Disqus - Latest Comments for vastplanet

Re: Innovation's Nine Critical Success Factors

Michael Vorel — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 10:26:22 -0000

Innovation + future + management + risk seems to summarize these valuable points. I noticed that international market innovation wasn't addressed and curious if a 10th point was considered. Thank you for an excellent article.

Re: Fixing The Magento Checkout Glitch

Michael Vorel — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:24:18 -0000

Hi Michael, first off thank you for writing this post as this has been an odd situation to deal with. I tried your fix on a 1.8 magento professional and still didn't work. Wondering if you might have an alternative that you discovered. Below id my current settings.

Session Validation Settings
Validate REMOTE_ADDR [GLOBAL] NO
Validate HTTP_VIA [GLOBAL] NO
Validate HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR [GLOBAL] NO
Validate HTTP_USER_AGENT [GLOBAL] YES
Use SID on Frontend - Allows customers to stay logged in when switching between different stores. [WEBSITE] YES

Many Thanks,
Michael

Re: The Rise of Foursquare in Numbers [STATS]

Michael Vorel — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:33:25 -0000

Foursquare is excellent, reminds me of when twitter first came out. Something special about emerging trends and congratulations to Foursquare! It's the future

Re: Wire Up Your Customer Base

Michael Vorel — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:31:24 -0000

Another great post, first the Bar B-Ria tips now down to the local level with free tools and segmentation (keep the good ideas flowing). I am presenting on local marketing tomorrow and will use @toysoldiergames as an example of relationship marketing that works! Thanks for sharing

Re: What I Told Simon Last Night

Michael Vorel — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:30:14 -0000

Excellent Advice, I would add mobile text alerts to add reinforcement to the scheduling of appointments. With custom tailored relationship marketing (i.e. batchbook) and word of mouth marketing to encourage others to join it's a win win scenario.

Re: Dear Timberland- You Stink and So Does Retail

Michael Vorel — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:28:19 -0000

Funny you mentioned these boots.
When they first came out a year ago, Timberland did a big advertising push (http://www.youtube.com/watc... and I went to Nordstrom's to buy a pair. They were without stock so I dropped the quest. Fast forward one year to Black Friday '09, again, I felt the need for these in black (although I didn’t see the TV spot) and I checked out Zappos but couldn't pull the trigger. Apparently, customers have been commenting on the fast wear of the sole and weakness in design that lets water in around the tongue. So dropped the search based on the product itself versus the availability. In reading your timely post I see 3 main issues keeping these boots from potential owners:

Problem #1 - Timberland shows TV ad to increase demand but doesn’t stock the store or point the customer to Timberland.com
Problem #2 - Retailers are misinformed and not aware of the ads and potential demand
Problem #3 - Demand outstrips supply

Problem #1
Timberland screwed up the promotion and signals a disconnect internally between marketing and sales. With an expensive TV placement on Thanksgiving they must have been aware of this promotion months in advance and should of at least stocked local Timberland Stores. This was a crucial failure in promotion as it involves only company owned outlets. In Timberland’s defense, the web site does show the shoes in multiple color variations.

Problem #2
Retailers of Timberland not stocking the shoes. In the retailer’s defense -for example, Macy's - it's up to the men’s shoe buyer to determine the shoe assortment and distribution. Most likely, Macy's is trying to stay as lean as possible to survive, and possibly only carrying certain lines in higher volume stores. Timberland can plead all day long to stock up for a promotional campaign but it is Macy's decision to buy or not. However, speaking from an ex-buyer’s perspective maybe Macy’s was not aware of the TV promotion and thus missed an opportunity. Thinking of my first experience at Nordstroms one year ago, this could be a channel management problem with Timberland Account Management. In writing this, I also thought that maybe Timberland wants to take the orders on a direct basis to increase margin.

Problem #3
Demand outstrips supply. I find it interesting that I wanted these boots and so did Chris. I don’t live in a snowy climate, but in sunny Florida, so why we do we both want them? Are there other Timberland Earthkeepers fans out there? So maybe, it’s such a hot seller that Timberland stores, Macy’s and Zappos didn’t receive the inventory they requested?

In summary, as an ecommerce guy, I see this trend continuing and slowly consumers will have less choices available to touch and feel on a local level. Brick and mortar stores are costly to operate and buyers have reduced inventory to keep from being upside-down. Unfortunately, with manufacturers pumping ads of their products, especially during the holiday season, retail stores are out of stock before most people hit the stores. As this trend continues, ecommerce sales will grow and physical retail sales will shrink. Welcome to the new shopping model and hope you find a pair of boots, I know I haven’t yet!

Re: Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash in on your Passion

Michael Vorel — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:15:41 -0000

Congratulations on the new book, looking forward to learning to "crush it" cheers

Re: Thoughts on New York Affiliates Situation

Michael Vorel — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:02:30 -0000

Hi Sam, nice summary. I spent some time today outlining some ideas / plan on how to start an association and what can be done to encourage involvement from many parties as we are all in this together. Time to stand up and make more people aware of this. http://www.vastplanet.com/v...