According to a recent study by Channel Advisor, consumers are getting more savvy when it comes to researching products before making a purchase. That’s not exactly new news. But consumer activity in finding promotions, coupons, and viral codes is increasing — much to the chagrin of online retails. Sites such as CouponCabin.com and RetailMeNot.com are making it easy for consumers to search out brands, retailers, and even general products. The deals, promotions, and coupon codes are all user generated and encourage users to vote on the effectiveness of promotions. Great deal for consumers — Perhaps a lousy deal for retails.

Charles Nicholls, founder of SeeWhy, says that this doesn’t have to be a losing game for retailers. Nicholls suggests that e-commerce sites follow the lead of retailers such as Macy’s and OfficeMax in preventing consumers for posting such codes on third-party sites. Instead, he suggests that retailers use their own voucher sites to avoid consumers going outside of the domain.  He says that department store retailer Macy’s does this well. By creating its own voucher site, Macy’s makes their codes public and stays in control of their promotions.

MACYS SITE

Additionally, Nicholls lauds OfficeMax’s approach in which the retailers has added a hyperlink under the Promotion Code box so that visitor’s can sign up for an Office Max newsletter to get deals. By doing so, OfficeMax avoids users searching elsewhere, and also adds consumers to its regular correspondence.

Nicholls does say, however, that the newsletter is a nice approach, but probably won’t stop some shoppers from searching out promo codes, anyway.

What is your experience with online coupons from sites such as RetailMeNot.com? Do they work for you? Are you finding it more difficult than before to find coupons? If a company prohibits such sites from sharing promotions, how does that make you feel about that particular retailer?

As I’m sure you have noticed from various media outlets, promotions, events, etc, that today is Earth Today. It’s a nice chance to raise awareness about our environment and what we could be doing to live more sustainably. It’s also interesting to see how various retailers are using the day to promote their green or natural products.

For example, The Polish Bar of Brooklyn ( a salon in my Brooklyn neighborhood) today sent out a e-newsletter introducing its new line of eco-friendly cosmetics. The text reads: “By educating ourselves and our customers, we are doing our part to create a healthy environment for our Glamour Gals.”

Other Earth Day marketing messages include:

A local IKEA store in Canton Township is giving away 1,000 blue spruce saplings in honor of Earth Day. The giveaway is not a companywide initiative.

Department store chain Macy’s today is selling reusable shopping bags for $1.95. They are then giving $1 from each sale to the National Park Foundation.

Some larger retailers are making Earth Day headlines with corporate-wide initiatives:

Today super retailer Wal-Mart announced it will increase its use of solar power. According to a USA Today article, Wal-Mart plans to double its usage of solar power energy by adding rooftop solar arrays to as many as 20 stores and distribution centers in California.

Today Delta Airlines sent its mile counters this an email newsletter with this message: “To celebrate Earth Day, we will match all carbon offset donations made April 22 through May 22 at delta.com. Together, our efforts will help The Conservation Fund’s Go Zero® program plant trees and restore habitats for wildlife.”

We’ve been writing quite a bit recently about the doom-and-gloom mentality that’s gripping the retail community:

• Black Friday Predictions
• The Litany of Retail Woe: 50 Chains Shutting Stores
• 2009 Holiday Retail Forecast: “It’s Going To Be a Disaster.”
  A depressed shopping season may lead to a transformation of consumer behavior — and the disappearance of several brand-name retailers.
• Insight: Holiday Humbug
  Will the Grinch steal retail’s favorite season?

Well, after the jump, we’re taking a quick look ’round the Web for early results of this year’s Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that’s traditionally seen as the start of the holiday-shopping season. The consensus seems to be that there isn’t any consensus: Having lowered expectations to such a degree, retailers are perhaps getting a bit of good ink for notching a measly 3 percent bump.

In the aftermath, retailers are already steeling themselves for “Cyber Monday,” the online equivalent of “door-buster” sales. (And there’s a phrase, btw, that will have to be retired, following the tragic death Friday of a Wal-Mart employee who was trampled by a sale-crazed mob at a mall on Long Island.)

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A frighteningly long list of retail closures came across the transom during the last few days, and while I haven’t yet fact-checked every point (stay tuned for links, chronology, etc.), I quickly found enough supporting material to merit republishing and amending the list here. (You may have seen a similar list mass-emailed around; I’ve added several additional points.)

Even if one or two bullet points are off in detail, the sheer breadth of the damage here is breathtaking. The bloodbath crosses every kind of retail sector, and is clearly not just a reflection of the tough times we’re in, but a harbinger of worse times to come.

Every closed retail location may represent eventual savings for the company involved (after shouldering the actual costs of the close itself, that is), but also represents dozens or even hundreds of out-of-work employees (who are, after all, someone else’s customers), reductions up the supply chain, and rent and taxes removed from that store’s local economy.

In other words, this is bad news with ripple effects that will be felt for months and years to come. (For starters? According to one report, “Consumers will lose $100 million this year on worthless gift cards, from restaurants and stores that have gone belly up.”)

The list includes retailers that have shuttered (or plan to shutter) their entire chains and filed for bankruptcy protection (Linens ‘N Things, The Sharper Image) and ongoing concerns that have nevertheless announced severe cutbacks (Home Depot, Gap, Macy’s).

Full list after the jump, but feel free to comment below with any other names we should add to this list.

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First, Happy Halloween!

OK, that’s out of the way. To me, the best part about Halloween is that it marks the unofficial beginning of the holiday shopping season. At Macy’s in Herald Square, just a quick jaunt around the corner from CRM magazine’s office in Midtown Manhattan, you can already see Christmas lights being strewn up in preparation.

Not only are people getting a head start on hanging lights to spread holiday cheer, but they are also shopping earlier. With an economy that make many say “no, no, no” instead of “ho, ho, ho,” consumers are looking for the best prices as early as possible as their budgets for discretionary purchases continue to shrink.

With less than two months left until floors are littered with torn wrapping paper with images of sleighs, Charlie Brown, snowmen, and other images of holiday yore, many small businesses looking to cash in during this usually prime shopping season seem to be increasingly focused on shoring up the customer experience it provides to those poring through their shelves — or online catalogs. As my fellow CRMer Lauren McKay points out in an earlier blog post, the stakes are even higher this year for businesses because of the economic downturn.

A study conducted by RatePoint, a Needham, Mass.-based customer feedback solution provider for small-to-midsize businesses (SMB) finds companies are getting the message loud and clear:

• more than 80 percent said business reputation and solid customer support impacts their ability to attract and retain consumers;
• forty percent report they are hiring up to five new employees for customer support over the holidays to help manage inquiries, orders, and returns; and
• most will spend an average of 10 hours monitoring their reputation to safeguard against any possible early warning signs of customer issues.

To Richard Turcott, chief marketing officer or RatePoint, this shows him many in the SMB segment are realizing the importance of forging quality customer relationships, as he says this is directly correlated with company reputation. He was particularly shocked by the second survey nugget, the fact that almost half of SMB owners say they’re hiring up to five new employees despite the economic environment.

While he admits the new hires may not all be full time, it is the principle that matters most. “The SMBs are sticking their necks out, providing exemplary support, and demonstrating they are customer-centric businesses,” he says. “These [new additions] are primarily part-time employees, but [nonetheless] provide a great view in which the small business community sees feedback and service as an important driver to helping them stay strong through this tough economic climate. These [organizations] are building equity rather than short-term hits.”

In a time when Web 2.0 technology is the soapbox du jour for many consumers sounding off about a company’s products or services, having a strategy to proactively cull and act upon customer feedback is even more important. “The prevalence of social media perpetuates the ease in which competitors and disgruntled employees can say negative things about a business,” Turcott says. “For small businesses, it’s more a necessity than a luxury to actively manage its online reputation. If they don’t know it now, they will very soon.”

For the SMBs — and also larger enterprises — out there gearing up for the holiday season, what strategies are you using to manage customer feedback and consequently improve the experience your shoppers have?