2012 100 - Networld Media Group

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RETAIL CROWDSOURCING
Crowdsourcing will soon become as
commonplace as outsourcing. Retail
marketers need more crowdsourcing to
open up their talent pool for research
and development. The strategy “greatly
reduces costs to the retailers because
they’re only paying for the idea, not
the process,” says C.J. Kettler of Genius
Crowds. “Crowdsourcing provides a
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WILLIAMS-SONOMA
way to build sustainable relationships
with consumers and thereby develop
a deeper connection and better brand
loyalty.” According to Alisa Gould-
Simon, director of marketing and
communications at Pose.com, a free
mobile shopping application, “Brands
are looking at ways to not only listen
to their customers but allow them to
WHOLE FOODS
The upheaval in the commercial property
market has created opportunities
for companies looking to expand, and
Whole Foods has identified locations
where it “can put some bets down and
take advantage of that,” says co-CEO
Walter Robb. After stumbling during
the recession, the country’s largest
seller of natural and organic foods is
now outperforming other grocery sellers.
Whole Foods has lowered prices
Williams-Sonoma is seeing benefits from the high-end sales recovery,
helped along by the shift to online and strong merchandising in
its stores, according to David Strasser of Janney Capital Markets. Earlier
this year, Williams-Sonoma announced it would invest $75 million
in e-commerce and the information technology and supply chain
solutions to support it in fiscal 2011, with $25 million earmarked specifically
for long-term international e-commerce growth. Due in large
part to its rapid online growth, Williams-Sonoma’s direct-to-consumer
channel already contributes an impressive 41 percent to the company’s
overall revenues, with that figure expected to reach 43 percent.
“E-commerce is not only our fastest growing but also our most profitable
channel,” said CEO Laura Alber, “and, therefore, its growth as a percentage
of total company revenues increases overall corporate profitability.”
participate in the online shopping process.”
Australia-based Shoes of Prey is
apparently meeting a tremendous demand
by giving women the power to
design their own shoes. According to
founder Jodie Fox, women have collectively
spent more than 15 million minutes
designing shoes on their site since
the company’s launch in October 2009.
and cleaned up its balance sheet. Now,
it’s debt-free, gaining market share and
generating good cash flow. In June,
Robb announced that Whole Foods
plans to use some of its cash to speed
up store openings, with the eventual
goal of operating 1,000 stores in the
U.S., up from around 300 currently. As
part of its health-and-wellness initiatives,
Whole Foods also plans to open
wellness clubs in five U.S. cities.
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