ETD: 842 Dollar-Store Boom: A Nation of Bargain Hunters; What
Comes After the Decade of Luxury; DCC Solutions LLC
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Tue Dec 14 13:04:55 GMT 2004
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0842 December 14 2004
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] Dollar-Store Boom: A Nation of Bargain Hunters
[3] What Comes After the Decade of Luxury
[4] DCC Solutions LLC
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
I'm curious to know what is the most important issue you face today? Is
it control of your inventory? More sales? Improved bottom line? How
about telling us what you are facing, so we can get a dialogue going.
It looks like the ways to succeed in retailing is either the luxury market
or dollar stores. Pam Danziger has contributed something on her favorite
topic - the luxury market. And Monday's WSJ has an interesting piece on
Dollar stores, with a 1% higher net profit than Wal-Mart!
Today's Wall Street
Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110297517061098911,00.html?mod=todays_us_page_one
has more on the luxury market, with stats like:
o The market for luxury yachts has more than tripled since 1997, with some
boats costing well over $100 million.
o The most expensive Mercedes used to be the CL600, which cost about
$100,000 in the late 1990s. Last year, the Mercedes group, introduced the
Maybach 62, which sells for more than $350,000. Volkswagen AG's Bugatti
unit is about to introduce a sports car priced at more than $1 million.
o Watch makers Patek Philippe, Rolex and Breguet are selling watches priced
at more than $200,000, and limited-edition watches can now run in the millions.
o Vacation-home prices in Aspen, Martha's Vineyard, Northern California and
other elite spots have doubled in recent years. Palm Beach has become an
island of billionaires, with financier Ron Perelman recently selling his
oceanfront estate there for more than $70 million.
10 days until Christmas - 1 1/2 weeks! Are you ready? What are you doing
this year to increase business?
Today we have a profile on DCC Solutions, LLC, which will remain for
posterity at our "Members: Who Are You?" site. Tell us about your
business. Anything to do with the retail world, i.e., supplier, retailer,
consulting, etc. http://etailersdigest.com/resources/members/index.htm And
we have a form there for you to tell us about you. As I said when I first
proposed this idea, we have "known" each other for a long time, yet we
often don't know anything about each other. So, tell us who you are and
what you do.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] Dollar-Store Boom: A Nation of Bargain Hunters
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Dollar stores are hot, and not just because of the financial strains caused
by the U.S.'s uneven economic recovery. While they still rely on low-income
households for the majority of sales, some dollar-store companies are
moving up the retail food chain. In particular, they are appealing to
consumers from all income levels who want discount prices for everyday
household goods. The success of the modern five-and-dime is the latest sign
the U.S. has become a nation of bargain hunters, a shift that's causing
headaches for some traditional retailers.
Dollar General Corp., the largest dollar-store chain in the U.S., says
households with annual incomes of more than $50,000 represent its
fastest-growing market. The number of such households who shopped at its
stores between 2001 and 2004 increased 27%. By contrast, the number of
households with incomes below $50,000 increased 14%. Dollar General
declined to say what portion of sales those two groups represented.
According to a recent study from Boston Consulting Group, consumers are
dividing shopping into two categories: big-ticket items such as cars and
televisions, on which they are willing to splurge; and everyday items, such
as canned food and over-the-counter health remedies, for which they won't
pay more than discount prices.
As a result, a quarter of Americans with household incomes in excess of
$100,000 shopped at a dollar store at least once in the past six months,
according to Retail Forward, a Columbus, Ohio-based marketing and
consulting firm.
"Poor people need low prices. Wealthy people love low prices," says Todd
Hale, a senior vice president at market-information company ACNielsen Corp.
The number of dollar stores in the U.S. has tripled over the past decade to
16,000 and industry observers say there's room for more. Dollar General,
which owns 7,100 stores, plans to open 695 new stores by the end of this
year after opening 587 outlets in 2003. Wal-Mart opened only half as many
in the U.S. in the same period. Over the past five years, the annual
average U.S. sales growth for each of the three biggest dollar stores --
Dollar General, Family Dollar Stores Inc., and Dollar Tree Stores Inc. --
was higher than that of Wal-Mart.
During the same period, dollar stores have posted net profit margins of
about 4%, while Wal-Mart's have been about 3%. Wal-Mart, however, has
consistently posted profit increases, while dollar stores have occasionally
stumbled.
Details at...
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110289445928697905,00.html
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[3] What Comes After the Decade of Luxury
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We are Halfway Through the Decade of Luxury — Do You Know Where Your
Consumer Market Is Going?
Historically, the contemporary consumer marketplace is defined by macro
trends that last about a decade. The 80s was the decade of the mall with
the rapid rise and spread of enclosed shopping malls. The 90s changed all
that as the age of the discounters emerged. Today Wal-Mart controls nearly
10 percent of all money spent at retail.
In this first decade of the 21st century we are in the age of luxury, with
the baby boomers reaching the empty-nesting years and emerging as the new
luxury generation. But right now we are mid-way through the luxury decade,
and if marketers aren't already tapped into the luxury market they may be a
little late to the ‘party.’
So what comes next? The next decade (2010-2020) on the shopping horizon
will be the age of experiences. Savvy luxury marketers are getting ready
now for the paradigm shifting changes already taking shape.
Consumer strive to satisfy higher level needs — Happiness comes from doing
more, not from having more stuff
With American’s standard of living so high, consumers today are hankering
to satisfy higher level emotional needs as described by psychologist
Abraham Maslow in the hierarchy of needs. The Maslow hierarchy explains
how first people seek to satisfy their physiological needs, then safety
needs, followed by love and affection, then esteem. After all these needs
are satisfied, people strive for self-actualization, which is “the desire
to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is
capable of becoming.”
For more Americans with an excess of material goods, self-actualization
becomes the ultimate goal. Our culture as a whole is moving beyond the
pursuit of material things. In the search for more meaning, people
discover that experiences are the source of their greatest satisfaction.
Decade of luxury will result in a consumer ‘hangover’ — Consumers will seek
a cure through new experiences
Here in the middle of the decade of luxury, its inevitable end is already
beginning to take shape. By 2010 the baby boomers, the new generation of
luxury, will be 46-to-64 years old. Starting around age 55 years, people’s
shopping and buying patterns begin to change, but they make a dramatic
shift after age 65.
As they age, the boomers will inevitably express a backlash against
personal self-indulgence. The focus will turn inward toward developing
one’s inner life.
As the boomers progress from age 55 to 65 years, they will begin to drop
their previous self-indulgent ways, which gave rise to the age of luxury in
the first place, and take a more practical, pragmatic approach to
spending. They will strive for fiscal and social responsibility.
The ‘Me-Generation’ will morph into the ‘We-Generation.’ As it does, the
future focus of consuming will be inside, rather than outside, so consumer
will hanker after products, services and experiences that will develop
their mind, body, heart and soul.
The coming consumer value paradigm: How they experience
Luxury marketers who have learned the lesson of selling to consumers’
experience will be well positioned to evolve their business model into the
new age of experiences that will start to dawn around 2010 or so.
They have embraced the idea that today the goal of shopping is not about
getting more stuff, but to achieve a new kind of experience, both an
experience delivered by the product itself (fashion to deliver a ‘beauty’
experience; home furnishings to deliver a ‘comforting’ experience; dishes
and tableware to deliver an enhanced ‘dining’ experience) and an experience
delivered through shopping (the thrill of finding a bargain; the
convenience of internet shopping; the fun of exploring little boutiques for
that wonderful ‘something’ that one experiences as beauty, wonder,
fascination, or uniqueness).
But the new experience consumers will strive for is directed toward doing
good, for oneself, for one’s family, for one’s friends, social circle,
neighborhood, culture. These changes will not come about as a revolution,
so much as an evolution, which is one of the reasons why the early warning
signs may be easy to miss or ignore. But things will not keep on the same
track forever. It already is beginning to shift and we need to become
attuned to the subtle changing signs of the times.
To learn more about what comes next, order a copy of the latest Luxury
Business issue
at http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/reports2/luxury/luxury2.html
Pam Danziger,
President
Unity Marketing
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[4] DCC Solutions LLC
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DCC Solutions LLC provides outsourced Customer Care Solutions via web or
phone. Our services include answering service, customer care, order
processing, appointment setting, customer surveys, help desk, RSVP services
for conferences, up/cross selling of your product, toll free 800 numbers,
customer notification,etc.,
The benefits of using our service - grow your business! How?...Lower your
overhead cost for potential expansion, tracking of business through
efficient, customized programs. Cutting Edge Technology, Scalable Service
Platforms, Premium Data Security, Seamless Project Integration,
Professional, Dedicated team. Economical Solutions, Comprehensive Project
Training. We Are all hardworking good people.
We are located in the USA and create jobs at home. The available
technology is amazing and reasonable for small start up companies that want
to grow, or mid sized companied that want to save money by not having to
hiring staff for Customer Care. These Essentials can be Outsourced to DCC
Solutions.
We started this business because there is a need. Small and
midsized businesses will be able to grow, jobs are created where needed
and we grow our economy at home.
We market our one year old business using search engines such as
ProcureAPro.com, Vendorseek.com, Answeringservicefinder.com and via direct
sales to businesses.
The programs are all client specific and pricing is based on which services
we preform and what level training is involved, call volume, etc., Very
Scalable Platforms. Efficient.
Teaming up with DCCsolutions can help manage and grow your business in a
professional, efficient and effective way.
First visit www.dccsolutions.com and check us out. The you can call me
Bonnie Christensen direct @ 612-481-2491, or e-mail me @
bchristensen at dccsolutions.com
Bonnie Christensen
Sales Executive
DCC Solutions LLC
105 NW 2nd St.
Ortonville, MN 56278
Tel: 612-481-2491
Fax: 320-839-2095
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