Face Forward
Positive thinking isn't as easy as it sounds, but some grassroots approaches are making it easier for smaller businesses.
By Tina Benitez -- Gifts and Dec, 9/1/2009 12:00:00 AM
Former gift and stationery retailer Cinda Baxter had enough. She was tired of all the doom and gloom hovering around the economy, in particular, how it was crushing retail. All the small guys will suffer obliteration, and only the big guys will stand in the end. Enough!
A blog post, a letter to independent retailers — and consumers, went up on her "Always Upward" web page in mid-March of this year, and by the end of the month, Baxter had a complete web site, illustrating her message for all: you can save local businesses! Just think of three that you would not want to see closed and spend $50 per month… total. This in turn will bring in $43 million in revenue for the community. It's simple, right? Indeed. Since the inception of the 3/50 Project, thousands of retailers and even more consumers have participated.
To date, nearly 10,000 people have registered on the site (the project even has 16,000-plus Facebook fans) and free resources are offered to help promote the project. In particular, retailers can download a free pdf-formatted flyer that outlines the simple process of spending and "saving." It's something retailers can hand out to customers, and is a more positive way of asking "can you spend money, or I'll go out of business?" said Baxter.
Some customers even print out the 3/50 flyers themselves to hand out to other consumers to spread the word. In fact, the 3/50 Project's Facebook account is split evenly among consumers and retailers.
The do-it-yourself, grassroots approach goes a long way. Printed flyers, word-of-mouth — all can help build more community, retailer to retailer, retailer to resident shopper, shopper to shopper. And that all goes a long way to encouraging more consumer spending and loyalty to businesses, particularly in today's shaky economy.
A New Hope
Fresh from a new election, President Obama brought an air of new hope to some Americans. Russ Haan was one of them. Haan wanted to spread the message of hope and in turn help businesses through greeting cards. The objective of his "Hope Is In the Cards" is to get everyone in America (300 million to be exact) to eventually send a message of hope. A giant feat, yes, but since it's inception in early spring, hundreds of retailers have added on the Hope program. "Whether you agree with [President Barack] Obama or not, everyone was transfixed with his hope speech," said Haan. "Start with something small. A million little things can make an impact and change things, rather than one big thing. That's what cards are supposed to do — let you know someone is out there, that someone cares for you and believes in you."
Hope can also be incorporated into retail. Haan offers a free online kit, which gives retailers ideas on re-merchandising and creating little centers of hope. "It doesn't have to cost much to leave a good impression," said Haan. "Just repurpose items [you already have] that are more cheerful in a special section."
Retailers can also participate in Wall of Hope events, where they gather donated, sponsored and/or handmade cards that are put up on a Hope wall for people to choose one for free to send. Year-round, greeting card purchasers are encouraged to write the word "Hope" on the back of the envelope — a simple enough, no-cost message.
"It's cheap. It's something grandma can do," said Haan. "That's the whole idea behind it. The card world needs to reinvent itself. It needs to tell people there are more ways to communicate than email."
Most recently, Haan started the Week of Hope project; during the first week of September, participating retailers gave a postage stamp to every card purchaser to encourage them to send their card right then, right there … for free.
Cardstore.com, Emeryville, CA, even produced a video showcasing their store's "Hope is in The Cards" program and put it up on YouTube. The online retailer recently offered customers one free greeting card with purchase from their Hope Collection, which included friendship, encouragement and other uplifting, hopeful cards that could be personalized with text and photos. The retailer then printed and mailed these cards, free of charge, for their customers.
"When we first heard about Hope Is In the Cards, we immediately wanted to get involved," said Marty Reed, CEO, Cardstore.com. "Cards are simple, yet powerful gestures. There's a lot of people going through rough times right now, who deserve a random "hello" or '' believe in you." It's an easy way to brighten someone's day."
Mood Positive
Positive attitude is everything — for individuals and retailers. Earlier this year, Alexa's Angels, a Windsor, CO, creator of fashion jewelry gave away 5,000 sets of its Posi+ivi+y bracelets to customers as a visible reminder to maintain a positive attitude. Each set consisted of one bracelet to keep and two to give away to others
To keep the positivity message and movement going, the manufacturer recently launched the National Share Your Positivity Week, which takes place this month (October 11–17) and encourages people to leave messages of hope and positivity on a new blog site ShareYourPositivity.org. The goal: to collect a database of more than 500,000 messages that will inspire everyone. Additional Posi+ivi+y gear is available for purchase, and Twitter and Facebook are also incorporated into the project as other message post portals.
In addition to passing along positive messages, businesses and individuals are encouraged to volunteer and collect money for charity to help keep spirits upbeat. Gift boutique Bella Garden of Lithua, FL, will organize a food and clothing drive for a local foster care and family care facility.
Show Offs
Positivity has even spread in the showrooms. Earlier this summer, the L.A. Mart hosted a Prosperity Pep Rally to bolster retailers' spirits and provide them with ideas, support services and other tools to help their businesses. Joanne Rackow, president of the L.A. Mart Gift Association and owner of rep group Joanne & Company, said the event really lifted spirits, because retailers realize that they are not alone during these times. "It was nice to not feel alone, that other people were struggling as well, but by thinking outside of the box and taking customer service to a different level, you can still succeed," said Rackow. "Some retailers said that with the thinning out of some stores, they were actually experiencing increases over last year's business."
Rackow said that attitude is everything and retailers can accomplish more by just changing their attitude — and perhaps staying away from the news! "I think that some retailers get caught up in the negative and they spend too much time in fear worrying about what might be instead of focusing on what they can do to increase their business," she said. "Listening to the news can drag anyone down after a while."
Networking and idea sharing were a big highlight for retailers, but there are things that smaller retailers, who cannot go to gift shows and network as much, can do to boost business-like networking and sharing resources — whether it's human resources, marketing campaigns, events — with other local shops. "When I take a look at some success stories about inventing, innovation and businesses working together, whether it's a similar business or a business in the same town, there's power within numbers," said Diane Carnevale Jones, executive director of the Gift & Home Trade Association. "Retailers can pool their resources. There's so much to win by grassroots movements. There are so many ways for retailers to take a look at their business and be creative and network in their hometown. Look at what's out there. The more business people you meet will encourage more ideas."
Jones added that she is noticing more retailers offering layaway programs again — something can help customers with different budgets leave a store on a positive note, because they can still purchase those higher-priced items. Retailers need to think about what they did in the past when the economy was better and it was easier to be positive, whether it was free gift wrap with purchase or something else.
Out of town visitors are another group of customers that can spread the positive word about a store, according to Jones. People want to know where Jones finds some of her gifts, especially if it was purchased in another state. "No matter what, there's a story behind my gift," she said.
Email can help retailers keep in touch with out-of-state customers, and gift-with-purchase is another way encourage them to return. "There are a good number of people just traveling through a store's hometown and may buy something they usually don't buy at home," said Jones. "They spoil themselves. Maybe they won't come back, but they may order online."
Stay Positive
Gifts, free services can always put a smile on customers' faces. Retailers can also create in-store events or cocktail parties — something that bigger box stores cannot do because of their size. If all else fails, keep smiling. "By smiling and keeping a positive attitude, your spirits will automatically perk up," said Joanne & Company's Rackow. "If you walk around with a negative attitude, everyone around you will feel your m[negative]energy and they won't want to shop in your retail store."
Rackow added that grassroots movements like the 3/50 Project are helping retailers realize that there is hope out there. "Retailers seem to realize that the world is not coming to an end, that people do still need to shop and that business will increase," she said. "Those that are trying new creative ways to increase their sales are finding some success, which is exactly what thinking out of the box will create."
Grassroots can grow into something bigger. In fact, the 3/50 Project may expand into Canada, Australia and the U.K., but not before Baxter is sure the U.S. one can stand on its own. Additional perks and resources will also be available soon on the 3/50 site at a membership level while all current free resources will remain free. For now, things are moving along quite well.
"Some businesses are saying they are seeing old customers coming back," said Baxter. "Now [customers] realize the role [the stores] play in their communities."
We would love your feedback!
-
Tech That Connects
Dec 1, 2009 -
Gifted Retailer Roundtable
Mar 31, 2009 -
The Gifted Retailer
Jan 10, 2012 -
Inbox
Jan 1, 2009 -
The Gifted Retailer
Sep 21, 2011
Featured Company
-
Brandwise Inc.
Brandwise serves a model - not just an industry - by integrating, automating, and optimizing the entire sales channel, from wholesale Suppliers to their Reps and the Retailers they service. In short, our software helps Reps and Suppliers sell more and create... more
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
