U.K. department store ad surprisingly emotional -- and effective

I admit it: I’m a sucker for sentimental TV advertising. I can still tear up at the memory of an old Hallmark commercial that involved an elderly teacher and a former student. Over in the United Kingdom, the big buzz is about the new commercial for department store retailer John Lewis. Many British TV critics are saying it packs more of an emotional punch than any of the current televised dramas.

The ad condensifies a woman’s entire life into 90 seconds (well, almost entire -- she is silver-haired with grandchildren at the end). It’s simple, but masterfully done. Everything works. The only audio is a reworking of Billy Joel’s “Always a Woman to Me, ” sung by British indie artist Fyfe Dangerfield.

The message is one that resonates in today’s uncertain world: Life is full of unexpected turns, and it goes by fast. Buy reliable, quality goods that will stand the test of time.

Watch it here.

Shopping Vicariously: Hauls on YouTube

Want to find out what teens are buying these days? Just go to YouTube and search the word “hauls.” And then just click on one of the videos that come up on the right. (Or you can just click above or on the links at the end of this posting.)

Anyway, I have to admit that I had never heard of a haul until yesterday morning when my favorite DJ (Elvis Duran on Z100, just for the record) started talking about it. Here’s the scoop: A haul is basically a video diary in which a young consumer (typically a teen girl) details every single purchase she has made in her most recent shopping trip, showing off the items to the world courtesy of her trusty Web camera. What’s amazing is how confident most of these girls are about passing judgment on products and brands.

The haul videos have developed into a major YouTube sensation, with more than 100,000 such videos already uploaded on the site. The most popular haul diarists (or “vloggers” as they call themselves) have devoted followings and their videos get hundreds of thousands of hits. All this has not escaped the attention of savvy makeup and clothing marketers, who are showering the most popular vloggers with lucrative product deals and sponsorships. Not a bad way to earn some extra cash -- it sure beats flipping burgers.

To watch some hauls, click any of the three links below:

Black Friday haul
Victoria's Secret Makeup Haul & Review
Another Forever21 haul

A Record Day

One of my favorite retail-related holidays is fast upon us: Saturday, April 17, is Record Store Day. It’s a celebration of all-things vinyl, created a few years back by independent music store owners.

I feel sad for today’s music-loving kids and teens, the majority of whom buy their music online. Sure, it’s quick and convenient. But it doesn’t come close to the fun of browsing through bins of records in small, dusty stores -- I’m talking pre-Tower and pre-Virgin here -- adorned with posters of cool bands and packed with racks of magazines devoted to the same. Such places, while quite rare, still exist, particularly here in New York City. One of the best is Rebel Rock, 319 Bleecker St.

Just to let everyone know, my all-time favorite record store was a no-frills spot on the corner of Broad Street in downtown Elizabeth, N.J., called Vogel’s. It was a small store, probably no more than 1,500 sq. ft., with a shopworn look to it. But when I was growing up, I thought it was the hippest store around. My friends and I would take turns begging our parents to drive us there on the weekends. Vogel’s was known for having the very latest releases (particularly from the British bands that we so adored). No one else came close.

On some Saturdays, Vogel’s was so crowded that we actually had to wait in line outside get in. We didn’t mind. It only added to the excitement -- and to the store’s lure. My godson laughs when I tell him these stories. He downloads the latest release within seconds. So do I for that matter.

I’ve been to some great stores over the years, in some pretty exotic places too. But none of them can conjure up the same feelings and magic as Vogel’s.

What store does it for you?

Designers fashion a Barbie dream house

Barbie Shanghai took the top honors in Chain Store Age’s annual Retail Store of the Year design competition, where it was honored as best of show. I had the chance to chat with the designers of the store -- Hayes and James Slade of Slade Architecture in New York City -- at our recent SPECS show in Orlando, Fla. Here are the highlights ...

January’s post-holiday bump

In a bit of welcome news for retailers, January same-store sales rose 3.3% compared with the 2.5% that analysts had forecast. Gift-card spending and post-holiday sales helped fuel the rise, particularly in teen apparel.

Many industry experts and analysts question whether retailers will be able to sustain the momentum going forward, especially if unemployment remains high. I say, give retailers one day to celebrate some good news before worrying about what February and March will bring.

Meanwhile, here’s my take on some of today’s results:

• Among the biggest surprises -- and winners -- in January was Abercrombie & Fitch, which posted an 8% rise in same-store sales. Forecasts had called for a decline of 8.6%. The news prompted a friend to call me: “Abercrombie is back,” he said. I’m not convinced -- at least not yet. One month does not make a turnaround. I think at least part of A&F’s January sales gain had to do with holiday gift-card redemptions. It will be interesting to see how the chain fares this spring. However, A&F’s results do make one thing clear: Teens are among the most fickle consumers out there.
  

• Another big surprise was The Buckle, which posted a 1.2% decline. Analysts were looking for a 4.1% gain. The Buckle has been an exceptionally strong performer throughout the downturn. Unlike a lot of other retailers, it was going up against a strong performance from last January.

• Hot Topic is no longer benefiting from the “Twilight” phenomena. The teen retailer, which has been struggling for the past few months, posted a 13.1% drop in January.

• Luxury is rebounding. Both Nordstrom and Saks had strong gains that were markedly better than Wall Street expectations,

• Kohl’s continue to shine. It had a 6.5% gain in January sales compared with the 2.8% uptick Wall Street predicted.

• Don’t count department stores out -- at least not yet. Macy’s posted a 3.4% sales increase in January. The retailer’s January sales rose to $1.25 billion.

• Value remains key. TJX had a double-digit gain in same-store sales. Ross Stores posted an 8% increase.

Wanted: Borders CEO -- Again

The big news this week is the sudden departure of Ron Marshall from Borders, which leaves the struggling bookseller forced to find another chief executive for the fourth time in five years.

When Marshall arrived at Borders last January, he was billed as a “turnaround expert.” But so far as I can tell, he did little to turn the chain around. Sure, he is credited with spearheading operational improvements (read: cost cuts) to drive increased cash flow and reduce debt. But cost-cutting, as many retailers are sure to learn in the coming months, can only get a chain so far. Marshall seemed to have a blind eye when it came to improving or defining the Borders brand and in-store experience. Improving a company’s cash flow without giving equal attention to improving its traffic flow is folly in the long run. Look at the numbers: Borders has reported three consecutive quarterly losses, and crucial holiday same-store sales dropped 14.6%.

On a macro-level, Borders’ struggle is indicative of a trend that has befallen Circuit City and other big-box specialty retailers: In today’s super-competitive environment where shoppers have so many shopping choices, there may only be room for one national brick-and-mortar big-box player in any particular category. Barnes & Noble has outplayed Borders in nearly every way. Sure, it’s had some rough sailing during the recession. But it is a rock of stability compared with Borders.

As for Ron Marshall, amazingly, he has already landed a new gig: He will report to duty as CEO of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (A&P) on Feb. 8. In some ways, he is jumping from the frying pan into the fire. The supermarket operator has been losing money since June 2008.

In the eye of retail: Holiday takeaways

One of my favorite sources is Retail Eye Partners, an independent equity research and consulting firm, which, among other things, offers up a real-time pulse on the consumer and the performance of specific retailers and brands. The company also has a consumer panel of 400 women that it surveys every month.

Here are the big takeaways from Retail Eye’s latest consumer panel (the comments in blue are from the firm’s principals, Lisa Walters and Sapna Shah):

• Shoppers spent more than they planned to on holiday gifts, so spending rebounded above 2008 levels, likely to have a very positive impact on December sales for most retailers. (We suspect that great deals in stores and online helped to boost spending and consumers ended up doing a little self purchasing as well, given they were able to stretch their budgets further given better-than-expected discounting by retailers.)
• While shoppers didn’t buy for more recipients, they did spend more on each gift. (Again, we believe that hard-to-pass-up pricing and doorbusters made shoppers want to spend.)
• Consumer electronics and gift cards were still hot this year, and gift-card purchasing rose to 2007 levels. (Our store checks show that CE was strong all month long with almost half of our panel buying at least one CE item as a gift this year, and shoppers favoring strong pricing at mass merchants over consumer electronics stores.)
• Mass merchants, off-price and online were the biggest channels that shoppers looked to for holiday buying. (Similar to what we saw for Black Friday, value-oriented retailers continued to have the best traffic and selling across each region of the United States.)
  

On the all-important teen front, the firm made the following observations:

• Teens received fewer gifts this year, with cash, gift cards, apparel and consumer electronics being the most popular gifts.
• Uggs are still hot -- 30% of our teen panel said they received Uggs boots, slippers or shoes this year.
• Most teens received gift cards this year, but haven’t spent the bulk of them yet. (We believe many are saving them for apparel and other purchasing later in the spring. As a result, we expect to see slow sales trends for most teen retailers until mid-first quarter.)