As you can see, I did 9 info bits.... I know that as a new venture, we were only required to do 5 but I just kept finding relevant articles etc.
Just pick the best 5 I guess?
Thanks!
Friday 2 December 2011
Monday 28 November 2011
Temporary Workforce This Holiday Season
Check it out!
This shows a number of vital statistics related to the temporary workforce in retail that is needed during the holiday season. The stats are from the U.S retail industry, but I can't imagine that ours are that far off by comparison. It is still interesting to see since His Man Friday may one day expand to the U.S.
Some of the ones that I found most shocking and crucial were:
- The 2010 holiday season represented 19% of all retail sales.
- American retailers will hire between 480,000 and 500,000 temporary employees
- 30% of companies plan to integrate some of their new hires to permanent staff
The holiday season is vital for any retail company to utilize. His Man Friday will be no different. We will make sure we are staffed and ready for the holiday seasons. This is also a great time to find talented staff that we may want to keep on full-time after the temporary season... recruitment is always important, and to His Man Friday, our staff is key! So we have to snag the good employees when we can. Temporary staffing may be a great opportunity for this.
According to the marketing firm Ogilvy and Mather, half of tablet owners use them for online purchases. This is backed up by President and CEO of eBay, John Donahoe.
This is HUGE! It shows the increase in customer need for convenience, efficiency and accessibility. Therefore, His Man Friday MUST have e-commerce available to all our customers. This may mean an increase in credit sales and decrease in cash sales, as our customers will often choose to purchase online with their tablet as opposed to coming into the store. Since His Man Friday is trying to sell an experience to compliment our products, this increase in e-commerce use could be negative for us. We will have to use the website to draw customers into our store - for example, "25% off in store only!" or "Giveaways in store today" etc.. By offering in store promotions, we can encourage our tablet friendly customer base to get off their butts and come to our store!
Profit Sharing!
Traffic was nutty this morning! 7am traffic is always hectic, but since the downtown c-train service was shut down, I guess EVERYONE decided to drive to work this morning. Great....
The silver lining was that I heard about Servus Credit Union's profit sharing program on the radio (X92.9 of course... what else is there?) Apparently, Servus paid their members $44.3 million in the annual profit sharing program for 2011. It's so much money that I just typed out the word 'million' instinctively, instead of a bunch of zeros. Split among their 390,000 members, that's about $113 each. Not too bad...
This peaked my interest not only because I heard $44.3 million, but also because it made me think of how bought in their customers must be. Profit sharing isn't as popular as it should be. Giving your customers a piece of the pie creates such a loyal customer base that will refer their friends to join, and come to you with all their relative needs. It leverages some of the success on the people, which in turn creates satisfied customers who feel like they are part of something. Then, on top of all that, they get financially rewarded! We have to integrate a profit sharing program into His Man Friday! In order to do so, we would have to have some form of membership to keep track of who our members are. Maybe we could look at compensating them based on the amount they purchased in that year. For example, if Bro Montana purchased $3500 of product from HMF in that year, he would be compensated more than Brian Broseff, who only spent $100. It would operate on a share system. The more you spend, the more profits are shared with you... One issue I see with this is how to communicate it SIMPLY with our customers and potential customers. Often with a program that isn't ridiculously simple, customers get confused and end up misunderstanding it. This results in confusion and turned off customers, who communicate the wrong message about our program to their friends, and so on...
K.I.S.S - Keep It Simple Stupid!!!
That's my rant and Info Bit for today..
Friday 25 November 2011
Gift Cards!
According to BIGresearch and the National Retail Federation, more than 8 in 10 consumers are planning to give gift cards this holiday season.
"Americans are expected to spend an average of $155.43 on gift cards this year" - Retailpro.com. Up $10 from last year.
With the obvious advantages of practicality and convenience, gift cards give recipients the ability to buy exactly what they want.
I see this increase in gift card purchases to be a trend that will continue in the future, With the access to e-gift cards now, I believe the choice of gift cards as gifts will only grow. With that said, His Man Friday will have to push their gift cards in the holiday season. Especially knowing that over 30% of gift cards don't even get used - His Man Friday can really cash in!
Walmart Begins Selling Square Processor
The relatively new retail point of purchase solution called Square, is now being sold in Walmart. It is designed to be used by small retailers who don't want to invest in expensive point-of-sale setups that include computers, monitors, Moneris systems, etc...
With this new Square technology, customers will be able to attach this Square processing machine to their smartphone through the headphone jack. This will allow them to use their smartphone to complete their credit card purchase. The retailer is charged a 2.75% service fee when customers use this machine, but it seems well worth it considering the costs of alternative point-of-sale setups.
This creates competition for wireless Moneris systems that are used today in restaurants and retail stores. The costs to the retailer are lower, and this has the potential to be used in service oriented businesses. Home service companies - roofing, cleaning, maintenance, etc could all use this machine to process credit card payments at their customers' homes as opposed to being paid by cheque or cash. It is a great alternative and I believe this could one day replace cheques.
Maybe His Man Friday could use this instead of having a cashier desk? Or maybe use it as a supplementary system along with the cashier desk?
Saturday 5 November 2011
Another Male Contraceptive Possibility
I came across another article for male contraceptive solutions. This one is in pill form, and has been inspired by the effects of marijuana on the male reproductive system. Apparently, when males consume marijuana, it lowers the pH in the testes which in turn decreases their fertility. With this knowledge, they have found a way to encapsulate a similar chemical that can alter the pH in the testes - thus temporarily decreasing male fertility.
Again, this is interesting for a business like His Man Friday because it opens the door to more product sales. Specifically, ones that males would most likely want to purchase secretively.
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