Neiman Marcus Results

Looking for a some light weekend reading? Why not plow through ten or more pages of the Q3 Neiman Marcus earnings transcript!

You'll see that online sales declined last quarter --- though so many VCBs (vendors, consultants, bloggers) keep telling us that all is good in e-commerce (maybe not for Google next spring ... what happens to your business when people slow their searches for merchandise), we can dig through results and find that the days of unfettered e-commerce growth are ending.

Leadership mentioned that the online business has a much more diverse customer base than stores have. This is one of the mysteries of multichannel marketing that almost nobody talks about. We're told we have to serve that same magical multichannel customer across channels, only to find out that there are hardly any multichannel customers out there. Then we're left dealing with managing diverse audiences with limited tools, which is pretty much where all of us are.

All of the magic happens when we serve diverse customers who use channels in unique and different ways.

Neiman Marcus To Reduce Catalog Mailings

Courtesy of the folks at Internet Retailer Magazine, read the article here.

You are seeing a parting of the sea when it comes to multichannel marketing.

Retailers like Saks, Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus de-emphasized or eliminated catalog marketing --- and can do so because the interaction between retail and online channels allows them to generate a high organic percentage.

The traditional cataloger, without the benefit of retail, struggles, because as catalog dies a slow death, there isn't a channel that has achieved critical mass, ready to supplant catalog advertising. We may never find one or two channels to replace catalog marketing. We will need to find one hundred tiny micro-channels that, collectively, replace a dying advertising channel.

Retailers Using Social Technology, Community, And RSS

In addition to the Saks Video Catalog, many retailers are using social technology, community, and RSS feeds in interesting ways. Many in our catalog audience are looking for new ways to have a relationship with customers. Let's review a small sample of brands using social technology in one way or another.

Urban Outfitters has an interesting site that features articles, videos, an RSS feed and a MySpace page.

Neiman Marcus communicates fashion via their InSite Blog.

Ice.com's Just Ask Leslie Blog combines customer questions and short features.

eBags uses bookmarks to tag items you are interested in.

Mac Cosmetics, a $274 million division of Estee Lauder, has customers who are literally inventing products for the brand, sharing the ideas on YouTube. Their product development folks should take a peek at this! My wife found the video when searching for ideas on how to store Mac products. Take a peek at YouTube to see how other folks are doing marketing and product demonstrations for you ... heck, this young lady has almost 14,000 views.

Nordstrom has a MySpace page for their BP division.

Paperspine, an online book rental brand, hosts a blog about books.

Zappos is using Twitter to allow folks to communicate about the venerable online shoe brand.

Patagonia hosts The Cleanest Line, a blog for employees, friends, and customers.

Overstock.com offers a diverse array of community-based options.

Crutchfield has a community section on their website.

Burpee Seeds features their RSS feed on the homepage.

Hallmark has an interesting blog for their Shoebox division.

Here's the Shutterfly community.

Use the comments section to share other ways that retailers are using social technology, community and RSS feeds to partner with consumers.

Neiman Marcus InSite Blog

Neiman Marcus launched a blog that appears congruent with their brand proposition.

The blog has an RSS feed, appears to be created in TypePad, and the RSS feed is burned using Feedburner, so that they can measure subscriber stats.

Blog URL: http://insite.neimanmarcus.com/

Subscribe to the RSS Feed Here.

Folks can nitpick various elements of their approach. I look forward to seeing how they plan on building a sense of community, how they choose to give customers an inside look at their business. I subscribed to the feed.

Multichannel Business Models

Fifteen weeks as an independent multichannel strategist provide me with a new perspective on multichannel business models. I can see that there are at least six ways that retailers/catalogers are leveraging the online channel, the channel responsible for the "multichannel" moniker. Each business model has unique advantages, and unique challenges.

Model #1 = Simple Online Presence

• These businesses generate the vast majority of their sales by customers who send orders via the mail, or by calling a sales representative in a contact center. The order was stimulated by the mailing of a catalog. The online channel is not a significant driver of sales for businesses in this situation. The customer does not utilize the online channel as a shopping vehicle. At least eighty percent of the net sales happen via the mail, or via telephone. The average customer is at least fifty-five years old.
  

Model #2 = Online Order Form

• These are catalog businesses that use cataloging as the primary marketing vehicle, but provide a robust online experience that causes customers to place their orders online. These businesses struggle with the concept of being "multichannel", because all analytical work indicates that the catalog drives eighty percent or more of online sales. In reality, these businesses are not "multichannel", they are really catalog businesses that take orders online. Still, it is not uncommon for these businesses to generate half of all orders online.

Model #3 = True Catalog Multichannel Model

• It has been my experience that this is the least understood of all business models. These are catalogers that generate at least half of their annual net sales online. However, these catalogers typically believe that the catalog is responsible for driving the online sales. In reality, the online channel developed a foothold in these business models. If catalogs were not mailed to customers, online orders would happen anyway. This is very hard for catalog executives to understand, to digest, to develop strategies against. Company reporting and matchback reporting indicate that the catalog drives online sales. Mail/Holdout testing indicate that at least half of the online sales would happen regardless whether catalogs were mailed or not. These businesses have robust e-mail, paid search, natural search, affiliate, portal and online marketing programs that generate incremental sales. It is this business model that many industry experts and consultants target when they talk about "multichannel marketing".

Model #4 = Retail Business, Catalog Heritage

• These are interesting business models. Be it Coldwater Creek, Williams Sonoma, Lands' End or now Dell, these businesses practice true multichannel marketing, but with a strong focus on ROI. The catalog heritage drives measurement of all advertising activities across all channels. If an aspiring individual wanted the best multichannel lab to build multichannel skills in, I believe these environments provide the best place to gain valuable, portable experience.

Model #5 = Online Business, Retail Heritage

• A Neiman Marcus, Saks or Macy's fit into this business model. The online channel is strictly complementary to the store experience, as the stores are responsible for the lion's share of sales and profit. Management says the right things about multichannel marketing, and do invest in the online experience. That being said, the purpose of being multichannel is to do everything possible to please a store customer. This strategy leads to sub-optimization of the direct channel. Over time, these businesses will lead the online industry in "entertainment". The online channel (and supporting catalog channel) will likely become the entertainment and informational arm of the brand. Of course, a giant retail presence will cause a ton of traffic to migrate online, driving a huge volume of online sales. But the online sales will not be driven by brilliant online marketing or catalog marketing strategies. The online sales will happen because the online channel acts as the entertainment/informational arm of the retail brand experience. There's nothing wrong with this. But it does require a very different set of marketing skills --- traditional online and catalog marketers may be frustrated by this business model. Traditional analytics individuals may not be pleased with the depth of analytical insight required to run these businesses (i.e. the business is run by "brand instinct", not by analytical findings and ROI).
  

Model #6 = Online Pureplay

• These businesses are fundamentally different than the five models described above. These businesses were born online, and utilize a marketing strategy fundamentally different than other businesses. Traffic is driven by online marketing strategies. To compensate for what I call "channel disadvantage" --- not having catalogs or stores, these businesses utilize free-shipping, free-returns, and rock-bottom pricing to gain a competitive advantage. These businesses need to grow to a size large enough to overcome margin and shipping revenue shortfalls. Zappos is probably the best example of a business in this category. The online marketing departments in these companies offer spectacular laboratories for learning online marketing strategies. If I were a college student today, this would be one of my primary industries to target for employment.
  

Strategically, it is very important to understand where your business model falls on this continuum. The way you utilize multichannel marketing and advertising strategies is highly dependent upon the customer base you have, coupled with your heritage and objectives.

Cataloging makes less sense for business models five and six. Traditional cataloging strategies are frequently not congruent with brand-based retail models and online pureplays.

Online marketing makes less sense in the short term for business models one and two. These business models are supported by customers who are not willing to shop on the web without the benefit of catalog merchandise presentation.

Matchback and analytical expertise are probably most critical in business models three and four. Catalog businesses that migrated from model one to model two to model three have the best opportunity to overcome postal increases, because the customers shopping these businesses will purchase online if catalog frequency is reduced.

Your turn, my loyal reader! What e-commerce business models are missing from this list? How might you change these categorizations to make more sense?

Online Advertising And The Marketing Digital Divide

Using SpyFu, one can get very rough estimates of what leading brands spend on online advertising on a daily basis. The data is prone to errors and inaccuracy, but can be used to view general trends.

Take three companies that thrive on catalog marketing, namely L.L. Bean, Lands' End, and Pottery Barn. Here is what SpyFu suggests these companies spend in online marketing, on an annual basis.

• Annual Average Spend Across These Brands = $10,201,000.
• Average Annual Clicks Generated From The Advertising = 12,015,000.
• Average Cost Per Click = $0.87.

Next, look at three large retailers, namely Macy's, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. Here is what SpyFu suggests these companies spend in online marketing, on an annual basis.

• Annual Average Spend Across These Brands = $23,550,000.
• Average Annual Clicks Generated From The Advertising = 33,312,000.
• Average Cost Per Click = $0.78.

Finally, look at two larger-sizes online pureplays, namely Zappos and Blue Nile. Here is what SpyFu suggests these companies spend in online marketing, on an annual basis.

• Annual Average Spend Across These Brands = $40,654,000.
• Average Annual Clicks Generated From The Advertising = 63,483,000.
• Average Cost Per Click = $0.68.

Notice that as we progress from companies with a catalog heritage, to companies with a retail heritage, to companies with an online heritage, the amount of online spend dramatically increases --- and, the average cost per click actually decreases. This is counter to what analytical folks expect to see happen.

I tried to pick companies that had annual traffic that was directionally similar. How the businesses use advertising to drive web traffic is very different. What this does show is that there may be a marketing digital divide. There may be a way for catalogers and retailers to migrate advertising online, and actually see better returns on investment.

As postage escalates, traditional catalogers have an opportunity to emulate the techniques that the folks at Zappos and Blue Nile use. Over the next five years, there is an opportunity to transition advertising strategy from print to online. There is an opportunity to cross over the marketing digital divide.

Neiman Marcus Event Marketing And Google

Multichannel marketers face considerable challenges in using the online channel to manage brand image and promote their own marketing activities.

Do this simple Google Search: Neiman Marcus Event Marketing

A person who is interested in this topic finds the Neiman Marcus website listed at the bottom of the first ten results. More problematic for Neiman Marcus is that my blog is listed sixth.

Of course, Neiman Marcus pays for their brand name, and is prominently listed in the paid search section of the page.

Multichannel CEOs and CMOs: If Kevin Hillstrom at The MineThatData Blog can outperform your megabrand on simple search terms like Neiman Marcus Event Marketing, you have problems you need to address:

• Take ownership of your brand. A good way to do this is to have staff write content that is search friendly, so that your customers will find your website when they search Google. Too much energy has been spent on e-commerce --- this energy caused us to not focus enough on owning our brand. The solution could be to follow Google's rules, and manipulate them for your own benefit.
  

• Is Google your friend or foe? In this case, Google's algorithm somehow finds me more relevant than the brand equity Neiman Marcus spent decades building. Google likes you if you follow their rules. What is your plan for addressing Google's partial ownership of your brand, especially going forward? What do you do when Google gets bigger, and more influential? Do you trust a partner that ranks The MineThatData Blog higher than your own website?
  

The Neiman Marcus Fashion Week Blog

Once you start writing daily blog posts, and earn the right to have an audience, you wonder why companies are SOOOO SLOOOOOW to adopt this form of communication.

So when a reputable company launches a blog, you open your eyes and your mind.

Neiman Marcus is hosting something that resembles a blog, discussing the events transpiring at Fashion Week.

There isn't a social aspect to what is being written. Readers cannot offer their comments. But Neiman Marcus Fashion Director Ken Downing gives his customers a glimpse into an event they can never hope to attend. His writing brings fashion and commerce to life.

Neiman Marcus customers are buying the fusion of the story and the fashion.

Finally, somebody in e-commerce is communicating a story. Somebody is finally romancing the customer.

Downing is channeling Fashion Week to loyal customers, who will spend more than a thousand dollars in a heartbeat based on Ken's writing.

To heck with the ROI of blogging, the IT infrastructure needed to do this, the public relations nightmares that can occur. In fact, to heck with blogging. Why not simply romance your customers for once?

Stop cross-selling and up-selling. Stop trying to avoid shopping cart abandonment. Stop the boring e-mail campaigns. Stop the generic discussion about why your denim jeans are better than twelve thousand other brands.

Start giving your customers something they can't get anywhere else.

Ken Downing is giving his customers insight into an event they cannot hope to attend. He's giving them a reason to purchase something. And that's why we all work for businesses ... we are trying to sell our customers something. Instead of trying to interrupt the customer, give the customer something, SELL them something. Use words, communicate, share your emotion and passion.

Thumbs-up to Neiman Marcus for at least trying something interesting.