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According to a report published by National Retail Foundation (NRF) – sales recorded during November and December 2009 is up by 1.1% over the same period in 2008. This came as a surprise as most of the experts including NRF predicted that shoppers would be reluctant to spend on online retail considering the bottleneck situation due to the economic recession.

However, Online retail sales have proved everyone wrong and as ComScore Inc.’s report reveals, holiday season sales grew by 4% over the last year. NRF also reported that overall sales from the retail market were at $446.1 billion during the holiday season. Interestingly, this figure does not include sales of automobiles, gas or restaurants. Online retail sales were up from $28 billion in holiday season in 2008 to $29.1 billion in 2009. This means in the overall retail sales, Online retail contributed 6.5% as compared to 6.3% previous year. Most importantly, these figures are excluding the sales on eBay, one of the three global market leaders in online shopping. Naturally, if the sales from eBay and those seasonal web stores are included, the contribution of Online retail sales will be even more significant.

As analysts pointed out – the retailers succeeded in managing their inventories and responded well for the demands posed by online shoppers. Thanks to those freebies and various discounts offered during the holiday season – many shoppers opt to purchase online. A number of Online retailers have implemented enhanced online shopping platforms, upgraded online shopping cart with new technologies (details can be found here), and offered customers a better experience for shopping online; this wise planning returned as multiplied profits for all the retailers. Incidentally, ComScore’s report also reveals that the highest spending in a day in the history of online retailing was on 15 December 2009 – a whooping $913 million!

These stats and reports from top analysts in the world suggest only one fact – online retailing is back with a BANG! So, if your customer-base is constrained into your local market only and at the same time, you dream of a business that would keep on growing year after year, NOW is the time that you take yourself online! Otherwise – you may end up missing the bus to success!

About SOS eMarketing
SOS eMarketing creates engaging experiences for customers in the digital world. For more information about topics in this article, contact SOS eMarketing about social media, branding, integrated eMarketing, food marketing:

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David Schwartz
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Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/online-business-articles/record-holidayseason-sales-for-online-retailing-1894848.html

About the Author: Mohit Bhardwaj has been closely associated with the development of ecommerce solutions for the past 10 years.

From Mashable, author: Jennifer Van Grove - Starbucks’s Vice President of Brand, Content and Online, Chris Bruzzo, is on stage at the Mashable Media Summit and he just revealed that last year’s Free Pastry Day was a whopping success, driving more than one million people to stores.

As we noticed, activity on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook became electric on the day of the event as the free pastry news spread in digital form.

 Bruzzo’s credits fans with the idea to use social media to drive new business, and his remarks confirm that the swell of social media activity drove customers to visit Starbucks stores in droves.

Bruzzo also speaks to the success of the company’s Tax Day green initiative to get customers to bring in their own tumblers in exchange for free coffee, which — like Free Pastry Day — was primarily promoted online via their Facebook Page. Also, the company’s MyStarbucks Idea has generated more than 80,000 ideas and Bruzzo credits Product Manager Brad Nelson for helping them tap into the power of Twitter.

Right now there’s no big brand better embracing social media than Starbucks. The coffee retailer has managed to dominate on Facebook, made news as the first company to offer a nationwide Foursquare deal, and was selected to try out Twitter’s Promoted Tweets ad platform before other advertisers will have the chance.

About SOS eMarketing
SOS eMarketing creates engaging experiences for customers in the digital world. For more information about topics in this article, contact SOS eMarketing about social media, branding, integrated eMarketing, food marketing:

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Author: Rachel Barnhart– Erica Tickle and Aaron Thompson have a nickname at the office. “We’ve been called ‘Tweet and Retweet,’” Thompson said. That’s because the Wegmans Web marketing staffers helped convince the grocery store that the time was right to Twitter.

For one thing, a fan was tweeting under Wegmans name, misleading customers. “The conversations were happening, but we just weren’t there,” said Thompson. The pair also knew Twitter was gaining in popularity. “I think we just needed to get out there and dip our toe in, and see that people really love Wegmans and they like talking to us about how much they love Wegmans,” said Tickle.

“Social media, it’s where our customers are at already,” Thompson, said who happens to be married to Kodak’s Chief Blogger. Tickle and Thompson trained the Consumer Affairs Department on the ins and outs of Twitter, which limits each communication to 140 characters.

The company gets about 70,000 customer communications a year, nearly half coming as emails. Tweets, however, are a growing category.

Martha Rhoney spends most of her day responding to customer emails, but says Twitter is fun. She said it’s challenging to keep answers short. “Really looking at, taking the time, to pare down what the question is and respond, particularly respond with the type of quality, care and service that we normally would,” she said, as she tweeted to a customer that Wegmans does not carry Strawberry Chex Mix.

Wegmans has not advertised its Twitter page, as workers get more familiar with the medium. Shoppers, though, have quickly found the site since it launched in August. “What’s neat about Twitter is customers will ask us questions while they’re shopping, if they’re missing something or they’d like to know if we carry a product, or they’d like to give us feedback,” said Tickle. Many tweets ask for Wegmans to build stores in their cities.

Eight employees are authorized to use Wegmans’ Twitter account, each specializing in different areas of the company. The company uses a program called “Co-Tweet,” which allows the staffers to assign tweets to each other based on subject matter. Wegmans estimates the group collectively spends about an hour a day communicating with customers on Twitter.

CEO Danny Wegman is not among the company tweeters, but Tickle revealed he has an anonymous account. “He is following us, but not as Danny Wegman,” she said. Next up for Wegmans? A Facebook page is in the works.

About SOS eMarketing
SOS eMarketing creates engaging experiences for customers in the digital world. For more information about topics in this article, contact SOS eMarketing about social media, branding, integrated eMarketing, food marketing:

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Article Link: http://www.13wham.com/news/local/story/Wegmans-Puts-Together-Twitter-Team/VOElHzTCA0y78ZWeUwmoLA.cspx

Author link: RACHELBARNHART@13wham.com

About Wegmans: Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is a family-owned U.S. regional supermarket chain with more than 75 stores spread across the mid-Atlantic region, including New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland. Founded in 1916 in Rochester, NY, Wegmans has appeared on Fortune’s annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list since its inception in 1998, and has ranked among the top 10 for eight consecutive years. Food Network recognized it with its award for Best Grocery Store in 2007, and Consumer Reports ranked it the top large grocery chain in the United States in 2009.

Fresh & Easy is having its customers share their wine tasting experience as a Twitter social media event.

Here’s how it works: Customers must come into Fresh & Easy to buy their wines, many of which are on sale and are Fresh & Easy private label items. As part of the promotion, Fresh & Easy is also offering other, selected store items for sale.

The Twitter wine tasting promotion is a way to leverage and increase sales during the promotion period and engage their customers with the brand in social media. The Freshy & Easy wine tasting event has shown promising results and is a unique way to drive customer traffic to the stores as well as align its high value customers with its brand.

About SOS eMarketing
SOS eMarketing creates engaging experiences for customers in the digital world. For more information about topics in this article, contact SOS eMarketing about social media, branding, integrated eMarketing, food marketing:

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By

TJ’s Fan-Generated Campaign Results Metrics
517,212 Unofficial YouTube Commercial Views
129,137 Facebook Fans
Over 5,000 Facebook Groups
20,781 Flickr Photos
2,349 Ning Forum Comments

Why It Works
Trader Joe’s is a company that grew almost entirely from word-of-mouth. Historically, the best word-of-mouth takes place simply because it’s an incredible product or service. No one needs help from the brand itself to talk about the product. TJ’s is just that – an incredible product that people are willing to evangelize. Thus, the social media marketing is entirely in the hands of TJ fans, which is the most uncontrollable, yet rewarding place to be for a brand. Not to mention, free.

How To Replicate
This is a very simple case study. To replicate TJ’s entirely user-generated campaign, just be an incredible brand. A brand that constantly overdelivers and exceeds expectations. Do this consistently, and you will create loyal fans. Another way to replicate TJ’s unconscious success is to just talk and follow your customers. By constantly engaging in conversation, you will remind them that your brand is out there and that’s enough to encourage them to evangelize your products. It’s true, Gen Yer’s have short attention spans.

About SOS eMarketing
SOS eMarketing creates engaging experiences for customers in the digital world. For more information about topics in this article, contact SOS eMarketing about social media, branding, integrated eMarketing, food marketing:

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The road to success for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has been a series of excellent business decisions coupled with right-place-right-time social policies. The Green Mountain label stands for excellent coffee combined with a mission to make a difference in the world. That mission imbues everything that the company does, from sourcing their coffees to point of sale and beyond – the company even uses recycled/recyclable packaging materials. Mission and social responsibility aside, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters owes its success to one factor – the amazing flavor.

Socially conscious Newman's Own Coffee is produced and distributed by Green Mountain Coffee

The Green Mountain brand is built on high quality specialty coffees. The company began as a small café in Vermont, with a commitment to serving specialty coffees roasted on premises. It wasn’t long before restaurants and shops in town started asking to serve Green Mountain’s coffee. When skiers who had tried Green Mountain’s specialty coffees while on vacation started asking if they could order coffee and have it sent to their homes, the company added its mail

order business, and things just grew from there. These days, you can buy Green Mountain Roasters specialty coffees in your supermarket or order it online, sign up for Café Express to have Green Mountain coffee delivered to you automatically, drink Green Mountain coffee at many of your favorite restaurants, and buy Green Mountain coffee pre-packed into Keurig K-cups – Green Mountain sells the most varieties of coffees in K-cups of any of the Keurig partners.

The connection with Keurig is not the first strategic market placement decision that’s paid off for Green Mountain. Many avid fans got their first taste of Green Mountain’s specialty roasts at a most unexpected place – local convenience stores like 7-11 and Store 24, Gas-n-Go shops and other on-the-run coffee pickup spots where the last thing you expect is excellent coffee. As the various convenience stores have expanded their repertoire to include self-service coffee bars – and the technology for making good coffee has improved – Green Mountain has often been the coffee served.

Who Is Green Mountain Coffee Roasters?

Why not ask the company themselves? According to their press releases:

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters was ranked No. 1 on the list of “100 Best Corporate Citizens” in 2006 and 2007, and has been recognized repeatedly by Forbes, Fortune Small Business, and the Society of Human Resource Management as an innovative, high-growth, socially responsible company.

Is the coffee really as good as all that? With the fastest growing sales in the industry, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters stands by quality as a watchword. They send coffee sourcers throughout the world to taste and test the crops at coffee plantations in Africa, Asia and South America, bringing back the best that they find. Unlike the biggest chains that must be able to buy in large enough volume to supply hundreds or thousands of stores with any variety they choose, Green Mountain has no issues with selling limited edition coffees, often as single origin coffees.

Green Mountain Coffee Sourcing

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is also popular with “socially conscious” consumers who love the company’s environmentally and community-friendly policies. The company makes every attempt to source directly from growers around the world, and is one of the leading buyers in the Fair Trade coffee market. Green Mountain buyers work directly with coffee growers whenever possible. It is their commitment to high quality coffee and improving the world that has spurred the roasting company’s success.

Favorite Green Mountain Coffee Blends

If you’ve never tried Green Mountain Coffee, one of the best ways to get a real feel for the brand’s variety of flavors is to order one of the company’s variety samplers. If you’d rather pick and choose your own sampler pack, here’s a list of all-time favorite Green Mountain Coffee Blends.

Breakfast Blend – The #1 all time favorite and best seller, lighter roast, rich taste and medium acidity

Nantucket Blend – Exotic blend, full-bodied with a hint of floral and fruit, bright acidity and complex flavor

Dark Magic – An extra bold dark roast specially blended and roasted for espresso

Wild Mountain Blueberry – Seasonal flavored coffee that has become one of Green Mountain’s most popular coffees ever

About SOS eMarketing
SOS eMarketing creates engaging experiences for customers in the digital world. For more information about topics in this article, contact SOS eMarketing about design, branding, integrated eMarketing, food marketing, coffee marketing, luxury marketing, email marketing, social network marketing:

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Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/coffee-articles/what-is-green-mountain-coffee-475882.html

About the Author
Stephanie Larkin is a freelance writer who writes about topics pertaining to the food and beverage industry such as Green Mountain Coffee

Author:

The modern movement reintroduced simple efficiency and originality to the home furnishings marketplace, and innovation to home decor. Modernist design schools like Bauhaus and Werkbund revolutionized home furniture. By investing in the creativity of their artists along with modernist philosophies, the introduction of advanced manufacturing methods and new materials for home furnishings design emerged.

Many of the original modern furniture designs are still popular today, like the Eames Chair, the Barcelona Chair, the Wassily Chair and many others. This article presents the classic modern furniture pieces that are still popular today.

The Wassily Chair, also known as the Model B3 chair, was designed by Marcel Breuer in 1925-26 while he was the head of the cabinet-making workshop at the Bauhaus, in Dessau, Germany. Despite popular belief, the chair was not designed for the non-objective painter Wassily Kandinsky, who was concurrently on the Bauhaus faculty. However, Kandinsky had admired the completed design, and Breuer fabricated a duplicate for Kandinsky’s personal quarters. The chair became known as “Wassily” decades later, when it was re-released by an Italian manufacturer named Gavina who had learned of the anecdotal Kandinsky connection in the course of its research on the chair’s origins.

This chair was revolutionary in the use of the materials (bent tubular steel and canvas) and methods of manufacturing. It is said that the handlebar of Breuer’s ‘Adler’ bicycle inspired him to use steel tubing to build the chair.

The Wassily chair, like many other designs of the modernist movement, has been mass-produced since the late 1920s, and continuously in production since the 1950s

View more classic furniture at: Visitor Parking Showroom

The Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman, correctly titled Eames Lounge and Ottoman, were released in 1956 after years of development by designers Charles and Ray Eames for the Herman Miller furniture company. It was the first chair the Eames designed for a high-end market. These furnishings are made of molded plywood and leather. Examples of these furnishings are part of the permanent collection of New York’s Museum Of Modern Art.

The chair is composed of three curved plywood shells. In modern production the shells are made up of seven thin layers of wood veneer glued together and shaped under heat and pressure. This differentiates the newer chairs from the “original” (vintage) chairs which used Brazilian rosewood veneers and were constructed of five layers of plywood. Also differentiating the very earliest sets from newer sets were rubber spacers between the aluminum spines and the wood panels first used in the earliest production models and then hard plastic washers used in later versions. In the earlier sets, the zipper around the cushions may have been brown or black as well, and in newer sets the zippers are black. The shells and the seat cushions are essentially the same shape: composed of two curved forms interlocking to form a solid mass. The chair back and headrest are identical in proportion, as are the seat and the Ottoman.

Mies van der Rohe Barcelona Chair. Perhaps the most famous of all modern chairs, the Barcelona Chair by Mies van der Rohe is a ubiquitous and unmistakable classic of modern design.

German-born American Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created the Barcelona Chair for the German Pavilion in 1929 for the Barcelona Exposition. While some have tried to mimick the sleek silhouette and structure of the Barcelona Chair, Mies van der Rohe gave the exclusive manufacturing rights for his design to Knoll in 1953.

The Barcelona Chair and matching ottoman feature carefully hand-tufted leather with hand-buffed frame and carefully welted Spinneybeck volo cowhide panels. The Barcelona Chair is meticulously hand-crafted from start to finish and is truly a modern masterpiece. The Barcelona Lounge Collection was honored with The Museum of Modern Art Award in 1977.

Mies van der Rohe’s revolutionary 1929 design is still relevant today, fitting seamlessly with almost any decor. The Barcelona chair and ottoman set is a modern must-have. Today Knoll manufactures the frame in two different steel configurations, chrome and stainless. The chair is almost completely hand-laboured. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s signature is stamped into each chair.

View more classic furniture at:Visitor Parking Showroom

Want to learn more about the modern design movement?

Check out these great books and magazines about modern furniture & design:

A History of Modern Design: Graphics and Products Since the Industrial Revolution by: David Raizman
This book is a beautifully illustrated documentation of the history of the modern design movement and includes everything from modern furniture to modern fashion and advertising.

Twentieth-Century Design (Oxford History of Art) by: Jonathan M. Woodham
This is a very thorough and well-presented history of modern furniture design by Oxford History of Art – an essential for any modern design library.

The Eames Lounge Chair: An Icon of Modern Design by: Martin Eidelberg, Thomas Hine, Pat Kirkham, David A. Hanks, C. Ford Peatross
The Eames Lounge Chair is a classic and this book commemorates its 50th anniversary with appropriate style and attention to detail.

Sourcebook of Modern Furniture, Third Edition by: Jerryll Habegger, Joseph H. Osman
A great resource and review of modern designers and architects.

Dwell
Dwell is the greatest magazine for staying up-to-date on modern design and architecture trends.

About SOS eMarketing
SOS eMarketing creates engaging experiences for customers in the digital world. For more information about topics in this article, contact SOS eMarketing about design, branding, integrated eMarketing, food marketing, coffee marketing, luxury marketing, email marketing, social network marketing:

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The people who run your social media marketing campaigns and what they post on a day-to-day basis say everything about your company to your customers, business partners and competitors.

Social media is different than traditional marketing and requires a mixed set of professional skills including marketing, PR, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, brand management and IT.

Successful social media marketing campaigns, including those by Target, Starbucks and Whole Foods Market, are implemented by those who know the fine art of writing engaging posts and blogs that are a mix of humor, information, marketing/brand messaging and motivating sales promotions.

No one department or discipline covers the full scope of the communications skills needed for a successful social media implementation: Public relations works with short term promotional themes and events, IT delivers internet tools, marketing is a planning function and sales is focused on the bottom line.

A recent study by the University of Southern California Strategic Communication & Public Relations Center found that 25% of CEO’s and COO’s put PR in charge of social media. The study also found that other CEO’s are starting to either set up separate social media marketing groups or outsource their social media marketing to qualified consultants to manage social media activities, including ROI reporting and that these groups, made up of creative writers and art directors get input from all departments.

Whoever takes control of social media for your organization, needs to understand your brand, marketing and sales objectives and the level of commitment involved in it. It’s not a fad and it certainly isn’t just for the younger generation.

Social media is, however, an initiative that can (when professionally strategized and executed) yield results, improvements, and satisfied consumers. There’s no question that social media is becoming the glue that bonds departments, messages, brands and consumers together.

About SOS eMarketing
SOS eMarketing creates engaging experiences for customers in the digital world. For more information about topics in this article, contact SOS eMarketing about integrated eMarketing, food marketing, coffee marketing, luxury marketing, email marketing, social network marketing:

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Author: Pete Brand

Simply adding a tactic will never be a long term solution!

I want to make sure I don’t come across the wrong way. I am not saying I have all the solutions or that people who are experiencing declining sales are doing so because they don’t know what they are doing. I know we are in the midst of the worst economic conditions of all time and we are unfortunately all a victim of these circumstances. I personally look at difficult financial times as an excellent opportunity for the cream to rise to the top.

The best companies, and not necessarily the biggest, will thrive in a challenging market.

It certainly doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that when companies and individuals are watching every dollar they spend, they’ll only choose to spend money with a company they trust can deliver on the promises they are making. The days of a company hiding behind it’s size and people believing they are too big to go under are over. Companies are no longer given instant credibility due to their size. Heck, it appears as though the large companies are the ones that are run horribly and inefficiently and are teetering on the verge of ending.

Smaller companies who specialize in small niche areas and focus on delivering results are the companies that will not only survive, but will thrive in ANY economic condition.

You may be saying, “That all sounds great, but my company IS delivering results, and our sales numbers are steadily declining. Why isn’t this specialization working for me?”

My response to that is, “Are you telling as many people as you can, and providing proof?”

The Internet is causing consumers to be more critical since they are exposed to so much information online. They can get the entire scoop on a company and its products within a few minutes of “Googling” online. When the Internet initially emerged I believe companies struggled with how to do business online, while still maintaining that “personal touch.” Well that’s all changed now with the introduction of web 2.0 technologies. Everywhere you look you see blogs, videos, online seminars and Social media like Facebook, Twitter, and myspace.

If a consumer is thinking about doing business with your company chances are they’ll begin their intelligence gathering mission online. Can they find anything about your company? If not, you have probably disqualified yourself from the running. If they are finding information about you, is that information painting the picture of your organization that you’d like? If not, you need to TAKE CONTROL NOW!

You need to earn a company’s trust and prove to them you are worthy of that trust. It isn’t about selling anymore; it is about proving you are worth doing business with.

What are you doing to prove your worth? Do you have a Facebook Fan Page for your company where you share successes you’ve helped your clients achieve? Do you “Twitter” and share new articles you’ve published that showcase your depth of knowledge and prove you are worthy of your prospective client’s trust?

Social media is no longer simply a tool your kids use to monopolize your family computer.

Companies are using social media sites and social media tools like blogs and video sharing to build “social proof” that shows they can deliver on the promises they are making in the marketplace. These companies are utilizing these mechanisms to provide “value added service” through education to these prospective clients. These strategies help develop friendships with these prospects before a transaction has been made.

Think about it. If you were making the decision between the following two finalists …

The first company is only five years old, very small and specialized, but is highly visible on Facebook and Twitter. Plus you’ve read blog entries and seen videos online with companies JUST LIKE YOU who were looking to achieve the EXACT SAME RESULTS you are looking to achieve. The CEO’s of these companies were in the videos giving their endorsement and applauding the level of work.

The second company is the largest company in the industry, has the most tenure, and has complete top of mind awareness when you think of the problem you are looking to solve. The difference is when you went online to search, their website told you all about their history, their products, and what an excellent management team they had. Sure, they had a few testimonials sprinkled throughout their site, but they only used first names and a letter representing their last name. They also didn’t have any pictures representing this person, nor the industry or company they were affiliated with.

Which company would you choose? You may be one of the “old schoolers” who still believe the largest company that’s been around for decades is still the top contender for your business. I am thinking your stance on this issue is rapidly changing as you watch HUGE COMPANY after HUGE COMPANY close their doors. Today being big isn’t always better.

Companies that use the Internet as a tool to better understand their buyers and to deliver more value than they are paying for, will WIN. Companies that use social media to build trust and develop deep relationships with their customers will be the giants of tomorrow.

About SOS eMarketing
SOS eMarketing Creates Engaging Experiences for Customers in the Digital World. For more information about topics in this article, contact SOS eMarketing about integrated eMarketing, food marketing, coffee marketing, luxury marketing, email marketing, social network marketing:

SOS eMarketing
David Schwartz
760.345.5069
sosemarketing@gmail.com
Visit SOS eMarketing on Facebook and Twitter