Retail Therapy For Investors

Europe's debt crisis dragged on, Washington's budget remained a mess and the Indianapolis Colts were still winless on Monday morning - yet stock markets roared ahead around the globe. So what happened?

Often, my answer to that question would be "nothing." Markets move every day. As my colleague Jonathan Bergman observed recently, big moves happen more frequently nowadays than they used to. Share prices took a drubbing this month, and the principle of the "dead cat bounce" still applies, so a brief rebound might mean nothing whatsoever.

I suspect, however, that was not the case yesterday. I think the weekend's news about big crowds of Black Friday shoppers reminded people that life goes on, even amid a world-wide financial pullback that is approaching the five-year mark.

It might be an overstatement to say that American shoppers partied like it was 2006, but they clearly shed some of their recession-era mindset as they took out their credit cards and cranked up their internet connections for the holiday retail jamboree.

Nobody knows whether the comparatively brisk sales pace will continue through Christmas Eve, but there are some clear signs that the U.S. economy is trying to revive itself despite political gridlock and credit market uncertainty.

New unemployment claims have been below the 400,000 threshold for several weeks and will probably stay near or just below that level when the latest figures come out Thursday. We will get the first word on nonfarm job creation and the unemployment rate for November on Friday. The news is not likely to be good - "good" would be the creation of at least 200,000 jobs during the month - but it should be less bad than it was during the summer, when job creation essentially stalled.

The bottom line is that the American economy, still by far the world's largest (twice the size of China's), hit bottom awhile ago. Companies may not be hiring much, but they are not cutting staff, either. And consumers, who represent about 70 percent of economic activity, are feeling the need to consume.

It was easy to put off replacing the car back in 2008 and 2009, when nobody knew exactly how bad things might get and almost everyone feared for his or her paycheck. But by now, the old clunker is pretty long in the tooth. Annual new car and truck sales, around 17 million units from 1999 through 2006, crashed to 10.6 million in 2009 and 11.8 million in 2010. Last month's sales were 13.3 million at an annualized rate, and the latest data, also due out Thursday, is expected to be near 13.5 million. That's nearly a 30 percent increase from the trough of the recent downturn. Each of those additional vehicles represents income for factory workers, delivery drivers, salespeople and service departments.

Gadgets like the Amazon Kindle continue to fly off the shelves when they are attractively priced. Airlines are making more money - despite high fuel prices - while carrying fewer people. That means more people are driving for the holidays. That means more business for hotels and motels. Tourism is back to record levels in South Florida, and hospitality industry employment in Broward and Miami-Dade counties has surpassed the pre-recession peak, the local Sun-Sentinel newspaper reported last week. (1) At nearby Port Everglades, officials claimed that a world record number of cruise passengers, around 53,500, departed for tropical destinations on Saturday.

Stocks have been beaten down because of fears that governments and banks, primarily in Europe, will not be able to resolve their financial problems without unleashing another round of chaos in the markets. Jobs, salaries and pensions are on the chopping block across much of the continent. These problems show signs of spilling over to the factory floors in Asia, as reduced demand from the eurozone cuts the region's exports. Back in the good old U.S.A., we have a Social Security tax break scheduled to expire at the end of December and all sorts of other taxes slated to rise a year later. We might put off the imminent tax increase, but we are otherwise unlikely to get any visibility on the near economic future until after next year's elections. The uncertainty is clearly holding back all sorts of business expansion and investment.

But life really does go on. Many businesses have built big cash hoards so they can keep operating even if banks abruptly tighten credit. Consumers, likewise, have paid off debt for several years, which is partly what gave them financial room to splurge on holiday shopping.

Stock prices ultimately depend on corporate earnings, and corporate earnings depend much more on consumers than on governments and banks. So while there is a big downside to the current mess, that downside has largely been priced into stocks already. Anything that looks like "normal," even a holiday shopping spree, reminds the markets that even the darkest nights are always followed by a dawn.

Corporate Image Theory

Kotler explained that "corporate image is the consumer's response to the total offering and is defined as a sum the belief, ideas, and impressions That a public has an organization."

This means that corporate image is the consumer response to the overall offering provided the company and is defined as the number of beliefs, ideas, and the impression people in an organization.

While Nguyen and Leblanc revealed that the company's image as:

"Corporate image is described as overall impression made on the Minds of the public about organization. It is related to business name, architecture, variety of products / services, tradition, ideology, and to the impression of quality communicated by each employee interacting with the organization's clients ".

Meaning that corporate image is an overall impression that is formed minds about the company public. Where the image associated with your business name, architecture, variety of products, traditions, ideology and the impression on the quality of communications made by any employee who interacts with the client organization.

Dowling stated that, "corporate image is a set of beliefs and feeling about an Organizations'. Can be interpreted that the company's image is a set of beliefs and feelings about an organization.

The image can be said to be the public perception of the experience, beliefs, feelings, and knowledge society itself against the company, so that aspect of the company-owned facilities, and services delivered to consumers may affect employee perceptions of consumers towards the image.

Thus the image is one of the most important asset of a company or organization that should be built and maintained continuously. A good image is a powerful device, not only to attract consumers in choosing a product or company, but also can improve the attitude and customer satisfaction to the company.

Corporate image can not be engineered, meaning that the image does not come by itself but rather shaped by society, of communication and openness in the company's efforts to build a positive image that is expected. Efforts to build an image can not be done randomly at certain times only, but is a long process. Because the image is all perception of objects formed by consumers by way of processing information from various sources all the time.

Case Study: A SWOT Analysis in Retail Stores

In previous articles have described about the Definition of SWOT Analysis, 5 Things That Should Be Observed In Determining The SWOT Analysis At Your Store , and SWOT Strategy. To further clarify the understanding a SWOT, I tried pouring this understanding through a case study. This case study is the result of observation at a retail store when I was undergoing training in the management of an enterprise retail music and movies that one branch of his business is selling CDs, VCDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs. Store name deliberately omitted to protect the privacy of the store, so in this paper mentioned the name of the store is a store X.

As we all know that before doing a SWOT analysis required data include Man, Material, Method, Machine, and Environment. Here is a description of the data obtained.

1. Man

Store X has 6 employees, consisting of one store manager, two cashiers, and 3 clerks. All employees at Store X has had a fairly in-depth knowledge about products sold in the store. This called Product Knowledge. The average length of their work is already more than a year, even the cashier at the Store X has been working for 3.5 years. Store X does not have a store supervisor, therefore all the decisions and policies made by Store Manager. Although only be handled by the Store Manager, all policies and decisions can be accomplished, because all employees have good discipline. The Store X organizational structure is as follows:

2. Material

Quality products are extremely good, considering the products sold are original products and not pirated. Defective products are not displayed in the display. This is due to the alertness and thoroughness of the employees who has always routinely review new products that came before display it in stores. CDs are the largest quantity rather than other products, VCD is the second largest product, then followed with a DVD, and the last is the Blu-ray Disc. Audio CD are largest because the level of demand for these products are more than others product. Products genre which are sold in the store X is considered sufficient to meet customer needs. Jazz, Pop, Karaoke, up to a classic is available here. However, the diversity of the CD that have still lacking, it is seen from the many albums are certain singers that are not available at this store.

3. Method

Store X provides a sense of kinship store comfort to all employees. Store manager ability to foster a sense of belonging of this store makes the employees feel part of a good team .Of team cohesiveness and high sense of belonging creates service beyond excellent can be done well. Store Manager spur employees to have the ability to speak well. This is intended to increase sales can be stimulated by providing an alternative way of purchase to its customers.

4. Machine

To facilitate business activities, store X is equipped with two units of desk listening (one in damaged condition), 2 units of television, a computer unit, 1 unit of VCD / DVD Player, 1 unit of Blu-ray Disc player, 1 unit check point (the anti thieves), 1 unit of safety box, 1 unit of telephone, and 1 unit of hot pressing. This store is also equipped with a back office that serves to break the activities of employees.

5. Environment

Store X locations joining a supermarket. Store X location is located on the 2nd floor of the building and is located next to the right corner of the supermarket building. Corner locations and on the 2nd floor is things that is felt as a weakness that has, because the store has become invisible to the general public. This store has no competition in the relative radius of several kilometers around. There are no stores that sells similar products in the area. Therefore Store X has important role in this area in meeting the needs of the entertainment. But unfortunately there is no information indicating that the supermarket has Store X included. Because the place is hidden, then the store is made with minimalist interior and exterior design. This store has an area of ​​± 35 m2, and store lay out are designed so that they can meet and represent the product being sold. Here is the display layout of Store X:

All data obtained from these five parameters will be discussed in Case Study : A SWOT Analysis in Retail Stores Part 2.

Definition of Service In a Retail Store Business

In a business , service is the main thing in the survival of a business. A good service that the customer pampering will make customers more loyal to products owned by a company. "Every businesses is a service business", it is a sentence that indicates that virtually all forms of business must prioritize the best service to its customers. So what is a good service?
Based on the satisfaction obtained by the customer, then customer service is divided into three forms, namely:

1. Standard Service

 

at this stage of service from a company in this example, a store clerk as a deputy clerk was limited to the hospitality in serving customers. Staring at the customer, smile, and say hello to the customers, it is standard to do the ambassadors company when customers visiting his shop.

2. Excellent service

 

At this stage, the service is not only limited to the staring, smile, and say hello to customers, but has a steps in helping customers to fulfill her desire. At this stage the parameters of the sales have started to be used. Services will be considered excellent when the salesperson can convert the help to customers into sales transactions. Service is excellent when the clerks helps customers, then customers who initially do not plan to purchase, changes their mind to buy, customers who originally bought only one product then add more product into two, three, or more. That's called excellent service.

3. Service Beyond Excellent Service

 This stage is the most perfect stage in the stages of customer service. At this stage it is not just a sales transaction is a parameter, but how so customers can shop at his place again at a later time. Parameters? Of course! Judging from the number of times customers visit and shop at stores within a certain time. Service at this stage requires a clerk to perform customer service is not solely the obligation of work, but has become a genuine character and attitude to try to help with customers, so customers will be happy to visit and shop again at a later time. In other words, at this stage, customer loyalty is a thing to find.

Each shops is very eager to have as many loyal customers. And the opportunity to gain customer loyalty occurs when a salesperson, salesman who can provide services and assistance to customers sincerely. Customer loyalty is created when your shop can serve and communicate its customers by using a heart!