was available only from Friday night through Saturday, and only for certain kinds of products.)
For its initiative, Amazon has been greeted with a barrage of rotten tomatoes, from the press and from small businesses and their sympathizers. (Gawker, for one, described it as "a Christmas attack on local shops" and a "cheap, sad thing.") On Thursday, Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, the top Republican on the Small Business Committee, joined the fray. "Incentivizing consumers to spy on local shops is a bridge too far," she said in a statement. "During the busiest shopping season of the year, we should remember that our local restaurants, bookshops and hardware stores are the economic engines in our communities." Ms. Snowe urged Amazon to cancel the promotion.
Plates and politics in the news
Interesting story:
Saddam Hussien's looted Wedgwood plates end up in the East Village, then are repatriated with help of State Department to Iraqi people.
Watch video:
December 14, 2011, 2:41 PM
Looted Dishes Used in Art Project Returned to Iraq
Over the last several years, as cultural patrimony cases have roiled the artworld, federal marshals have made surprise visits to numerous American museums and galleries to cart away artifacts that foreign governments claimed were looted.
Such a visit has never been much of worry for the people who run Creative Time, the scrappy New York public art organization that helps contemporary artists realize unusual projects like turning a building into a musical instrument or painting signs for Coney Island midway merchants.
But on Tuesday a marshal and a marshal’s assistant arrived at the organization’s offices in the East Village to take custody of an even more unusual trove of cultural booty: Saddam Hussein’s dinner plates, or at least some of those that were believed to be in use in his palaces when the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.
The plates were taken out of the country illegally, according to Iraqi officials. Creative Time, which bought them on eBay for Michael Rakowitz, an artist whose Iraqi-Jewish grandparents fled Iraq in 1946, said it believed that an American soldier and an Iraqi citizen first bought them from Iraqis who had looted and carried on a brisk trade in such palace wares some time after the invasion.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Using freshness and personalization to market products
This article from today's Wall St. Journal shares marketing techniques used by Whole Foods and others to market goods. I think retailers, brands, and sales reps. may use it for inspiration about how they may market their items.
Beginning of article:
As someone who's been on the frontlines of the branding wars, I've spent countless hours with CEOs, advertising executives and marketing mavens at some of the biggest companies in the world. I've seen—and, honestly, been disturbed by—the full range of psychological tricks and schemes that some companies use to prey on our most deeply rooted fears, dreams and desires in order to persuade us to buy their brands and products.
A key lesson: Fear sells. I recall a vintage early 20th century ad for lunchbox thermoses that bore an unforgettable tagline: "A Fly in the Milk May Mean a Baby in the Grave." Advertisers have since gotten more subtle in using fear to persuade us, but the underlying principle remains the same. The illusion of cleanliness or freshness is a particularly powerful persuader—and marketers know it.
To see all the tricks that marketers have for creating the appearance of freshness, there's no better place to go than Whole Foods, the giant purveyor of natural and organic edibles. As we enter Whole Foods, symbols—or what advertisers call "symbolics"—of freshness overwhelm us. The first thing you see is flowers—geraniums, daffodils, jonquils—among the freshest, most perishable objects on earth.
The prices for the flowers and other produce are scrawled in chalk on fragments of black slate, a tradition borrowed from outdoor markets in Europe. It's as if the farmer or grower had unloaded his produce (chalk and slate boards in hand), then hopped back in his flatbed truck and motored back to the country. But, in fact, while some of the flowers are purchased locally, many are bought centrally, and in-house Whole Foods artists produce the chalk boards.
Full article online:
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Making prices lower may be just as important as inventing a new product
I liked this article by Matt Ridley in the WSJ about the innovation of reducing prices. We often think of entrepreneurship as inventing something new; there are also those that find ways to make what exists but with a new twist that brings the price down and brings the item/service to the masses.
Excerpts:
A feature of innovation is that the greatest impact of a new idea comes not when the light bulb goes on over the geek's head, but when the resulting technology eventually becomes cheap enough for many people to use—perhaps decades later. The first plane at Kitty Hawk had zero impact on the world economy, but budget airlines have a huge impact; the first computer was a curiosity, but cheap laptops changed the world.
...
Cornelius Vanderbilt cut the price of rail freight 90%, Andrew Carnegie slashed steel prices 75% and John D. Rockefeller cut oil prices 80% between 1870 and 1900. Malcom McLean, Sam Walton and Michael Dell did roughly the same for container shipping, discount retailing and home computing a century later, and were also unloved for it.
Read the full article here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704436004576299431739673572.html
Excerpts:
A feature of innovation is that the greatest impact of a new idea comes not when the light bulb goes on over the geek's head, but when the resulting technology eventually becomes cheap enough for many people to use—perhaps decades later. The first plane at Kitty Hawk had zero impact on the world economy, but budget airlines have a huge impact; the first computer was a curiosity, but cheap laptops changed the world.
...
Cornelius Vanderbilt cut the price of rail freight 90%, Andrew Carnegie slashed steel prices 75% and John D. Rockefeller cut oil prices 80% between 1870 and 1900. Malcom McLean, Sam Walton and Michael Dell did roughly the same for container shipping, discount retailing and home computing a century later, and were also unloved for it.
Read the full article here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704436004576299431739673572.html
Tips on promoting your retail store
Retailers often ask me about increasing traffic and sales. Below please find a New York Times article about a Hearts on Fire print campaign.
1) Customize your advertisements to your audience.
Excerpt: The content of the print ads will vary slightly in each magazine based on its target audience. For younger fashion-conscious readers of Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and Redbook, ads will highlight lower-priced items. The more affluent readers of Harper's Bazaar, O, The Oprah Magazine and Town & Country will see higher-priced items. Male readers of Esquire will be encouraged to buy diamonds for the women in their lives.
2) Quote current customers, such as from popular channels like Facebook.
Excerpt: Instead of featuring a simple image of the product, Ms. Bookbinder said, the new ads show real quotations from the brand's Facebook page describing jewelry as "bling-tastic" and "a menagerie of twinkles."
3) Conduct contests.
Excerpt: Each month, users who "like" the Hearts On Fire Facebook page will be entered in a contest to win a piece of diamond jewelry.
4) Promote your expertise.
Excerpt: Users who need a little guidance before committing to a jewelry purchase can call one of the company's "Perfection Stylists" to help them select the right bauble.
5) Be willing to share the rewards of the campaign with partners.
Excerpt: Another feature of the campaign is a revenue sharing model where Hearst will get a percentage of the sales generated through the campaign, though representatives from Hearts On Fire and Hearst declined to say what the terms would be. The model could represent a new revenue stream for the publisher.
Read the full article here at the NY Times website
1) Customize your advertisements to your audience.
Excerpt: The content of the print ads will vary slightly in each magazine based on its target audience. For younger fashion-conscious readers of Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and Redbook, ads will highlight lower-priced items. The more affluent readers of Harper's Bazaar, O, The Oprah Magazine and Town & Country will see higher-priced items. Male readers of Esquire will be encouraged to buy diamonds for the women in their lives.
2) Quote current customers, such as from popular channels like Facebook.
Excerpt: Instead of featuring a simple image of the product, Ms. Bookbinder said, the new ads show real quotations from the brand's Facebook page describing jewelry as "bling-tastic" and "a menagerie of twinkles."
3) Conduct contests.
Excerpt: Each month, users who "like" the Hearts On Fire Facebook page will be entered in a contest to win a piece of diamond jewelry.
4) Promote your expertise.
Excerpt: Users who need a little guidance before committing to a jewelry purchase can call one of the company's "Perfection Stylists" to help them select the right bauble.
5) Be willing to share the rewards of the campaign with partners.
Excerpt: Another feature of the campaign is a revenue sharing model where Hearst will get a percentage of the sales generated through the campaign, though representatives from Hearts On Fire and Hearst declined to say what the terms would be. The model could represent a new revenue stream for the publisher.
Read the full article here at the NY Times website
Friday, August 19, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Supercookies: cookies that one can't remove from his/her computer
This article from today's front cover of Wall Street Journal reports on 'supercookies,' tracking files that are nearly impossible to remove from your computer.
Labels:
supercookies
Monday, August 1, 2011
Spam alert: Russian Federation Order! from: nabokovent@blumail.org
This is likely spam/phishing:
Hello,
I will like to place order on some items in your store. Kindly tell me if you accept VISA & MASTER CARD as a form of payment and i will also like to know if you ship down to Moscow, Russia. Furthermore, I will be glad if you can email back with the current price sheet and the list of items you have available in stock at the moment or a link to your website where i can find prices on each products.
Your total effort on my order to be completed would be dearly appreciated!
I can't wait to do business with your company.
Best Regards,
Andrei Nabokov
Owner.
Nabokov Enterprises.
Address: Povarskaya ulitsa 80,
Moscow 121069, Russia Federation.
e: nabokovent@blumail.org
web: under construction
Hello,
I will like to place order on some items in your store. Kindly tell me if you accept VISA & MASTER CARD as a form of payment and i will also like to know if you ship down to Moscow, Russia. Furthermore, I will be glad if you can email back with the current price sheet and the list of items you have available in stock at the moment or a link to your website where i can find prices on each products.
Your total effort on my order to be completed would be dearly appreciated!
I can't wait to do business with your company.
Best Regards,
Andrei Nabokov
Owner.
Nabokov Enterprises.
Address: Povarskaya ulitsa 80,
Moscow 121069, Russia Federation.
e: nabokovent@blumail.org
web: under construction
Monday, July 18, 2011
Spam alert: "Order from Greece." / from: Robert Corwin
I received this message today. This appears to be a phishing scheme to strike up a conversation about buying something, and then that may lead to hijinks. If you receive this message, be wary.
........................
Hello Sales,
I am interested in purchasing some of your products, I will like to know if you can ship directly to ATHENS, I also want you to know my mode of payment for this order is via Credit Card. Get back to me if you can ship to that destination and also if you accept the payment type indicated. Kindly return his email with your price list of your products..
I await your quick response.
From the desk of Purchase manager,
CPT CONCEPT INTL.
Address : Ialyssos Zipcode : 85101.
City : Rhodes,Greece.
Phone : +30 22410 0000
........................
Hello Sales,
I am interested in purchasing some of your products, I will like to know if you can ship directly to ATHENS, I also want you to know my mode of payment for this order is via Credit Card. Get back to me if you can ship to that destination and also if you accept the payment type indicated. Kindly return his email with your price list of your products..
I await your quick response.
From the desk of Purchase manager,
CPT CONCEPT INTL.
Address : Ialyssos Zipcode : 85101.
City : Rhodes,Greece.
Phone : +30 22410 0000
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Consumers wish companies would catch up online

The following article from Advertising Age says that consumers wish to do more business online, but that companies may not be adequately meeting him/her there. Ad Age included a survey that companies can take to measure their communication preparedness. I'm including it with this post.
MARKETERS FAILING INTERACTIVE PART OF INTERACTIVE MARKETING
Forrester Study: Consumers Want Cross-Channel Engagement, but Companies Are Falling Behind
Published: April 03, 2011
Attention, marketers: You're falling behind your consumers.
A "huge disconnect" between consumer behavior and marketer behavior persists -- thanks largely to CMOs who have not empowered their interactive marketing teams to deliver the consumer experience, consistent across channels, that people expect these days.
That's the message of a Forrester Research report, "The Future of Interactive Marketing," out today, and explained by Principal Analyst and Research Director Emily Riley. Consumers, Ms. Riley said, "expect the information about them to carry across a mobile, hand-held, call center, website -- and that very rarely actually happens. They think that you, as a marketer, should know everything about them and be one step ahead of them in terms of addressing their interests and needs."
But marketers still lack adequate skills, resources and technology to meet that expectation, she said.
The report found that 30% of large companies have fewer than 15 interactive-staff members. That's a constraint that limits the interactive team's ability to use anything other than digital media in executing campaigns. And teams are still, more often than not, siloed in marketing organizations, separate from disciplines such as creative and production. In fact, Ms. Riley's research leads her to believe that less than a quarter of Fortune 500 companies have effectively integrated interactive marketing teams.
The report's findings raise imperatives for CMOs in structuring their marketing organizations to deliver on the future of interactive marketing -- defined by Forrester not as building online campaigns, but "enabling collaborative customer relationships -- through any medium or experience.
View article on Ad Age's website - click here
Labels:
online selling,
survey
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Videos may increase sales of products by 10%?
I enjoyed this article from the WSJ about the power of video taping products. Excerpts:
In the fall of 2010, the company did a test. It showed its products two ways—with the video and without the video—to track shoppers' behavior. It found purchases increased about 10% when a product included a video description, says Laurie Williams, video and photo products manager at Zappos. The company is still testing to figure out what components affect sales the most, she says.
Why? A video—even an unflattering one—produces what marketers call "the stimulation process," says Mr. Shiv. When a company shows people an item in action, "your brain is sort of naturally imagining, 'how is this product going to feel on me, how is it going to look on me,' " he says.
In the fall of 2010, the company did a test. It showed its products two ways—with the video and without the video—to track shoppers' behavior. It found purchases increased about 10% when a product included a video description, says Laurie Williams, video and photo products manager at Zappos. The company is still testing to figure out what components affect sales the most, she says.
Why? A video—even an unflattering one—produces what marketers call "the stimulation process," says Mr. Shiv. When a company shows people an item in action, "your brain is sort of naturally imagining, 'how is this product going to feel on me, how is it going to look on me,' " he says.
Labels:
online,
selling,
wall st. journal,
why add video to website,
wsj
Friday, March 25, 2011
Phone scam by steven bradley 1-800-650-5124 Caribbean Cruise
I received a suspicious call today, and then did some research and found out it's a sales scam.
A person named "Steven bradley" called and said that since I had purchased something at [insert name of any retailer], I was entered in a drawing and won.
He said that the store I bought something at had given him my name. I called the store after my call with "Steve", and the owner of the store said that they had not shared my name. (I know the store owners well.)
What this sales person had really done was do a search on the Internet, and found that my name is associated with a domain for a store. What was really happening: there was no contest. The store had not given Steve my name. This was a cold call, a sales call, and this guy was lying.
Steve said that I was very lucky to win.
He then offered to go over details.
He told me i had won a 75% discount.
He said I was hand selected.
He mentioned First Class Vacations. Carnival Cruise Lines.
He said less than 1% 'selected'.
He said due to tremendous savings, they are extremely limited, and must "keep it to one call." aka: high pressure sales technique. They are giving an excuse to make you decide in a hurry on the phone.
Cruise was for 8 days. "Any caribbean location", including St. Thomas.
He insisted I buy the package right there, after 30 seconds. I sensed it was scam, so I acted very interested, and pleaded to call him back so i could in fact track down this dirt ball. He then gave me his phone number: 1-800-650-5124
ext 314
and name:
Steven Bradley
note: this name could be an alias.
In sum, these companies do a search on a person's name, get some info related to you, then lie and say whatever source they found associated with you has given them your info, and they use this to build trust. Then they act like you 'won' something when in fact it's a plain sales call.
A person named "Steven bradley" called and said that since I had purchased something at [insert name of any retailer], I was entered in a drawing and won.
He said that the store I bought something at had given him my name. I called the store after my call with "Steve", and the owner of the store said that they had not shared my name. (I know the store owners well.)
What this sales person had really done was do a search on the Internet, and found that my name is associated with a domain for a store. What was really happening: there was no contest. The store had not given Steve my name. This was a cold call, a sales call, and this guy was lying.
Steve said that I was very lucky to win.
He then offered to go over details.
He told me i had won a 75% discount.
He said I was hand selected.
He mentioned First Class Vacations. Carnival Cruise Lines.
He said less than 1% 'selected'.
He said due to tremendous savings, they are extremely limited, and must "keep it to one call." aka: high pressure sales technique. They are giving an excuse to make you decide in a hurry on the phone.
Cruise was for 8 days. "Any caribbean location", including St. Thomas.
He insisted I buy the package right there, after 30 seconds. I sensed it was scam, so I acted very interested, and pleaded to call him back so i could in fact track down this dirt ball. He then gave me his phone number: 1-800-650-5124
ext 314
and name:
Steven Bradley
note: this name could be an alias.
In sum, these companies do a search on a person's name, get some info related to you, then lie and say whatever source they found associated with you has given them your info, and they use this to build trust. Then they act like you 'won' something when in fact it's a plain sales call.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Similarities between online vs. physical store layouts?

I often try to make navigating an online store compelling. I wonder how many parallels there are between what to 'show up front' in an online store vs. a physical one. Should inexpensive items be put on a home page and in the online checkout area?
View full article online
How Stores Lead You to Spend
Displays, Music, Layout Make $98 Pillows, $8 Bracelets Look Like Must-Haves
By CHRISTINA BINKLEY
Santa Monica, Calif.
At the Kitson store here, the $98 Jonathan Adler zodiac pillows in the window and the $4.95 Silly Bandz rubber jewelry in bins at the door have one thing in common: They are bread crumbs on a carefully designed trail into the depths of the store.
Listen: Cute items and store layout go a long way in luring customers to spend, reports Christina Binkley.
Owner Fraser Ross strategically plans his stores' layout to lure in shoppers with quick-hit gifts and guide them to the more expensive fashions and jewelry at the back. "No one wants to buy anything for themselves anymore," says Mr. Ross, adding that "you've got to get them through the door."
Kitson stores are eclectic, up-to-the-minute emporiums of trendy fashion, accessories and novelty items. They make money from fashionistas seeking Elizabeth & James tops and folks who want to shop at the place where Britney Spears bought baby clothes. Kitson counts on holiday sales for half its $30 million in annual revenue.
Right before Thanksgiving, Mr. Ross transformed his 10 stores in Southern California into Grand Central for gifts. He filled them with the kinds of doodads that nobody actually needs but many buy this time of year: a "Call Your Mom" throw pillow, a Betty White calendar, a pair of $395 Diddy Beats by Dr. Dre headphones.
View full article online
Labels:
online shopping,
store layout,
wsj
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Pennsylvania store writes a review of Solarek Studio services

Friday, September 10, 2010
Thoughts on My Summer of Success
by Linda Tabas
The Pink Daisy retail store
Yardley, PA
I wanted to share my good news after so many years of banging my head against the wall. With the help of the Bridge, Jason, and many hours of hard work on my website my web sales have tripled. My in store sales have also increased because in the retail world you need to keep reinventing yourself or the world will pass you by. We have a saying in my store...we want to be whatever the customers want us to be so if that means selling scarves and pocketbooks we will do that too. Baby is also very important. Don't forget that the baby boomers are all becoming grandparents...that means lots of baby gifts and lots of 60th birthday presents for women who already have all the vases and serving dishes they can use. Think personal accessories.
Well back to the bridge...I added Alberto Pinto and within one week I received an order from Chicago for $1200. Yesterday when I wasn't even open I got an order from Des Moines, Iowa for $4400 for Anna Weatherley. Some brands I don't do as well with because of the discounters but the bridge has helped my in store sales because everything is pictured there and has helped especially with Mottahedeh.
So whether you are going to do a bridge or just have Jason Solarek do a new website for you remember that it is always good to move forward and that he has been worth every penny to The Pink Daisy.
Labels:
bridge,
e-commerce,
luxury products,
pennsylvania,
solarek,
the pink daisy
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Your computer allowing 3rd parties to spy on your every click

A program on your computer called Adobe Flash is collecting all your computer actions in files that are hidden from you, outside of your browser, and selling this info. It can track your keystrokes, what you look at online, health sites you visit, etc. Essentially, it can watch anything you do.
The Wall St. Journal has written about this the past two days.
Notably, this is not normal cookies. This is 'Flash' cookies. It's virus like in that it regenerates on its own if you just choose to delete cookies.
To remove these tracking files, I went to this link:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager07.html
Instructions on what to do on this Adobe page above are listed here:
http://www.imasuper.com/66/technology/flash-cookies-the-silent-privacy-killer/
Labels:
adobe,
flash,
flash cookies,
spyware
Monday, July 19, 2010
Using your website to track online sales goals for stores and sales reps

This article below from the Wall St. Journal last week explains a new tool from Mint.com (owned by the giant Intuit). The tool lets people set savings and spending goals on the website mint.com, a massively powerful and widely used online financial site.
What if the same could be done for brands and retailers, so a store could set sales goals for their physical store on a brand's website? The brand's website would give the retailer visual markers to show progress. Emails could also be included in the sales program.
By doing this, a brand could watch over these goals, and seek to reach out and help the retailers along.
If a store wants to double its X brand sales in 6 months, how would it do so? How can a website help? How can sales reps participate to bridge the gap between brands and retailers and the website?
The article offers some clues and inspiration.
/////////////////
Goalkeeping Gets Easier in the Finances Arena
THE MOSSBERG SOLUTION
JUNE 30, 2010
New Mint.com Feature Offers User-Friendly Options That Help Savers Set Up Budget Objectives and Stick to Them
By KATHERINE BOEHRET
When most people hear the word "budget," they groan about all the numbers and spreadsheets involved in setting financial goals. Instead they procrastinate and continue spending without any specific savings goals. Case in point: I recently postponed a meeting with my financial planner because I didn't have the energy after a long business trip to work through my finances.
Now Mint.com, a website that already offers user-friendly options for studying how one's money is spent, has introduced an easy way to set budget objectives, link them to accounts and learn specific steps on how to reach those goals. The goals can even be personalized with digital photos, like an image of the car you're saving up to buy. And this service, which launched Tuesday, doesn't cost a cent.
I've been testing Intuit Inc.'s free, updated Mint.com service, specifically focusing on its new Mint Goals feature. The idea of adding goals that tie into real accounts has been a long time coming for the finance-management website. Mint previously offered a Planning section on its site, but it required too much manual input, including setting up personal budget categories, and guesswork about how much one should spend.
Read full article
Labels:
mint.com,
sales goals,
website design
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Lifetime Brands 'socializes' via Facebook and Youtube.com
The following article is from HFN magazine:
Lifetime Brands Launches on Social Media Sites
17366 Thu, 11/19/2009 - 1:39pm
NEW YORK–Lifetime Brands has launched company pages on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to communicate directly with consumers. In addition, it announced that it will revamp its corporate Web site and relaunch it the first quarter of next year.
“We touch millions of lives through the products we design—products dedicated to enrich people’s lives,” said Dan Siegel, executive vice president. Lifetime Brands. “We are committed to engaging with the people who use our products, and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will help us do that. Using social media to communicate is something consumers have come to expect, and Lifetime Brands is ready to join the conversation.”
Read full article
Lifetime Brands Launches on Social Media Sites
17366 Thu, 11/19/2009 - 1:39pm
NEW YORK–Lifetime Brands has launched company pages on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to communicate directly with consumers. In addition, it announced that it will revamp its corporate Web site and relaunch it the first quarter of next year.
“We touch millions of lives through the products we design—products dedicated to enrich people’s lives,” said Dan Siegel, executive vice president. Lifetime Brands. “We are committed to engaging with the people who use our products, and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will help us do that. Using social media to communicate is something consumers have come to expect, and Lifetime Brands is ready to join the conversation.”
Read full article
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Creativity and Technology (CAT) conference excerpts from Ad Age magazine
I agree with these excerpts from the Advertising Age's article on CAT:
Don't separate interactive
"The best way to make un-ambitious work is to set up a separate group called 'interactive,'" said Matt Howell, chief interactive officer, Modernista. But bringing interactive into the fold goes somewhat against established agency culture. "Collaboration and sharing are not core competencies at agencies," said Ivan Askwith, director of strategy, Big Spaceship. "Our focus should not be on emerging tech, but emerging cultural practices." These strategists advise to sit next to your interactive specialists and mix everyone up together.
/////////////////////
It's hard to laugh alone
Mr. Slavin's project exemplified how digital and social media are changing our traditional habits, but he was also quick to point out how it all tracks back to extremely human instincts. Viewers tweet and update Facebook networks during live TV because of a simple human truth: It's hard to laugh alone. The urge dates all the way back to the laugh track, which provided the illusion of a shared experience and being part of an audience. "People watch TV together in one room because they like to have the same experience at the same time," he said. "Sometimes that room is Twitter."
Read full article - click here
Don't separate interactive
"The best way to make un-ambitious work is to set up a separate group called 'interactive,'" said Matt Howell, chief interactive officer, Modernista. But bringing interactive into the fold goes somewhat against established agency culture. "Collaboration and sharing are not core competencies at agencies," said Ivan Askwith, director of strategy, Big Spaceship. "Our focus should not be on emerging tech, but emerging cultural practices." These strategists advise to sit next to your interactive specialists and mix everyone up together.
/////////////////////
It's hard to laugh alone
Mr. Slavin's project exemplified how digital and social media are changing our traditional habits, but he was also quick to point out how it all tracks back to extremely human instincts. Viewers tweet and update Facebook networks during live TV because of a simple human truth: It's hard to laugh alone. The urge dates all the way back to the laugh track, which provided the illusion of a shared experience and being part of an audience. "People watch TV together in one room because they like to have the same experience at the same time," he said. "Sometimes that room is Twitter."
Read full article - click here
Friday, June 25, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
How to choose a website design company
Many business owners consider choosing a website design company primarily based upon the colors and pictures in the website company's portfolio. That is somewhat understandable considering the subconscious emotional connection that images and colors make.
Problem with this approach:
Most of those pictures were provided by someone else, most likely a photographer and/or culled from a stock photo website. Furthermore, pictures don't get one ranked in Google, nor help a shopper quickly find what he or she needs. The term 'designer' is often taken too literally to designate what a web designer does. A good web designer/web design firm brings many things to the table, one small part of which is choosing a photo for the home page. Web success most often comes from the architecture BEHIND the site – the usability, the search engine optimization, the customer service tools, and more.
My advice on choosing a web company would be to pick a website company that:
1) Works in your industry, and with your business colleagues.
2) Offers functionality that meets your customers' needs.
3) Knows how to get your site ranked well in Google.
4) Knows how to organize information.
As an analogy, when you choose a location for a physical store front, you don't choose it based upon the color of the current store you're considering renting. Why? You know you'll repaint it and customize it. The key factor in setting up a retail location is location, and how it serves your customers. Similarly, when you build a website, you'll be repainting and choosing photography. The web designer's most important function is to provide the 'location', a.k.a. the technical underpinnings of the site. With this said, there are even truly ugly website that make tons of sales and have many 'happy' customers because the site is easy to find in Google and easy to use.
Problem with this approach:
Most of those pictures were provided by someone else, most likely a photographer and/or culled from a stock photo website. Furthermore, pictures don't get one ranked in Google, nor help a shopper quickly find what he or she needs. The term 'designer' is often taken too literally to designate what a web designer does. A good web designer/web design firm brings many things to the table, one small part of which is choosing a photo for the home page. Web success most often comes from the architecture BEHIND the site – the usability, the search engine optimization, the customer service tools, and more.
My advice on choosing a web company would be to pick a website company that:
1) Works in your industry, and with your business colleagues.
2) Offers functionality that meets your customers' needs.
3) Knows how to get your site ranked well in Google.
4) Knows how to organize information.
As an analogy, when you choose a location for a physical store front, you don't choose it based upon the color of the current store you're considering renting. Why? You know you'll repaint it and customize it. The key factor in setting up a retail location is location, and how it serves your customers. Similarly, when you build a website, you'll be repainting and choosing photography. The web designer's most important function is to provide the 'location', a.k.a. the technical underpinnings of the site. With this said, there are even truly ugly website that make tons of sales and have many 'happy' customers because the site is easy to find in Google and easy to use.
Labels:
website design
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Predictive marketing based upon past purchases

Below is a New York Times article from this past weekend. The article shares how major retailers are dynamically customizing their promotions based upon past customer purchases. Luxury home goods retailers could likely customize their offerings in a similar fashion. The strategy is akin to how election marketing is done. If someone drives a Prius, then they are likely to be a Democrat. As such, Democratic candidates are marketed to that person. What can we infer about a person that buys Juliska, or Ercuis silverware?
Sam’s Club Personalizes Discounts for Buyers
By ANDREW MARTIN
SECAUCUS, N.J. — For years, hotels, airlines, banks, online retailers and other data-driven businesses have turned to powerful computers to help determine the optimal price for their products, or to find ways to recommend items that groups of customers with similar tastes might want to buy.
The big retail chains have been slower to adapt, in part because of the sheer volume of customers they serve and products they sell.
But now, Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart’s warehouse chain, is offering a program called eValues that strives to offer bargains tailored to each member, based on that member’s buying history.
Industry experts said they expected other retailers to move toward more individualized offers, too. Today, most retailers offer across-the-board discounts or deals aimed at categories of customers.
“This is really the holy grail in a sense, pricing to the individual,” said Willard Bishop, a retail consultant in suburban Chicago who focuses primarily on supermarkets. “Everyone is on the path to doing what you are talking about.”
On a recent evening, for instance, Angela Otero stopped by the Sam’s Club in Secaucus and printed out four pages of eValues offers at a bright green kiosk near the front door, including $50 off a plasma television, $3 off a 30-pack of toilet paper and $2.50 off a box of meatless burgers.
Ms. Otero said she had used eValues since it started in August and found that the discounts covered “the majority of things I want.”
“The detergents, TV dinners once in a while,” she said, scanning through her printout of deals. “There’s a dollar off Bounce. I use that all the time.”
“It’s basically my own grocery list,” she said.
Read full article
Labels:
custom marketing programs
Monday, May 17, 2010
Home Furnishings Magazine Bridal Report

This bridal report, which appeared in HFN magazine, has a few good insights. They include:
The number of brides will increase due to Millennials coming of age.
The majority of brides buy registry items they don't receive.
The majority of brides use gift certificates on items they did not register for.
The majority of brides down scale registry items when it comes time to redeem registry credit they have.
HFN magazine website
Labels:
bridal registry,
HFN magazine
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Spam alert for Garry Cole
I received this e-mail below today, and it's likely spam and a phishing scam.
From:
garryoffice2@gmail.com
Dear Sir/Madam
Am Mr.Garry and would like to order Picture Frame from your
store and would like to know the types and sizes you have in stock as
well as the prices and the types of credit cars that you take for
payment.Thank you and waiting to hear from you as soon as possible.
Regards
Garry Cole
From:
garryoffice2@gmail.com
Dear Sir/Madam
Am Mr.Garry and would like to order Picture Frame from your
store and would like to know the types and sizes you have in stock as
well as the prices and the types of credit cars that you take for
payment.Thank you and waiting to hear from you as soon as possible.
Regards
Garry Cole
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