Retail, Retail, Mighty Retail!

By: Christina Alvarez

   It ain’t been good for retailers and suppliers of merchandise lately. Two years after the recession threw us a curve ball and that consumer spending plummeted (mine included), we are still seeing shopper caution, cash being conserved for the uncertain future, businesses not hiring back, and retail expansions at a hold.
   True, about fifty per cent of retailers and their suppliers expect consumer spending to pick up in 2011, while others postpone upsurge to 2012 and beyond. And there is that small, dark, pessimistic minority that says it will never happen again. Don’t you hate nay sayers? But all in all, things seem to have taken an upturn.
   Retailers are increasing inventories from last year, but doing so with caution. You can see lots of sales going on, indicating they don’t want stationary merchandise. My motto is “Stationary merchandise is bad… Sales are good.”  Before the recession, retail environment showcased an obscene inventory fest, with merchandise flooding floors, and retailers expecting the customer to buy something, anything. As the consumer became careful with spending dollars, retailers became overstocked, unable to move their stuff, and forced to dump it. This impacted the whole retail chain, from raw materials to warehousing. (It’s probably been sucking a little bit for China also.)
   Because retailers are stocking with caution, suppliers that can produce and deliver in shorter times, are high in demand. Companies don’t want to keep excess stock, but they want their merchandise when they want it. At another level, tracking has become THE thing in doing business today, with companies measuring demand and purchasing closely, while Internet is growing and growing, taking away from brick and mortar.
   As retailers become leaner (less employees, less stock, more tracking) and the economy starts recovering (tell that to the 12.5 unemployed!), some have seen higher profit. Realism is no longer a literature genre but has become a retailer reality. You hear things such as “let’s be prepared for a double dip recession,” which means in retailerese, stashing profits under the mattress or squirreling away for the proverbial wintertime.
   Following up on this trend, the holiday shopping season will see a smaller inventory of goods and greater sales. I particularly think that smaller inventories are not necessarily bad. Sometimes I’m driven insane by the variety of products I see in a store and my inability to choose among so many options. I can give my brain a rest this season, and get some good bargains at the same time.
   So after analyzing the retail scenario in-depth (it’s called first-hand shopping), the great authorities put forth five strategies that retail chains can do to improve profits or even keep operating:
- Cash flow, baby. Do not overstock, do not overexpand, do not overinvest.
- Flexibility, flexibility, flexibility. Sales are up or sales are down, respond wisely to demand.
- More for less. Be more efficient and invest in Internet channels.
- Track your inventory and sales. Invest in software (yeah, go ahead, put some money in technology).
- Cooperate with suppliers, sharing forecasts, trends, and measurements.
   As far as the so much taunted social media, there are no real indicators that social networks drive sales. But it does seem that retailers can boost sales from their own sites by inspiring social interaction, such as allowing customers to design outfits and send them to their friends, or for consumers to be able to review stores and products. (Just thought I’d throw some social media into the mix. One can hardly go without paying homage to the great digital goddess.)

Baby Boomers: How many will be missing out on Medicare?

By: Cristina Alvarez

   Hey, there was a time, in my twenties, that I dreaded the thought of turning thirty and becoming an old bag. And then the thirties went by and they were pretty darn good. The forties were actually very revealing. I even found a hot boyfriend at forty-five. I now remember longingly when I turned fifty and am approaching the Medicare coming of age with trepidation. Perhaps my heart is skipping a beat or maybe it’s just fibrillating.
   Anyway, don’t they say that the fifties are the new thirties? I’m getting confused with all the numbers and decades. But what I do know is that in 2011, the oldest boomers will become 65 and enter the Medicare club.
We are not aging gracefully (although some would say it’s totally the opposite), utilizing our country's greatest brains to develop new forms of cosmetic surgeries, exercise mechanisms, skin preparations, and even miracle garments, to hide the inexorable action of gravity. I guess some can pull off the Botox and nips and tucks and look handsome. Well, you know how others look, rather like zombies in dire need of sleep.
   But I’m digressing… baby boomers better fez up! Quickly. If not, you’ll be missing out on the enrollment window of three months prior and three months after your birthday, and pay a penalty for it. What’s more, you could actually be disqualified for the Medicare Supplement, horror of horrors!
   If you’re a Supplement Medicare insurance company, think about the opportunity now. It has been researched, I swear, that older people rely more on intuition than rationality. That sounds irrational, right? For me, intuition is pent up rationality, waiting to jump out, but without an attitude. So if you are a marketer for this segment, employ images that promote strong positive emotional responses. Following that trend of thought, first impressions, which have a heavy emotional charge, are also more durable for older than younger adults. So be very careful and put your best foot forward.
   First you engage them and then you throw information at them. They do want the information, but get them interested first. But oh please, don’t give them more than what they need. Remember, their clock is ticking away, so be respectful of their time. That doesn’t mean you’re going to give them choppy phrases or bulleted lines. Older adults process thoughts slower, so be clear, but to the point. If you can, make a little story of it, peppered with emotional cues. You can’t lose with a. information they need, b. to-the-point information, c. information that touches their soul in some form.
   One thing that us mature audiences hate are absolutist statements about religion, politics, philosophy, companies, about almost everything. So make sure you present your information deferentially, in the “if you allow me to explain” mode. But… take advantage of our greater sensitivity to subtlety… go ahead, don’t be shy, throw in a metavalue about your services to make it more attractive… it’s allowed, and good marketing too. But put it within context and make it holistic. For older adults, it’s about the whole experience, because they’ve reached a point of synthesis in their lives.
   Baby Boomers are turning 50 at a dizzying rate of 1 every 10 seconds. That's more than 12,000 each day and over 4 million a year for each year of the next decade. And for the health plan companies out there trying to cash in on this emerging target, 2011 will be a wild feast. By the way, analysts say that this increase in the number of Medicare enrollees is projected to contribute 2.9 percentage points to growth in Medicare spending by 2017. Not good for the government, and eventually, not good for the aging.
   Typically, emerging markets consist of younger (or underdeveloped) people coming of age (or to quote an Evangelist, people “Seeing the Light!”) and beginning to consume a product that wasn’t available to them before for reason of price or maturity. In that sense, we can truly say that the Baby Boomers are babies that have finally grown up. Not grown old. Medicare will become the insurance for the boomers, not the insurance for those on their final trek. Some say the healthcare system is not prepared for their grand and copious entrance, that 36,000 geriatricians would need to be activated by 2030.
   Who knows about those geriatricians? 65-year-olds ain’t no grandparents no way no more. They are mature, coming of age, sophisticated consumers. They do not feel antediluvian. In fact, they feel energized, ready for another round. Many boomers will work past their seventies, and at more than 100 million strong, this group and other customers born before 1965 will be - in fact are - the single most important consumer group in the U.S., in addition to being the wealthiest, best educated, and most sophisticated of purchasers. They’ve become the new customer majority.
   By the way, new statistics just came out on life expectancy: a man currently age 65 can expect to live until age 83, and the average 65 year old woman until 85, according to the Social Security Administration. And why would they lie? For them it’s best that we all conk out sooner rather than later.