By Bill Fletcher
Only if you have your head in the sand you haven’t heard that hundreds of large business are closing or downsizing the number of stores.
Today the number of business changing the way they do business has been changing. What is the marketing change that is making these changes? Online Marketing. If you haven’t shopped online you soon will be.
It’s Called The Retail Earthquake
And that was the word this week as two of the nation’s giant retailers announced to employees and shoppers the closings of dozens of stores.
Macy’s is closing 14 of its 790 stores across the country.
JCPenney is closing 39 of its stores.
Radio Shack is closing stores
Sears, Kmart, Best Buy and a host of other well established companies are finding that more and more shoppers are purchasing products online
And that’s just the beginning of the retail earthquake hitting America, many analysts are saying.
“I believe that we are on the verge of a number of business failures of specialty retailers as well as some national general retailers which in turn will have a domino effect on those dealing with the retail industry,” says bankruptcy expert Chuck Tatelbaum. “Because of the changes in buying habits of U.S. consumers, as a result of the continuing hesitancy to spend, the 2014 holiday season was not sufficiently successful for many retailers that have either over expanded, fell out of favor or had insufficient capital and merchandise.”
Major Changes To Retail Stores
The last few years have not been kind to major store chains. Many once revered brands have been closing stores. Apparently some were only staying open through the Christmas season, which will prove to be their last.
“Our business is rapidly evolving in response to changes in the way customers are shopping across stores, desktops, tablets and smartphones.” “We must continue to invest in our business to focus on where the customer is headed – to prepare for what’s next,” explained Terry Lundren, Macy’s chief executive officer
Sears has been around for 122 years, but it, too, is closing 235 under-performing stores. Sears and Kmart lost $296 million in 2014.
Sears Holdings, which has more than 1,830 Sears and Kmart stores, said in its earnings announcement that the company “expects to migrate the shopping activity of highly engaged members who previously shopped closed stores to alternative channels.”
During 2014, Sears Holdings closed about 200 of the Sears and Kmart stores.
RadioShack, which is negotiating with lenders to gain approval to shutter 1,100 stores, said last month that it closed 175 locations in 2014.
Online Shopping
Online shopping is most often cited as the major change for brick-and-mortar retail stores. Online sales now account for about 13 percent of all retail sales and is growing at a astounding rate.
With the use of the Smart Phones, Tablets and Computers shoppers can now purchase just about anything online and either pick the items up at the store or have it delivered. In some cases the retailer may even discount the item.
Think about it from a retailer’s eye. Shop online…no store up keep, overhead, employees, insurance, inventory, utilities etc. The savings is enormous. So in some cases the store can give a discount and/or free shipping.
What Is In It For You?
One company has taken the Online Shopping and added an additional intensive to the consumer…you. You can now shop online and get money back from hundreds of stores.
Imagine: you need a new Refrigerator/Freezer. You simply go online to, lets say Menards. You see the Refrigerator/Freezer for $1,800 dollars. You purchase and have it shipped to the store for pick-up. You pay for it and take it home.
Now Imagine: The same purchase but this time you get money back just for your purchase. That’s correct, you purchased online and got money back.
This is going on everyday for hundreds of people who know the secret of buying online and getting money back. Actually it’s no secret.
It is basically a membership that is FREE to join. As an option, you can add a “Paid Membership” and get even a higher percentage back..but it your option.
You need to see this trend in marketing and get a FREE membership or a VIP membership that pays more money back just for shopping.
CLICK HERE to see how this works and get a FREE membership or upgrade.
See you on the inside
