ETD: 918 Be Nice; Don't go paperless; Wanted: Retailers With a
Success Story
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Tue Sep 6 13:53:49 GMT 2005
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0918 September 6, 2005
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] Be Nice
[3] Don't go paperless
[4] Wanted: Retailers With a Success Story
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
Greetings from Chicago. I'm here on business
analyzing the operations of a new client. It's
always interesting what I learn.
Today I am suggesting we apply to our websites
what we learned in kindergarten - be
nice. Change those awful messages that seem so
rude to more friendly ones that get the message across and keep people smiling.
Javilk has some comments on a paperless office. Good reading.
If you are a retailer with a success story, read
what Pam Danziger has to offer. She is writing a
new book, and is looking for retailers to
highlight. It could be some excellent promo for your business.
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] Be Nice
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An oft-used phrase is "You catch more flies with
honey than vinegar." Of course, I could never
understand why you would want to catch flies ;-)
The message is to be nice when talking to
somebody, and it also relates to Websites. Let's
look at some error messages we find online:
"Time Out. Your browser was left idle and lost connection."
"Can you please modify your search?"
"Invalid code!"
"Unknown login."
"Errors have occurred during the process of your
form. Please make the following corrections."
"Error: Phone number cannot contain dashes."
"One or more required fields were not filled out correctly. Red = invalid."
Rather than have your techies write these
messages, have somebody from marketing or maybe
your psychologist write them. More friendly messages may be...
Instead of "Error: You've been logged off due to
inactivity" how about a thoughtful favor...
"Sorry! We thought you left, so we closed
your session for your security/privacy. Please log in again!"
Rather than "speaking" in third person, use the
friendly "I" or "We" statements: "We can't find
that login" or "We can't find an exact match"
Instead of heavy-handed "Correct this" commands,
try the "Please try again" variations
Write your messages in the active voice. "One or
more required fields were not filled out
correctly" is passive. You are really saying that
the user is incompetent or an idiot. How about,
"Oops! We don't understand the zip code. Please
try again." If you get a wrong page at our site
www.gapent.com you will get this very funny and
cute message that folks get a chuckle out of.
The one that irks me is when they don't tell me
upfront that certain characters are not allowed,
i.e., If your system can't cope with something,
say so up front: "Please leave out the dashes in
your phone number" or "Please use the two-letter state abbreviation."
Use what we all learned in Kindergarten - "Be nice."
George
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[3] Don't go paperless
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> In an article distributed by Universal Press
> Syndicate, the author stated that digitalization
> may be good, but what do you do when the recorded
> output gets damaged.
>
> There is also that issue of compatibility and
> interchangeability, i.e., differing operating
> systems conflict within the same program,
> obsolescence, etc.
Burnable CDs and DVDs use an organic medium.
Fungi in Central America have shown the ability
to eat that medium in a few years. The plastic
base all CDs and DVDs use takes a little longer, but also succumb.
In addition, there are some questions whether air
pollution and other factors may degrade burnable CDs in less than 12 years.
The state or Massachusetts is threatening to drop
MS Word and MS Office in favor of public
standards Open Document format, which is used by
Linux and other tools, so that documents can be
freely stored and exchanged across platforms.
I was a great fan of Word Star. I still have many
documents in Word Star format on archival
floppies of various sizes. And the ability to
read them. The old Teletype paper tapes, 9 track
IBM tapes, and Tarbel cassette tapes of the late
1970's however... At least the punch cards have printing on them.
Paper works. The Daytimers from my college years
are still readable, even after being dropped. I
also made sure my pens were waterproof, so even
where I spilled something, the printing is not
smeared. (My handwriting on the other hand...)
However, paper is food for many things. Ever
feel icky after handling old
paper? Mites! Rash? Fungus! Rash crawling up
your arms? Mites carrying fungus.
The solution is a comprehensive document
migration plan, where all saved documents are
converted to ASCII and saved on a reasonably
stable media every year or two. And
near-obsolete media is upgraded to newer formats.
You need a plan. You have to Work the plan.
The catch is not in saving them. It is in
indexing them. Think about that. How are you
going to find them? By year? By topic? How do
you know which CD, DVD? How do you search? (It's
easier in Linux. Laughing, I write the search
scripts as I need them using grep. Easy for me!
Not so easy for one who does not know the shell;
but there are more complex tools hidden deep in menus.)
I still have the ability to read 5 1/4 floppies,
some forms of mag tape, old SCSI hard drives,
some IDE drives. Paper tape and MFM hard
drives... would be hard, but not impossible. And
I think one client still has a TRS-80.
-javilk- at mall-net.com
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[4] Wanted: Retailers With a Success Story
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Retailers, Do You Have an Exciting Story of
Success to Tell but Need a Platform?
Unity Marketing Has Two Great Opportunities to Reach a National Audience
Retailing is one of the toughest businesses
around. Yet it is also one of the most important
industry sectors in the country today. In 2004
consumers’ personal consumption accounted for 70
percent of the entire $11.735 trillion U.S.
economy. The amount shoppers spent at retail was
$3.9 trillion, making retail the single largest
industry sector in the entire U.S.
economy. Despite the industry’s enormous size,
retailers too infrequently get! a chance to
receive the recognition and kudos they deserve for all their hard work.
We have two upcoming opportunities for exciting,
dynamic, trend setting retailers to share their
stories of success. If you are one of those
retailers or you know of a retailer that has a story to tell, read on
Retailer Targeting ‘Luxury for the Masses’ Wanted
for Panel Discussion at National Retail Federation Convention January 2006
I will be moderating a panel discussion on luxury
retailing for the ‘masses’ and the ‘classes’ at
the upcoming NRF national convention, January
15-18 at Javits Center, NYC. There is an opening
for a retailer with a national stance to join the
panel to share their story of success as a
retailer of luxury for the masses. If you would
like to participate on this luxury retailing
panel or know of a retailer that might, please
email me at pam at unitymarketingonline.com or call 717-336-1600.
Do You Run a ‘Shop That Pops’ or Know of a Store that ‘Pops’?
Work on my next book, Shops That Pop: Preparing
for the Future of Retail, (to be published
September 2006 by Dearborn Trade Publishing) is
underway. And along with consumer research
focused on the future of shopping, I am looking
for retailers selling all kinds of products and
in all categories of retail that have a unique
point of view and a distinctive edge to include
in my book. I will interview each retailer and
write their story in the book.
In my previous books, I have shared profiles of
many companies and I find these profiles with
their real world perspective add so much value to
the readers. It also gives you a platform for
telling your story to a national audience. I
don’t have to tell you that I expect this third
book to be a huge hit in business circles.
Among the retailers who already have agreed to
participate in ‘Shops that Pop’ are Grand Canal
Shoppes at the Venetian, Las Vegas; Boxwoods,
Atlanta; Feast!, Charlottesville, VA; Pairie
Edge, Rapid City, SD; and Magnolia Stores. I
have others on my list, including Colonial
Williamsburg Marketplace; Apple Stores;
Antropologie; Easton Oval, Columbus, OH.
If you would like to join the above list of
cutting edge retailers, or if you know of a store
that is your personal favorite and that I should
definitely make a point to look at? If so,
please use this link
http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/reports2/shopping_retail/shop_pop.html
to nominate a ‘shop that pops’ for my next book.
Pam Danziger
President
Unity Marketing
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