Following the recent holiday rush, I’m counting on retailers to have taken the month of January to fine tune or even overhaul entirely their smartphone and tablet offerings and marketing strategies for this occasion. Luxury brands such as Swarovski and David Yurman are pulling out all the stops to entice us to indulge our loved ones next week. In the process, these brands are raising the bar for the smartphone and tablet experiences that all retailers provide their customers.

Among online shoppers who plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, almost half (46%) own a smartphone, and almost one in five (17%) own a tablet device. Not surprisingly, quite a few of these online shoppers will be using these devices as part of their shopping process:

• One quarter of smartphone owners expect to research products and compare products on their phone, and about one in ten figure they’ll purchase products and redeem coupons. Of course, the smartphone shines as the go-to reference for anyone, well, on the go, so one in five will be looking up retailer information such as location, store hours, and the like. Lacoste has found that close to half of their store locator visits originate with mobile devices, which, they add, is aided by integrating social media on every mobile page.
• One-third of tablet device owners will research products and compare prices, and one in five anticipates actually purchasing their gifts on the device, as well as looking up information about the retailer.

If you think your mobile strategies - one for mobile and another for tablet devices, of course - could use some revamping, start planning now for upcoming retail holidays to test various elements and tactics. Easter this year is April 8 – only 8 weeks away – with Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and all-important Back to School in rapid succession thereafter. Agile retailers – whether they’re your direct competitors or not – are only continuing to invest for yet better customer experiences. Survey other retail mobile sites and apps and resolve to learn, test and fine tune. Analyze what each device is really good for – and thus what your goals are for each. While some goals may overlap, we were surprised last year when retailers we surveyed told us that, at the time, their objectives for these two very different devices were largely the same.

For some terrific ideas on optimizing your tablet format, you can learn some useful tips from Resource Interactive’s tablet design expert Stephen Burke, who recently spoke at the Shop.org First Look Track. His observations are critical to sharpen the tablet experience for your customers. Enjoy the mobile ride this year!

For perspective, Eisenberg gave the audience a “super duper condensed history of marketing, commerce and connectivity”, first juxtaposing images of a Roman coin with a credit card and payment by phone (my, how far we’ve come). The logistics and communications evolution has been rapidly evolving, too, of course – think of the path from the Gutenberg press to catalog retail to Amazon’s first home page, through online ads and social media, for example.

With this condensed history in mind, Eisenberg examined how marketing has been redefined. With increasingly demanding consumers, marketing is now much more about pull than old-style marketing push. Some companies such as Amazon and Zappos are foregoing classic marketing altogether, instead making an optimal customer experience their marketing strategy and plan instead (talk about culture convergence).

So, if this means “the end of business as usual”, what’s ahead for retailers? Eisenberg cited a number of evolutions that retailers need to keep an eye on, but the overarching theme is “Interactive Communications + Data = Increase in Relevance”. Eisenberg detailed what the future shopping experience might look like:

• Smartphones will synch up with a set top box in your house. The point here is expressly about utility – it is not about having hundreds of channels to choose from. Rather, the set top box knows what we like, as well as what we actually use and need.
• Webcams that give consumers “touch and shop” functionality, especially as webcams themselves become more sophisticated.
• “How will you MS Kinect?” Eisenberg asked the audience, then demonstrated the “connect and share” scenario of two friends simultaneously in front of their screens at home, trying on and discussing various dresses for an upcoming evening out.
• Paper ads going interactive. Eisenberg demonstrated how “all media is digitizing” with a video of an I-Ad in magazines, whereby the reader places his smart phone on top of a specific spot on the magazine ad (in this case for insurance company Axa), at which point part of the ad comes to life via a rather entertaining video. (“Think [also] about kids who try to use touch screen motion on a paper magazine,” Eisenberg added, underscoring the idea that future consumers will likely ignore entire a static ad, altogether.)
• Mobile. Already impacting the online retail world, Eisenberg emphasized that mobile is all about relevance to the individual user. “It doesn’t matter if mobile isn’t driving revenue directly,” he noted, adding “Up to 50% of all purchases in a store are influenced by a mobile phone. [And] 65% of mobile consumers say they want to see more personalized ads.” As for those in-store searches consumers conduct, Eisenberg asked retailers if they’re leveraging the search data that people are using when they’re in one’s store? Think of the nuggets and insights waiting to be discovered so that you can learn and adapt store offerings and information to meet customer needs that they’re voicing via search. “The truth is inevitable,” he stated emphatically, “You can’t block information or access in-store without people just leaving your store and going elsewhere.”

So what should retailers do next? Eisenberg lamented that, “the future is almost here” – and yet so many companies are in “wait and see” mode, wondering whether they should test or not, should they start a mobile strategy or not, dive into analytics or not?  Instead, take a hint from Google, which is already operating in “future state” mode: “We can suggest what you should do next, what you care about. Imagine: we know where you are, we know what you like.” (Eric Schmidt’s IFA Keynote, September 2010)

Per Eisenberg, here’s what retailers need to be doing right now:

• Think cross-channel. Consumers don’t care about channels, so forget channel vs. channel. For example, Best Buy includes customer ratings on price tags in stores. Ratings and reviews are popping up in store displays and on packaging everywhere.
• Start testing and adapting. Two examples that Eisenberg cited to inspire the audience to think “future state” now included CScout in Japan and Tesco in South Korea.  Example 1:  Within the CScout in Japan, the consumer picks up a hangar with a specific pair of jeans, which starts a video relevant to that particular product (so, a customized in-store experience relevant to you and the product in which you’re interested).  Example 2:  On the theme of “Will you take risks?”, Tesco (renamed “Home Plus” locally) in South Korea decided to let the store come to the people, rather than opening more physical locations. How so? The company developed virtual stores in everyday life, like in subway stations, by using QR code technology on billboards designed to look like a grocery shelf stocked with many household staples. People waiting for the subway could shop the billboard with their smartphone, pay for their purchase, then have the groceries delivered to their home. Online sales increased 130%, and the number of registered users grew significantly also.

Are you motivated by these fascinating examples of the future shopper? If so, what will you be testing and trying next?

Amy Africa, CEO of Eight by Eight talks about the human brain and shopping.

So back to that unusual opening question. Amy used that – and a series of follow up “what if” scenarios – to get the audience to think about how we make decisions. Turns out it has a lot to do with our “reptilian brain” (I hadn’t heard of it, either). Forget the more common “right brain / left brain” categorization – Amy explained that we in fact have three brains: the neocortex (rational data processing), the mid-brain (emotions and gut feeling processing), and, finally, our reptilian brain. The latter is the arbiter or tie breaker between the first two and triggers decisions, as its primary concern is one’s survival, and, as Amy described it, “deciding what’s safe and what isn’t”.

And this has what to do with retailing? Quite a bit. Amy next outlined a raft of 21 factors about human beings and how those impact your customer’s decision to whether or not to visit your site, stay or flee, and – hopefully – actually buy. Lots of food for thought – think of it as a reality / sanity check for you and your business. Herewith some of Amy’s points:

• We are self-centered. Translation for your site: does your site really speak to your customers? Does it resonate with them, do they identify with what the site displays, talks about, exudes? Does your site speak the same “language” as they do?
• We process best in “black and white” – that is, contrasts. In fact, Amy noted, contrast is “efficient” for our brains; we’re programmed to notice differences and changes in our environment (again, a survival technique). Translation for retail sites – “what are your pattern interrupters for your customers on your site?” Amy pointed out that most people vow they can’t stand pop up ads – but, they do make people take notice. The home page carousel (rotating images or content) is also effective, engaging the user to linger a little longer and see what comes next to make sure they haven’t missed something.
• We are visual. As Amy noted, “You only think you think. You really just see.” Don’t “over SEO” your site, Amy further exhorted, forgetting that the user coming to your site from Google “doesn’t see words as much as he sees pictures.”
• We look for patterns. Translation for retail sites: customers like to see patterns, as they feel safe and familiar. In Amy’s experience, navigation accounts for 40% to 60% of the success of a site (that’s more like 80% for a mobile site). Why? “Because 80% of [the customer’s] attention goes to the first screen; the top and left hand are patterns and [therefore feel] safe.” Among patterns, human beings particularly look for faces, as they are reassuring. Amy suggested that by adding a friendly-looking picture of a customer service rep on your product and check out pages, you will increase your chances of improving conversions (sounds like a great A/B testing candidate!).
• We like things that we can touch. Translation for retail sites: are you using words on your site that are meaningless to your customer? If they don’t understand and cannot visualize easily terms like “revolutionary product” or “flexible approach” that you use on your site, they won’t warm to the product or service (or your company).
• We like beginnings and ends. Translation: are you using deadlines and creating a sense of urgency? Use short deadlines – they help customers focus. Amy pointed out that two years ago the average life span of an email was 48 hours – now it’s 9 hours at best, and likely really more like 4 hours.
• We respond to emotion. For a retail site, this is all about the story you tell (versus simply selling a product) – again, not just in words, but in your imagery and the overall look and feel of your site. What’s the first impression the customer gets? What are his or her takeaways from interacting with your site?
• We create false memories. “What do you remember? Our memories are terrible,” Amy noted. “So, how do you compensate for your user’s terrible memory?” For retailers, it’s about putting some action directive (or, a reminder to the customer to take the action you want them to take) on each and every page to compensate.
• We have inattentional blindness. As Amy notes, “We see what we want to see – and we don’t see what matters, often. Are your action directives clear and on every single page? What’s important to you and does the user know it?”
• We like what’s first. Customers who do a search will look at just the first two results presented – at best. For retailers, that means making sure your bestsellers are among the top two results.
• We respond to status. And, Amy posited, “Status and reputation are more important than money.” This is a key underpinning to social media – how many likes or connections, one’s rank as a contributor to customer reviews, and so forth.
• We respond to scarcity. As we all know, “If it’s rare, we want it,” Amy notes. For retailers, this means thinking about scarcity and how it affects your cart and your check out – are you conveying urgency and scarcity so the customer has incentive to finish the check out process?

So, if you thought that consumers might be ready to take a break from all that online shopping of late, history would indicate – likely not. For the week between December 27, 2010, and January 2, 2011, comScore calculated that online retail sales in the U.S. topped $2 billion. This year, Google expects the holiday 2011 shopping momentum to continue right on through the second week of January. And this isn’t just a U.S. phenomenon – IMRG in the U.K. is forecasting that U.K. online consumers will spend a tidy GBP186.4 million on Christmas Day this year, followed by another GBP367.8 million on December 26 (and that’s almost double from the same day last year). It stands to reason, then, that if anyone thought we were in for a little breather, in fact we all need to proverbially buckle up, as the ride’s not over yet. A few tips based on this research:

Continue to invest in search for the next several weeks. Google last year found that searches for “sales” and “returns” peaked on December 26 in both 2008 and 2009. With Christmas falling on a Sunday this year, December 26 this year is a public holiday, so it’s a fair bet that customers will be heading into stores and online.

Christmas Day is a golden day for social media. On Christmas Day 2009, Experian Hitwise found that Facebook edged out the main Google page for “most visited site” (unlike the other 364 days of 2009). Similarly, last year IMRG found that, in the U.K., “…Facebook received more site visits than Google as people logged on to wish their friends Merry Christmas.”

Move that excess inventory – but also showcase new merchandise. Get customers excited with fresh, new products (and with which to spend their newly acquired gift cards), especially as they consider which “it” items to invest in for 2012. Let customers easily share ideas, looks and comments via social media outlets.

Cater to returns and exchanges. Make sure your website makes returns and exchange information clear and easy to find, right from the home page and key landing pages, and make sure store locator information on mobile devices is easy to find.

For additional ideas about post-holiday shopping campaigns, see also the 2010 white paper from Listrak.

Lest you think that shipping deadlines will have consumers rushing to finish their shopping, however, history would tell us otherwise.  Last year, the Google Retail Advertising Blog noted that, as of December 21, the average consumer had completed just two-thirds of his / her shopping, and (gulp!) almost one out of five hadn’t yet made a single holiday purchase.  This year, 34.8% of online consumers expect to buy their last holiday gift between Thursday, December 22 and Saturday, December 24. We may see something of a sales surge repeat from last year, when comScore found that online shoppers spent $2.45 billion just in the week ending December 26, up 16.6% from the same period in 2009.

Since this ingrained procrastination behavior clearly isn’t changing significantly this year, a few thoughts for retailers contemplating their marketing and merchandising strategies for the days immediately leading up to December 25.

Consumers want – and are buying - gift cards.  Two-thirds of online consumers tell us that a gift card is what they most want to receive this year for themselves – and, it turns out, 34% this holiday season have already bought gifts cards for others. A perennial last minute gift solution, make online gift cards accessible from the homepage and use them in product and cart cross-sells. Showcase all the online gift card options and don’t confuse customers with physical cards (that, by then, have no chance of arriving in time). Amazon offers gift card delivery via email (either immediately or scheduled up to a year in advance), via Facebook wall post, printable at home, or with a holiday card that includes free one-day shipping, while The Home Depot lets customers customize the electronic gift card with a photo or video clip.

If you’ve got ‘em, flaunt ‘em – virtual goods, that is. Amazon last year sent an email just a day or two before Christmas touting its lineup of books, music, videos, and games available for instant purchase, download and online gifting. If you’re lucky enough to offer any kind of virtual good, promote that across marketing and social media to be the retail hero for panicked customers. If you don’t offer virtual goods, try a suggestion from Michael Griffin of Adlucent – the product (vs. cash) gift card: instead of posting a $25 gift card to the friend’s Facebook wall, the customer could post a card with a picture of the product that he or she actually bought from your online store, with the assurance from you, as the retailer, that the item is on its way – if due for delivery after December 25.

Push buy online, pick up in store (or – special delivery?).  While over half (53.2%) of online shoppers plan to do some of their remaining holiday shopping online this week and next, almost as many (47.3%) will also be shopping in department stores, and one-quarter in specialty stores such as electronics and clothing stores, among other venues.  If you offer a “buy online, pick up in store” fulfillment option, make it front and center on the homepage, add a reminder on the product and check out pages, and feature it in marketing emails and social media. Once in store, make sure the in-store pick up experience is smooth – even enjoyable! – for the customer (who might just pick up a few other items while they’re there…). As another idea, Barnes & Noble continues to offer same-day delivery within Manhattan. While implementing that kind of service at this point in the season is likely infeasible for most, it’s perhaps something one could pull off in certain metro areas close to a store (even just for a few days, perhaps?), or via courier service (and perhaps only for one’s very best customers).

Promote the store as a welcome destination. For retailers with brick & mortar stores, now’s the time to push the store locator information front and center on the homepage, in emails, and via social media such as Facebook and Twitter. In emails and social media, talk about gift ideas waiting in store (even already wrapped) as well as in-store services  and events such as valet or complimentary parking, cookies and hot chocolate, story time for kids while parents shop, 5-minute massages, gift wrapping, sales proceeds for a specific charitable organization, etc. Additionally, in the coming days, 29% of online shoppers plan to use their smartphone to look up retailer information, and 34% will use their tablet devices to do the same – so make sure that info is up to date and works flawlessly on both devices.

Augment service around returns. Buying at the last minute sometimes results in not quite the right gift, so bolster customer confidence that you’ll handle returns quickly and efficiently. Remind customers of return options, including gift receipts (close to two-thirds of consumers say they include a gift receipt with their gift), return time frames (maybe extend those a bit temporarily to increase customer buying confidence), and perhaps a free returns shipping offer (customers say they value this kind of offer quite a bit).

Know that you’ll be competing with post-holiday season email messages. Last year, we saw several retailers, among those Target and HSN, who started to promote their after-Christmas sales as early as December 22. These offers were made only online and specified that delivery would occur only after December 25, but – assuming we see these again this year – this type of message will add to the general messaging cacophony around that time.

For additional perspective on gift cards specifically, please see Digital Gift Cards: A Retail Work in Progress by CashStar and RSR, and Gifting the e-Way by the e-tailing group and CashStar, in the Shop.org White Paper Library.

All of this demonstrates a fantastic start to the season, to be sure – but now the focus turns to making the most of the 23 shopping days left. Before shipping deadlines hit in a few weeks, historical patterns tell us that we can likely expect the next two Mondays to be significant sales days also. My take is that retailers are sitting on a gold mine of sales data garnered over Black Friday weekend and Cyber Monday, which they should now use to make the most of the next few weeks:

Turn best seller data into social media, email, site content. Those rafts of Thanksgiving weekend sales data on best sellers and most popular items are perfect for “trend” messaging. Pepper social media outlets, emails, Web sites and mobile apps with this trend content – it’s up to the minute, it’s authentic (straight from fellow customers), and it’s a rich source of ideas for customers to feel they’re buying the “right” gifts this season (whether for others or for oneself).

Don’t take your eye off the paid search ball. As Michael Griffin of Adlucent noted in the 2011 Shop.org Holiday Strategy & Planning Guide, proactively managing paid search through the extended holiday shopping season is crucial. Review which categories and products spiked over Black Friday weekend and Cyber Monday, then see if it’s feasible to advertise those proactively; adjust day parting rules to reflect holiday shopping behavior (patterns may be quite different now than even a few weeks ago); and add site links to top performing categories to improve click through rates and traffic.

Remarket shopping carts to customers who didn’t quite get to “confirm order.” Maybe the customer just wasn’t sure, maybe they were shopping at multiple sites, maybe they’re still holding out for a better offer even now – my guess is that there are many abandoned shopping carts sitting out there after last weekend. Whatever the original reason for leaving, that unrequited shopping cart is a natural way to reengage (quickly!) with the customer, with or without a sweetener such as a discount or shipping offer. Check out several papers in the Shop.org White Paper Library on this topic, from companies such as SeeWhy and Listrak.

Topics ranged from product listing ads to social engagement to drop shipping, demonstrating – if nothing else – that the online retail industry has a lot of opportunities. Watch these six industry professionals share what they think the trends, challenges and buzz is.

1. Opt-in Processes. According to McDonald almost half of all retailers are hiding their opt-in messages at the bottom of their webpages. There is, he said, a difference between how the top retailers position opt-ins and the rest of the retailers on their websites. Of those on their top retailer list, 92% feature the opt-in throughout their website prominently, compared to only 84% of those not on the list. In addition to making sure that your customers can easily find your opt-in, McDonald recommends considering thinking beyond the traditional opt-ins. For example, follow Moosejaw’s example and include an opt-in on your Facebook page. McDonald said that since 66% of people prefer social sign-up instead of filling out a form, the better customer experience will be found by offering both ways to sign-up.

2. Welcome Emails. Consider all the emails your company sends. Which one was is the most important? McDonald says it just might be your welcome email. Using the example of Tafford Uniforms, he explained that the first welcome email sent to customers generates six times the revenue of a broadcast email. And yet, according to their research 32% of retailers are sending no welcome email at all.

3. Opt-out Alternative. 34% on Silverpop’s top retailers list offer opt-out alternatives. That drops to just 22% for the rest of the retailers. There are a number of alternatives that you can offer in addition to a opt-out including letting subscribers change how often they receive emails, what format they come in, which email address they come to, etc. According to McDonald, often 20-30% of subscribers will stay if you offer them alternatives. Retailers might even consider offering a “snooze” options to their customers like J&P Cycles does. Allowing customers to take a break from newsletters and emails for a month or two would certainly be preferable to them unsubscribing and potentially not signing up again.

Whether you are a top retailer or just getting started, making sure you are doing the above will go a long way in ensuring your email marketing is effective and your customers are happy to hear from you.

Let’s rewind a bit. Up until 2001, Ticketmaster shoppers stood in physical lines for hours, maybe even days, to procure the best possible seats to view their entertainment. It’s true that some would call sleeping in tents and waiting in lines with hundreds of like-minded consumers a “social event”. Once web became the primary channel of operation for Ticketmaster, and once the social phenomenon as we now know it began to take place, executives realized the ticket-buying process is an inherently social event. Even on the web.

Ticketmaster’s online social experiment started with a link and bookmark and share buttons across the website (everyone’s gotta start somewhere). But last year, Levin shared, Ticketmaster relaunched their social strategy with a focus on Facebook buttons. First, they started placing contextual copy around “Like” buttons. The response: Each Like equaled $5 in additional ticket sales. Each “recommended” link shared on Facebook found the same response.

So they took it a step further with custom integration through a RSVP feature. The simple ask of “Tell your friends you’re attending The Counting Crows” message also accounted for upwards of $5 in ticket sales.

Levin said these stats were the key to greater investment in social by the organization. After the original success of the Facebook “Like” button, next up was a fully integrated homepage which included personalized recommendations based on Facebook data as well as a “friends on Ticketmaster” functionality with a basic news feed.

All of these items were wildly successful…but Levin said that there was a key missed opportunity that was quickly recognized: The typical ticket purchaser doesn’t buy just one ticket. Who were these “guests” that were attending with the average Ticketmaster shopper? And how could Ticketmaster engage that group?

Well, the e-commerce folks at Ticketmaster found the solution. And it’s pretty cool. I’ll let this demo speak for itself.

Just how successful has the interactive seat map been for Ticketmaster? Levin says 80% of users share their ticket information through Facebook with everyone (not just friends, or friends of friends). A lightbox pop-up for those already logged into Facebook, asking for permission, has led to twice the number of RSVPs. And the added ability to tag those guests who are attending with the shopper drives 33% more visits back to Ticketmaster.com.

So why exactly did Ticketmaster embark on this new social experiment? Levin said, “For us, it’s just about making the experience better.”

And with that, it all comes full circle. “If you focus on making your customer experience great, great things will happen.”

During his career, Bill Bass has undoubtedly done many things that people can agree with. He’s seen tremendous success from tenures at Lands’ End, Sears, Fair Indigo and now Charming Shoppes.

But the most refreshing part of his keynote during the Shop.org Annual Summit today was perhaps the unapologetic comments that Bass made about QR codes (doesn’t see the point), Facebook (can’t completely buy into the hype) and company organizational structure (he had a few choice words about some recent retailers’ changes). Regardless of whether attendees agreed with him, all likely walked away with a few topics to debate at this afternoon’s roundtables or this evening’s networking event.

At the crux of Bass’s presentation was five lessons he has learned in 15 years of selling online. The lessons themselves are fairly straightforward, but the food for thought he offered as a part of his keynote surely got the conversation started.

Lesson #1: Ecommerce is not just another store, nor is it just a cheaper marketing channel.

In order to fully utilize your website, Bass said, you cannot treat it like one of your stores. Why? Because the rhythms and dynamics on the web are totally different.

One example: web traffic tends to peak during the week while store traffic spikes on the weekends. (Meaning, the “in store” offers and doorbusters so popular on Saturdays and Sundays might perform best on Mondays or Wednesdays from an online standpoint.) Bass encouraged retailers to “shoot when the ducks are flying” – and the ducks are flying during the week online.

In addition, Bass said, metrics for success are completely different between the two channels. “If I go to any store person and ask about factors for success, no one is going to say easy search, speedy checkout. They’d say something totally different.”

Viewing your website as just another store is “the dumbest damn thing I’ve heard in my life,” Bass said. “If you treat it the same, you’re going to sub-optimize it.” And things just got more spicy from there.

Lesson 2: Org structure matters.

There are two ways the majority of retailers organize their company to account for ecommerce. In one structure, the ecommerce folks operate completely independently. The other model, which integrates ecommerce operations with the rest of the company, means that the marketing team handles both digital and traditional advertising, merchants and buyers work for both channels, etc.

According to Bass, neither of those arrangements works particularly well. “What you want to do is have it somewhere in the middle but skewed towards independence,” he said. In his view, the ecommerce group should be independent and report directly to the CEO.

In Bass’s view, the right structure is imperative to getting ecommerce the resources, and attention, it deserves. An ecommerce team reporting to marketing is only focusing on marketing, he said. An ecommerce team reporting to through stores is only focusing on – you guessed it – stores.

For better or worse, the web often forces change within companies, he said, “and the CEO is the only person that can give you the air cover to make those changes.” Besides, a CEO that doesn’t have the ecommerce team reporting directly to him or her may need a bit of a priority check, Bass said. “If a third of your sales are coming in from the internet, there is no more important strategic thing facing you. If you don’t understand that, you’re going to lose.”

Lesson #3: Focus, Focus, Focus. Don’t be distracted by shiny objects or bogus metrics.

There’s no doubt there have been plenty of “revolutionary” ideas in ecommerce that have made executives stop and take notice, but the challenge comes in cutting through the clutter and critically determining whether each new fad could improve your bottom line.

FourSquare was one example that Bass highlighted as a “shiny object” that may be more fad than function. “When you really look at what causes your website to win, it’s just a handful of things: search and fast checkout. These make customers’ lives easier,” he said. “FourSquare doesn’t make a customer’s life easier.”

According to Bass, all metrics should come down to search and fast checkout, and encouraged executives to be skeptical if other data is being highlighted. “You’ll start to see people throw out other metrics when they’re trying to sell you something that doesn’t work with those metrics.”

Lesson #4: Pay attention to Lesson #3. (But also take advantage of new capabilities. )

It all does come down to search and fast checkout, Bass said, but there are ways to do the basics well and focus on other elements of the shopping experience to increase sales. During his presentation, Bass walked through Charming Shoppes’ new site, www.FashionGenius.com. The site, which offers incredibly easy search functionality, uses an adaptive survey created from a million customer surveys and 10,000 in-person fittings to help women find clothes that will fit their body type and their personal style.

Bass called it “a Google for clothes” and said that, since yesterday, over 60,000 people have already taken a survey on the site. The success of the launch has defied the company’s expectations.

Lesson 5: Look at what lies ahead (and what shouldn’t)

One of the best lessons Bass has learned in ecommerce seems to be that looking forward may be even more important than looking back. And what’s coming down the pike? According to Bass, with an estimated 30% of store-based sales shifting online, store economics will “cataclysmically” change. And for stores, he said, “it’s going to get worse.” (In fact, Bass went so far as to recommend against long-term store leases – he is that confident that the web will impact physical locations.)

What else is coming down the pike that will revolutionize retail? Put your eyes on the iPad, Bass said. “You can’t play Angry Birds on your computer – it doesn’t work,” he said. “And the shopping experience on an iPad is empirically better than on a website. I’ve now come to believe that this is the single most important thing going forward.”

What is Bass not so hot on? Smartphones, he says. “If I’m a restaurant, or Fandango, I need to be doing the smartphone thing,” he said. “Smartphones matter depending upon your category” but aren’t applicable to everyone. (Discuss amongst yourselves.) Also on the “not so hot” radar: social media, which he thinks matters for service but not sales.

At the end of the day, retail executives may have had mixed opinions on Bass’s viewpoints. But he did give people plenty to talk about. And at a conference like this, that is always a very good thing.

As the CMO of eBags, Wilson was able to share with the Shop.org Summit attendees first hand experiences from both eBags and Handbags.com in the session “Social Commerce in the Trenches.” While Facebook is not the only social network out there, with 750 million active users worldwide, it was bound to be the focus.

With users spending over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook, the challenge for retailers becomes losing people. How? A retailer’s website may say “Like us on Facebook.” So the average shopper clicks through to like the page, sees the brand’s page, then notices that today is cousin Megan’s birthday. So the shopper heads over Megan’s page to send birthday wishes, finds a new photo album from a recent vacation and just like that… you’ve lost them. It’s stickier than fly paper.

Handbags.com set out first to understand their customer and then to create a social cycle that would both utilize Facebook’s feature-rich platform and achieve the benefits that every retailer wants. The first thing eBags realized is that handbag shoppers want different things than those shopping for, say, luggage. Handbag shoppers don’t spend as much time looking at reviews. They can decide for themselves if the bag is cute. They just need to know that the zipper isn’t going to fall off. They give a lot of weight to what their friends think of a handbag. On the other hand, none of my friends has ever asked me if I liked their new piece of luggage.

So how do you create a social cycle that keeps that demographic focused on the retail brand or site, and not stuck in Facebook? One tactical example Wilson gave was the social toolbar at the bottom of their website. From there, if you share the website with friends you’ll earn a $25 coupon for every three friends that also sign-up. The key is, you do all that without ever going to the Facebook site. You log in to handbags.com with your Facebook credentials, pull up your favorite Facebook friends, and share the site. And there you’ll be, still on handbags.com, ready to spend your $25 coupon.

That’s not the only Facebook tool on handbags.com that manages to use the network to share, while still keeping the customer on the site. Want to recommend the new Botkier bag to your friends? You can do that from Handbags.com. Want to register for the site with your Facebook account, and not have to fill out a new user form? You can do that on the site. Want to see which of your friends “likes “Handbags.com? No need to go to Facebook, just look at the Handbags.com homepage and look for your friends’ familiar faces.

Regardless of whether Facebook is too sticky for retailers, it’s a key component of social shopping and therefore should not ignored. Thankfully, there are deep social commerce integrations that allow retailers to utilize Facebook’s strengths and keep the retail brand front and center.

The tips ranged in scope from “duh, I should have thought of that” to “that’s so in the weeds I have no idea what’s going on,” but I’ve condensed many of panelists’ top ideas into a little “Lucky Number Seven” list of how to make more money now. The expansive handout will be available soon on the Summit website.

1. Implement Facebook “Like” and Google+1 buttons. The “Like” buttons can be in more than one place on your site, but should definitely appear above the fold (via ChannelAdvisor’s Scot Wingo).
2. Make your email bullet-proof by making the focal points of your email (including navigation, calls-to-action and borders) visible even if consumers can’t see images. Most e-mails come through with images “turned off.” Outsmart the system (via Bounce Exchange’s Ryan Urban).
3. Watch your mobile speed and make navigation your No. 1 priority. Too much space, meaningless categories and horizontal scrolling are all no-nos. Make checkout simple, offer large search boxes that are front and center (and easy to type in), and provide an embedded call to action for consumers (via Eight by Eight’s Amy Africa).
   
   

   Sheldon Gilbert, Founder and CEO, Proclivity Systems

4. A digital tune-up can go a long way toward improving your conversions. Fix your bounce issues and recommendation engines. Re-examine your “Welcome” series e-mails and make sure they don’t roll out too slowly (via Social Shopping Lab’s Peter Leech).
5. Help customers find what they’re looking for. Incorporate lists of synonyms in case customers aren’t sure how to spell a product time. If you don’t sell something, offer alternative products and consider if the product is worth stocking (via Demandware’s Sue Chapman).
6. Improve your page load time. Ten seconds isn’t good enough. Two seconds is the industry standard, but many major retailers aren’t there yet. Minimize requests, such as downloading images and javascript, and optimize your images. Quick tip: try Pingdom.com to find out what sections of your pages are taking the most time to load (via IMPAQT’s Jamie Keaney).
7. Drop cookies on customers who receive your e-mails. This will work even on customers who look at your e-mail in the preview pane of outlook (via Proclivity Systems’ Sheldon Gilbert).

Now go home, implement a couple of these quick fixes, make more money, and let us know how it goes!

Charles Nicholls

Shopping carts have plagued retailers and their customers for years.

There’s something inherent to their design — or perhaps it’s Murphy’s Law — that dictates that all four wheels may not, under any condition, be able to simultaneously roll in the same direction. More than once, the subsequent rattling and precarious instability, akin to driving without power steering, has forced me to abandon the cart altogether and fend for myself.

Then, there are virtual shopping carts.

According to SeeWhy Inc founder Charles Nicholls, over 70% of online customers will abandon their virtual shopping carts. Cart abandonment is a pressing problem for digital retailers across the board, and that’s why Nicholls, along with Saks.com Director Andrew Balazs and Build.com Marketing VP Brandon Proctor, came together at Shop.org’s 2011 Annual Summit for a session entitled, “The Science of Shopping Cart Optimization.”

Nicholls began the session by running down a litany of statistics detailing why customers abandon their carts and offering insights on how retailers can win them back. According to his research, customers abandon their carts either because it’s not the right time or because it’s not the right price. As all retailers know, timing and price are two of the most difficult factors to combat when trying to complete a sale, so recapturing those sales is certainly not an easy process.

Here’s a quick rundown of some of Nicholls’s other primary points:

• Design your remarketing campaigns to address timing and price objections. Although this seems intuitive, Nicholls said it was amazing how many retailers overlook this step in their remarketing process.
• Realize that not all abandonment is bad. For many purchases, abandonment is a natural part of the product-buying process. Shoppers research, price check and then finally purchase, often with one or more cart abandonment occurring between the initial “add to cart” and final purchase.
• Begin remarketing as soon as your customer abandons the cart. They say that within the first 12 hours is your greatest opportunity to recapture the sale — Nicholls says, however, that sometimes even 12 hours is too long. The quicker you are to remarket to the customer, and the more personalized the remarketing campaign is, the better your chances are of completing the sale.

Balazs gave attendees a look into the behind-the-scenes process that occurred in Saks’ virtual shopping cart redesign effort. Saks recognized the problems they were having with cart abandonment and decided to give its shopping cart system an honest review and makeover. Their objective was to improve the completion rate for customers who start the checkout process. The most common problems that Saks’ cart system had, according to Balazs, are: (1) customers entering checkout just to determine the final sales price; (2) customers leave in order to modify their cart; (3) a confusing user experience; (4) buggy checkout process.

So here are a few of the suggestions that Balazs made in light of Saks’ research and testing:

• Let your customers know what the final price is before they start checkout.
• Make it easy to make changes and see the subsequent impact on the cart.
• Ensure that key information is easy to see and edit.

Proctor wrapped up the session by offering what he believed to be the biggest takeaways for digital retailers. Convenience appears to have been a theme of the afternoon, with each presenter insisting that the easier the process the higher the conversion rate. For instance, Proctor noted that coupons are “bigger than Britney Spears” right now (before amending that to “bigger than Justin Bieber, because Britney isn’t that big anymore”). This means that retailers should attempt to make the use of online coupons as easy as possible, going as far as providing coupon codes during the checkout process.

Here are the rest of Proctor’s takeaways:

• Give the customers what they want. Proctor noted how shocked customers are when retailers actually provide them with the experience and products they wanted. The more retailers can do this, the better. He also added that it is “unforgivable to not give customers what they want, given how much information digital retailers are able to gather about their customers.”
• Listen to the customer. Another stalwart of the retail community that is too often forgotten when it comes to designing checkout processes.
  
• Create a thoughtless shopping experience. Convenience, convenience, convenience.

In advance of the release, we sat down with Forrester Research Principal Analyst Sucharita Mulpuru to discuss findings from the latest survey of retailers. In the video, Mulpuru shares how retailers are investing in mobile, which retailers are getting mobile “right,” and outlines the differences between smartphones and tablets (and why that should matter to retailers).

Not a hand went up.

That’s quite a telling revelation, as many in the industry still struggle to find the exact balance for budget when it comes to social media’s impact on sales (and don’t get me started on how many digital experts ponder whether emails is “dead”).

In today’s tactical kick-off session at Shop.org’s Online Retail Boot Camp on email marketing optimization, Tornquist had literally hundreds of tips on everything from strategy and creation to segmentation and personalization and also metrics, analytics and testing. (Yes, he covered ALL of this in less than an hour and a half.)

Here are the facts (research from Emarketer, 2010):

• 95% of internet users receive opt-in permission based email
• 85% of internet users prefer email over offline media to gain info about products of specific interest to them
• 90% of internet consumers believe that email is the best way for existing suppliers to communicate with them

Point proven: email is still a very important tool.  Here are just a few quick insights from Tornquist that every email marketer should consider.

Automated email is the most powerful tool in an email marketer’s tool belt. Tornquist encouraged the audience to develop a program that allows for matching content with consumer need and preference – and is smart enough to match it over and over again. Most email service providers offer this capability, so be sure to cash in on the functionality. Tornquist also said welcome programs don’t need to be boring, but they do need to be tailored to the customer. Typically, welcome emails have an open rate of 60-70 percent, which makes them a prime opportunity to deliver value.

And don’t forget your loyal customers. “What tools are you giving the repeat customers to help deliver relevant content and relevant products in their inbox?” asked Tornquist. His solution: Offer an email preference center.

Surprise! People don’t read emails. It’s true. People skim emails. Tornquist encouraged easy design fixes like strategic headlines, images, calls to action, and contextual links. Be sure to consider the Outlook preview pane in design, as well.

Did you know that the more columns in an email, the more a reader’s eye will move right? If you want to go deeper into strategic design, Tornquist noted, consider general patterns of eye tracking, which form the letters E, L and F. Your goal should be to have the eye start at the top left, move to the right and be aware of the most products possible in the hopes of responding to one of them. The top left space is precious real estate – what are you doing with it?

Define your ‘excuse to contact.’ Discounts or free shipping offers shouldn’t be the only reason to contact your customers. Your community of subscribers are often “aficionados” of whatever product you’re selling. Give them an early glimpse at new products or send emails that are “largely educational with some sales thrown in,” Tornquist recommended.

These are only three of a handful of tips from this morning’s session. If you weren’t able to attend today’s Boot Camp sessions, the full presentations are available for download. Tornquist’s presentation is the perfect rundown for any email marketing team looking for a quick pick-me-up for their current strategy.

Over the last 10 years of hosting this annual event, we’ve received the strongest feedback for one critical component of our show – the sessions and speakers we put together based session nominations (over 350, in fact – for 22 sessions) and help from our growing community. As your lead on content, this makes me proud and also challenges our Board, committee members, and staff every year to bring you best sessions and speakers that we can.

For those new to the community and attending the Summit for the first time, I wanted to highlight two sessions that are especially fantastic.

The brain-child of Vintage Tub & Bath CMO Allan Dick – and back by popular demand for the fourth consecutive year – are two sessions titled “40+ Things You Can Do To Make More Money Next Week.”  These sessions (one focused on marketing and the other on merchandising) are about specific, actionable tactics you can use to make money now. Our panel of eight industry experts will deliver killer tips to improve your online marketing initiatives. Forget talks of long-term strategy, this is all-tactics, all day.

Not convinced? I thought I’d share (and preview) just a few of their tips for you related to email, mobile, social and SEO. You know, the easy stuff. I’ll leave the rest for them to wow you in a few short days in Boston.

Tip 1: Hold a subject line bake off. Yes, we’re talking about email here. Speaker Ryan Urban suggests creating a “fun” internal competition for your entire team (VPs, graphic designers, copywriters, and other departments) to come up with A/B/C subject line tests. It’s testing and crowd-sourcing all in one.

Tip 2: Take advantage of the benefits of the Facebook Like and Google +1 buttons. We’re crazy about the effects of social media communication and engagement for retail. Scot Wingo, one of the newest members of the Shop.org Board, is going to dive into this tip and discuss how Levi’s saw a 40% increase in referral traffic from Facebook after implementing the Like button in April 2010.

Tip 3: Mobile navigation is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Create categories to help shoppers find things, don’t create too many options, and allocate your space correctly. Those of us with (and addicted) to our mobile devices can all attest to this. There may be nothing worse than bad navigation (or categories) for mobile websites and apps. A Shop.org favorite, Amy Africa, is going to dive into a number of mobile tips including how to improve the mobile browsing and shopping experience. With bad mobile navigation and category options, you leave the mobile user the idea that – if they don’t see it, it isn’t there. Help the user find what they need.

Tip 4: Use expandable accordion text boxes for SEO. Who can’t use a great tip to optimize for search? According to Michael Mothner, higher organic rankings reward text-rich pages. Higher conversion rates reward short, to-the-point sales pages. To help balance these two needs, he suggests using accordion text boxes to add content that doesn’t detract from conversions. On September 13^th at 1:30pm EST, he will show you examples of this tip and more.

As a member of the Shop.org team, I am proud of the entire agenda for this event. You won’t go wrong with any of the options. However, for the majority of our retailers that are sending teams to the Annual Summit, make sure someone spends at least a few minutes in these two powerful sessions.

Golfsmith International’s Director of eCommerce & Online Experience, Jamey Maki

Well, according to Golfsmith International’s Director of eCommerce & Online Experience, Jamey Maki, marketing golf products – specifically leveraging video to drive conversation and experience – requires a similar mindset. Maki shared his thoughts on video marketing during his Tuesday session at Shop.org’s 2011 Online Merchandising Workshop.

“As a marketer, it’s my job to convince you to spend $500 to get one more yard off the tee, to save one more stroke off your final score,” Maki said. “So, as golf is a very technically-oriented sport, it’s very technically demanding to convey products through conventional copy.”

That’s where video marketing comes in. If a picture is worth a thousand words, guess how much a video is worth?

Maki cited several statistics to back up his claim that video is a prime sales-driver, like:

• One minute of video is the equivalent of 1.8 million words.

• YouTube is the second largest search engine, delivering more than two million views per day.

• Video was responsible for 30% of all internet traffic in 2010, according to Cisco, and is predicted to be responsible for 90% by the end of 2013.

At GolfSmith, Maki wanted to bridge the gap between retail and online by providing unique content which would in return offer better SEO content and brand differentiation. To do so, GolfSmith began using videos to technical features and ease-of-use features that wouldn’t be easy to explain via traditional graphics and copy, like an insulated rain coat that allowed its wearer to take off the sleeves if it got too hot or a driver that had an adjustable head to alter the lift and lie of your shot.

“We wanted to convert shoppers to buyers,” Maki said. “The results were a 35% increase on products that had videos and a noticeable increase in our SEO rankings. Video is here and it’s something your customers are expecting – there are so many benefits, it’s something you have to do these days.”

So, whether you’re selling a putter that will help shoppers find their “happy place” or a jacket that keeps them warm, cool, dry and looking good all at the same time, incorporating video will more than likely lead golfers – even amateurs like me – to your online check-out page.

I don’t want to give away all of Cooper’s great insight into how to create a bustling marketing and merchandising operation, but there are three popular rules that Cooper says are just made to be broken.

Broken Rule #1: Always organize merchandise in a way that makes sense.

ModCloth, and – more importantly – their hip and trendy fashion shopper, doesn’t believe that this should always be the case. ModCloth merchandising is completely random. One site visit and you’ll see that it’s perfectly normal to find a pair of sunglasses nestled between a bomber jacket and a sundress. Cooper says the website launches between 25-50 new products a day – in random fashion – where the “sense of newness creates a reason for our girl to come back.”

And come back she does. One-third of ModCloth customers visit more than once a day. A “crazy” (Cooper’s word, not mine) five percent visit more than 5 times a day. Why so many site visits? This brings us to the next broken rule…

Broken Rule #2: Let the designer or buyer drive fashion trends.

The ModCloth shopper doesn’t prescribe to this and neither do company merchandisers. ModCloth lets the community drive fashion in every channel possible, but most notably through its Be the Buyer program and by listening to the customer through social media and reacting to it. We dug deeper into this concept in a recent Q&A with Cooper, where she detailed exactly how engaged the ModCloth shopper is when it comes to trendsetting.

Broken Rule #3: Only measure success through conversion.

Social media has changed this rule from the get-go over the past few years. How does ModCloth measure success? By measuring the lifetime value of its products, campaigns and branding on the consumer.

In the end, Cooper strongly suggested the audience learn and play around to figure out the ‘rules’ for their target customer.

“Regardless of the tool you use, there are a lot of opportunities to think differently about how you engage your customer and what it is she is going to respond to because it’s not always what you think it is,” Cooper said. “Putting numbers behind that hunch is key to bringing together merchandising and marketing and making that customer part of your community.”

Mobile marketing and mobile commerce have received unprecedented attention over the past two years as the key to the next generation of cross-channel and digital retail. Yet even with all of the hype, few retailers have actually done more than dip their toe in the water. But are things finally changing?

According to the Shop.org State of Retailing Online report, 91% of retailers currently have a mobile strategy in place or in development, up from 74%  a year ago. To date, only 48% of retailers surveyed report having a mobile-optimized website; 35% have deployed an iPhone app; and 15% offer an Android app and an iPad app.

This month as a part of the Shop.org May is Online Marketing Month Webinar Series, author and industry expert Amy Africa and retail executives from Gilt Groupe and Alibris Retail led a discussion on tips that are necessary to create an effective retail mobile strategy.

Africa alone dove into 30 tips related to mobile site and app optimization. While each offered critical advice for those testing, creating, and tweaking their mobile sites and apps, here are my five favorites from this hour-long webinar.

1) Optimize Your Speed. Mobile shoppers will not wait 15 seconds. Your goal, whether or not you choose to accept it, is a low page weight. According to Amy Africa, mobile consumers make their decisions about six times faster than regular web consumers.

2) Focus on one thing. Your mobile site or app may be beautiful, but is it usable? Does it get the lead? Get the order? Get an e-mail address?

3) Navigation makes up the majority of your success. You want to look strongly at your mobile navigation options for usability. Navigation in a traditional web world is about 60-70% of your success, but in a mobile world this is about 85-90% of your success. Users expect to buy or browse the same way they do on the traditional site, but they can’t handle as many products, services, or offerings for choices. You have to make these decisions for them. According to Africa, companies should not include more than eight navigation choices on the mobile page. The key to this is to just make sure you cover the most important things.

4) It’s all about ease of use. Don’t depend on the scroll! What else should you steer clear of on your mobile sites and apps? No flash, horizontal scrolling, or tables (especially those nasty nested ones). Also, use as few screens as possible. As much as 97% of people will stop after four screens.

5) Size not only matters – it can be the key differentiator between a successful mobile site and a complete flop. Make larger than life action directives like “Add to Cart” and “Buy Now” for your mobile users. If nothing else, make sure an action button is on the first screen of your mobile site and on every subsequent screen. According to Africa, focus on this alone will make a serious impact on the success of your mobile site experience and usability, and is critical on check out and lead form pages.

The figures that Africa and the mini-case studies executives from Gilt Groupe and Alibris Retail shared all point towards the importance of analyzing the significant differences in website usability patterns and expectations of mobile users. Most importantly, it continues to prove how retailers that are focused on truly mobilizing their site (and not just miniaturizing it) have a lot of work – and potential success stories – ahead of them.

Thacker, who has been a member of the Board of NRF’s Retail Advertising and Marketing Association for many years, has a storied career: before joining OfficeMax in 2005 as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Advertising, he served as Target’s VP of Marketing and SVP of Marketing at Sears. (Yes, it’s true: he is the guy who brought Michael Graves to Target.) As a speaker on one of this month’s Marketing Month webinars, we reached out to Thacker for his insights on mobile, traditional advertising, his favorite retail ad of all time, and how to land the perfect job in retail marketing.

There’s no doubt that mobile provides retailers with opportunities, not only as a sales channel but also as a marketing vehicle. What do you think is the best way for retailers to measure marketing efforts delivered through the mobile channel?

I used to say that Mobile in the US was like soccer: The rest of the world got it, we didn’t. That’s all changed. I recently read that something like 60% of people are purchasing goods using mobile services. People are texting, reading QR codes, searching, voting, polling, even earning rewards with mobile. Measurement has been challenging for some areas, and others not. Tracking sales, redemption of coupons and click through, opt in, and click-to-call rates on mobile are relatively straightforward. It’s also possible to track changes in attitudes toward brands through mobile. The softer, less finite things are still posing challenges for measurement. But I see that changing very soon.

Are there any areas where you think retailers are really missing the boat?

These are tough times. People are still in post traumatic shock from the recession. Fear and doubt are the killers of creativity. I think it’s time for people to focus on nurturing, developing, protecting and championing new ideas. Many companies have talent. Sadly, the talent is traumatized. This is an area that I’m passionately focusing on in the future. Helping people think “inside” the box. Helping them maximize the talent they already have on staff.

Across mobile, social, online, and print channels, which do you think are the most effective with conversion? Speaking from your experience, how would you prioritize the four?

It’s tough to lump media into a category of effectiveness because there are always individual ads and campaigns that break the rules. That’s what advertising should always strive to do. That said, I would say that for pure and direct ROI (messaging that delivers most immediate sales results), I’d choose online, print, mobile, and social.

Thinking back over your time with Target, Sears and then OfficeMax, what has been the most fun marketing campaign you’ve been a part of?

I’ve been blessed with a long career. I would have to say that the most rewarding, and therefore fun, would be the restoration of the Washington Monument while I was at Target. People said that we couldn’t make restoration construction a work of art. We did it! The scaffolding system Michael Graves designed was amazing. There were actual attempts to make it permanent. It was a case of art and business and government coming together for a greater good. As a by-product, Michael Graves was introduced to Target as a designer. The rest is history.

At a Shop.org event a few years ago, you spoke about traditional advertising and shared your viewpoint that “If you’re going to crash the party, you’d better bring a bottle of wine.” What did you mean by that?

Advertising is a party crasher, an uninvited guest. People tolerate advertising interrupting their life, but few people would say that they actually LOVE advertising. I believe that advertisers shouldn’t forget their role. So when they crash the party, they need to give something in return. Advertising must entertain, enlighten, inspire, provoke thought, and be memorable in the most respectful way.

What brands do you see as ahead of the curve on social media marketing?

Social media is fascinating. Some of the best in my opinion are Threadless for total engagement both of suppliers and customers, Old Spice for making my grandfather’s aftershave seem current and hip, and Coke for always remembering who their true audience is.

Some of your most successful campaigns have used good, old-fashioned public relations as a way to generate media buzz and excitement. What is your viewpoint on the role of PR in traditional marketing, and how do you see the two fields working together?

One of my mantras has always been “Don’t make ads, make news!” I measure the success of a marketing campaign idea by the way it can be extended to become truly newsworthy. PR and events are key players in the mix. I always ask “What is the photo image of this idea? How would it look if it came to life as something more than just an ad? How can people ‘experience’ this idea?” Suddenly an ad idea becomes a flash mob, or a street encounter, or a viral experience, or even a fashion show.

OfficeMax’s ElfYourself campaign is widely recognized as a smashing viral success for its ahead-of-its-time creativity and low-cost budget. If you could go back to 2006 and re-launch this campaign, what would you do differently?

In many ways ElfYourself was an unexpected hit. We actually launched 20 sites simultaneously. Anne Bologna and Ari Merken wisely convinced us to experiment…to take our paltry budget and play it on an exciting new experience. I don’t think I’d do anything differently. I just have to keep reminding myself and others that it’s important to test multiple ideas. We didn’t know which of the 20 would hit. Fortunately, one was a mega hit. It’s interesting for me to look back on some of the others. A few had millions of hits as well. I’ve often thought we were ahead of our time and that OfficeMax should bring some of the others back as well. Alas.

Is the catalog dead?

Catalogs aren’t dead. Newspaper inserts aren’t dead. They may be on life support, but there is still a place for both. It’s important for retailers to understand though that they can’t expect the same return on their catalog and insert investments as they did in the past.

What’s your favorite retail TV ad of all time?

Asking an ad guy for his favorite retail ad of all time is a little like asking somebody “What’s your favorite hot fudge sundae of all time”! That’s hard. I will always love a radio ad that Chris Preston – formerly of Martin-Williams, now President of Preston Kelly in Minneapolis – did for us at Target. We were entering the Chicago market and Chris proposed that we do a radio-roadblock where we would own the exact same minute on every single radio station at the same time. This had been done on television before, but never radio. People said “You’ll never make it happen.” It’s a long story. We did. The spot itself spoofed people pushing buttons on the radio as the announcer said “We’ve taken over every single radio station in Chicago to make this announcement. Don’t change the channel. (SFX: buzz buzz music squeal) I told you not to do that…” It was a huge success. Very engaging. And a brilliant use of media.

Over the years, you’ve undoubtedly hired many young people looking to excel. What pieces of advice can you offer someone right out of college who wants to break into the world of retail marketing?

Don’t ever act your age. Be young, but not immature. Be kind. Say thank you.

What’s the best marketing advice you’ve ever received?

If you don’t go out on a limb, you’ll never taste the fruit. Great ideas are often scary.

Complete this sentence: “At the end of each day, I…”

I hope that I’ve given more than I’ve taken.