The Nintendo Game Boy Timeline

Anthropologie.com::: how is this website selling itself online?

Anthropologie touchy-feely?

by Vivian Manning-Schaffel

April 13, 2009 issue

Anthropologie is a moderately upscale American retail chain that curates an assemblage of various brands for a decidedly feminine lifestyle.

With stores arranged in impeccably casual fashion, they provide their target consumers (women 28‒42) with an eclectic boutique-like shopping experience where they can gather items such as vibrant dishcloths, an overstuffed antique-looking sofa, a great pair of jeans and a progressive, designer bag—all in one convenient location.

Owned and operated by Urban Outfitters, Inc., the company responsible for its signature chain, Urban Outfitters, as well as the collegiate clothing brand Free People, Anthropologie began seven years ago as a direct-mail business, opening its first retail outlet in a sizable New Jersey mall. Boasting an impressive category growth of 27.6 percent in the past year alone, Urban Outfitters, Inc. and the brands under its umbrella are bucking financial trends with an upward swing in a downward-facing economy.
According to their website, the founders of Anthropologie created the chain to “cultivate a shopping experience unlike almost anything else in retail today.” Their touchy-feely messaging matches their feminine look, describing their collection of designers as artists with “an eye for craftsmanship, the smallest details, and that certain something special that makes each item you find in our stores and website more than novelty but a personal discovery.” Matching the romantic sensibility of many of their products, it also refers to their consumers as “soulmates.”
Despite never having advertised, Anthropologie’s customers stay longer in the stores than most chain shoppers, with an average visit clocking in at an hour and 15 minutes. Brandchannel paid a visit to Anthropologie.com to see if their online presence invites users to linger over their own special brand of boho mojo.
When a brand has such a strong identity woven into their catalog, the ideal would be to match that sensibility online, which Anthropologie does—at least visually. The homepage focuses on trends and “pushes” seasonal items with accompanying tag lines that outline the solutions to your shopping dilemmas (“Wild about bottoms, bewildered by tops? Visit Bottoms Up!”).
Such vast product offerings can be challenging to organize and display, but the folks at Anthropologie take a methodical, traditional approach to online sales, keeping the basics all in order with clear product images and detailed information.
It’s one task to make your brand’s website look as good as your catalog or your stores, but it’s another to entice target consumers to linger by offering tangible benefits from shopping on the site. The “For Your Home” section has found a way to do this with “Dwelling Dos” that provide a combination of information and interaction. For example, the homepage, featuring hardware, informs consumers about the benefits of their vast selection of drawer pulls and leads them to a “Personalize Your Look” page that encourages viewers to drag and drop the drawer pulls on mock furniture pieces so they get a visual of what the accessories might look like in life.
However, the “For Your Self” section, featuring clothing and accessories, is surprisingly devoid of value-added fashion content, save for a spotlight widget that delivers a featured product of the day to users’ desktops. They might consider upping the ante. By providing online shoppers with style guidance to help them assemble that chic Anthropologie look, the brand in turn enhances its positioning as an arbiter of bohemian style.
Overall, Anthropologie.com does a decent job of conveying the decidedly feminine sophistication of the brand. With a few tweaks and additions of value-added content to beef up the “For Your Self” section, perhaps visitors will be inspired to linger online as they do in retail.

Sephora:: flawless

by Jenn Gidman

May 26, 2008 issue

When the biblically renowned Sephora hotfooted it with Moses on his exodus to the Red Sea, she probably could have used a pitstop at the beauty retail chain that today bears her name—after all, all that time in the arid desert air surely didn’t bode well for a gal’s looks and general hygiene (though Yvonne De Carlo certainly held up well in the Cecil B. DeMille account).

Since its inception in 1969 in France (the first US store made its debut in 1998), Europe’s hottest beauty retail chain was acquired by luxury-products conglomerate LVMH in 1997 and now claims an extensive lineup of upscale skincare, makeup, hair, and fragrance products in a “visionary” retail setting. Customers can shop in-store, online at Sephora.com (boasting more than 12,000 products from nearly 200 brands), or through the brand’s catalog.

Today, more than 500 Sephora stores dot the global landscape (even Serbia, Oman, and Qatar have their own Sephora), inviting customers to browse the wares, spritz on the eau de toilette, and indulge in an afternoon of creative cosmetics, all in a setting where every customer is treated more like the regal Nefertiti than her hard-scrabble romantic rival.

The Sephora apple doesn’t fall far from the LVMH tree. Like its sister brands (LVMH is also the parent company of Louis Vuitton, TAG Heuer, and Moët and Chandon, among others), Sephora tries to lure in a free-spending demographic with dollars to drop on their beauty regimen. But it’s not just the stock on the shelves (including Sephora’s own private label) that draws in the aroma-obsessed crowds—it’s the whole Sephora experience.

Sephora doesn’t want shopping for your cosmetics to be relegated to something you squeeze in between dropping off your dry-cleaning and heading to a dentist appointment—the Sephora svengalis would rather you liken your visit to an afternoon spent at the spa or relaxing at a local coffeehouse. Taken right from the company’s own “Beauty Statement”: “Step in and enter a whole new dimension of shopping for beauty… Each of your senses will be delightfully stimulated in a stress-free shopping environment that celebrates the freedom and joy in exploring and sampling an unparalleled selection of beauty products.”

Who needs a hot-stone aromatherapy massage when you can just go shopping?
Adhering to this brand message means making its customers feel like royalty. Sephora tries to extend its “velvet rope” philosophy by offering attentive (but not stifling) customer service, a generous sampling program, and perks like its Beauty Insider card, a customer-loyalty program that offers personalized e-mails, insider-only products, and even a gift on your birthday.

It doesn’t hurt that Sephora is also able to track all your purchases through the card so it can more effectively sell its wares to you down the line—Big Brother is indeed watching from under well-groomed eyebrows.

The Beautiful People

The “open-sell environment” that the company promotes means that customers don’t have to feel guilty for laying their paws on the parfum. Instead, they’re afforded full license to handle the goods without the high-pressure sales environment of a department store, yet with more of an upscale feel (and more hands-on access) than your local drugstore. They’re free to explore, experiment, and play to piece together their own individual beauty curriculum—an integral component of the Sephora brand.

The spartan store design promotes ease of use for busy beauties. The major categories (skincare, fragrance, haircare, etc.) are featured in simple glass displays, as neatly organized as a taxonomist’s medicine cabinet, all within easy view (and touch). As long as you know your ABCs (everything’s alphabetically arranged according to brand or designer label), you’ll be able to find your BORBA, Bourjois, and Burberry in short order. It’s a cosmetic shopper’s dream, whether you’re in the mood to spend hours sampling the wares or you actually do need to pick up your beauty products on your lunch hour.

Don’t go searching for Maybelline or Cover Girl here: Some of the store’s most popular brands include Dior, Cargo, and Smashbox, as well as hard-to-find brands such as Fusion Beauty, T3, and Anastasia. They’re all there on the freestanding racks with sticks for perfume sampling, open tubes of lipstick, and a handy bottle of makeup remover to wipe all evidence away before your boyfriend gets back from the Gap and Sharper Image.

Though don’t be surprised if your man sticks around once he’s inside: While most guys wouldn’t be caught dead getting a makeover at the Bloomie’s cosmetics counter, somehow it doesn’t seem odd to see an alpha male sampling Peter Thomas Roth botanical buffing beads inside Sephora. Age knows no bounds within the Sephora realm, either: You’re just as likely to rub elbows with a teenager picking up a Juicy Couture gift set as you are to see her grandmother making a Clinique or Lancome purchase.
The Big Sell

While there are always Sephora staff on the ready to help you with your selection, you don’t have to run through the front entrance to avoid being attacked by the “spritzers” or have to butter up the salesperson to find out the price of that Stella McCartney tote. Employees are all well versed in the art of the subtle sell, knowing when to approach and offer beauty tips, and knowing when to let you enjoy your makeup demo in peace.

In fact, Sephora's hired hands (or “cast members,” as they’re called) are one of the other factors the company hopes to differentiate themselves with. Each team member undergoes intensive training in a skincare, hair care, and general beauty program to assist customers with their inquiries.

In October 2007, the company opened the doors to Sephora University, a 25,000-plus-square-foot training facility with more than 30 programs for employees, including Science of Sephora, a weeklong class in general beauty; Encore classes, an additional weeklong session that allows employees to specialize in skincare, color, or fragrance; leadership courses; and product master classes provided by individual cosmetics brands themselves to teach specific techniques unique to each brand (though, unlike department store counterparts, Sephora consultants aren’t “encouraged” to push certain brands on their unsuspecting clients).

To pump up their workforce (and ostensibly pump up its image as the “beauty authority”), Sephora also recently conducted a nationwide talent search of its employees and put together its first Pro Beauty Team, which now represents the company at in-store events and fashion shows nationwide (the chosen members also claim bragging rights as anointed beauty gurus in their hometowns).

Strategic Alliances

While it’s positioned itself as the ultimate beauty expert, Sephora isn’t above aligning itself with leaders in other industries to strengthen its own brand position. The first major synergistic relationship it formed was with the J.C. Penney department store chain, creating a “store-within-a-store” retail concept that positions each Penney’s Sephora in the center core of the store, staffed by Sephora consultants. This offensive strategic move indicated the cosmetics giant wasn’t content to passively compete with the department-store cosmetics counter across the mall aisles—it was ready to invade and vanquish from within.

The Home Shopping Network (HSN) was next Sephora’s next co-branding conquest. Starting in February 2007, five hours of HSN programming each month was committed to Sephora shows, featuring Sephora experts presenting a plethora of new products and brands. This enterprise proves lucrative for both companies: HSN ups Sephora’s visibility factor by bringing the brand into more than 89 million households (the network’s increasingly sophisticated 25-to-54 female demographic has long since moved beyond appliquéd cat sweaters and cubic zirconia), and Sephora offers HSN an extensive and popular beauty channel to add to its portfolio.

But though Sephora is all about looking good on the outside, it also recognizes that beauty really comes from within, leading to its teamwork with Operation Smile, a not-for-profit medical organization that offers help to kids with cleft lips and palates. As part of this alliance, Operation Smile’s logo was positioned on Sephora products, raising awareness and funds for the charity (a portion of each sale went to the medical organization).

Of course, high-profile promotions, “university”-trained staff and customer appreciation cards do not a luxury brand make. While Sephora is trying to sell elements of the high life, some in the industry fear that it represents a “dumbing down” or devaluation of true luxury items—after all, where else can you get a hedonistic makeup consultation, then head across the mall to Dave & Buster’s to grab a Bud Light and a game of Skee-Ball?

So far, though, mainly through word of mouth and viral campaigning, Sephora has managed to bridge the gap between drugstore drudgery and department-store counter coercion to enjoy the sweet smell of both its perfumes and its branding success.

Goldschläger

Goldschläger
flakey?
by Abram Sauer
March 23, 2009 issue

For decades, Goldschläger, the cinnamon-flavored alcohol with real gold flakes in it, was a strongly branded product. Recently, however, the brand has weakened, and its decline perfectly illustrates the difference between having a strong brand and having strong name recognition. Let’s begin by examining the main characteristics that differentiate Goldschläger from other brands: 1) it contains real gold flakes and 2) … nothing else.

Goldschläger’s brand is not entirely ineffective, but it is limited by its single-platform approach in such a competitive market. The product’s uniqueness is easily replicable and consequently not a great brand strength. For example, if I launched an alcoholic beverage that contained gold flakes and named it Bullionhessë, I would have already replicated Goldschläger’s core brand strength.

In fact, there are several spirits brands that feature flakes of gold, including Danziger Goldwasser and Gold Strike. Gold Rush is a newer brand (presumably launched to capitalize on Goldschläger’s sudden popularity). Until recently, Goldschläger’s dominance over these competitors was largely due to favorable distribution. How many bottle shops need to carry a full line of gold-flake-infused spirits?

Originating in Switzerland and now homed in Italy under the Diageo stable of spirit brands, little can be easily learned about Goldschläger’s beginnings. (Diageo declined to participate in this profile.) What is known is that it is a cinnamon-flavored schnapps and that the gold leaf floating inside amounts to less than a tenth of a gram. Rumors that the gold creates microscopic cuts that speed alcohol absorption have been largely disproved.

Before addressing the deep shift currently going on with the Goldschläger brand, it’s important to note a fundamental paradox Goldschläger faces: price point. The brand could set a price point that would be on par for a beverage with real gold (!) floating around in it (i.e., the Dom Perignon range), but that would likely result in few consumers because—other than flamboyant grotesques like Donald Trump—genuinely wealthy people tend to want their high-end brands more subdued. Yet, by setting a low price point (i.e., its current sub-US$ 30 one), consumers will scrutinize why a drink that’s supposed to have real gold (!) in it costs about the same as a bottle of mass-market tequila.

For many years Goldschläger existed largely as a novelty—that crazy booze with real gold in it! Then came the rise of Jägermeister, a drink with which Goldschläger would come to share much more than umlauts—namely, a future alongside each other on bar shelves everywhere.

Once a German digestive aide, Jägermeister rose to popularity with hard-drinking American youth thanks almost entirely to marketing by the legendary Sidney Frank (who then went on to make Grey Goose vodka and Corazon tequila top-shelf brands). Jägermeister sales in the US went from just over 50,000 cases a year in 1985 to 2.7 million just 20 years later. The originally-dour brand’s unlikely rise, like Pabst Blue Ribbon beer’s recent explosion, has inspired competing brands and attention, with even the Washington Post throwing in its two cents by declaring, “Tuaca soon will be the new Jagermeister.” A bold statement that will almost assuredly mean it will not.

Somewhere along its move from German diuretic and occasional insect trap bait to college fraternity party staple, Jägermeister became entwined with Goldschläger. A bevy of recipes now combine the two into a rogues’ gallery of shots, including the “Oatmeal Cookie,” “Four Horsemen,” “Viking Funeral,” “JägerSchläger,” “Tonya Harding” and “Dead Hitler.” The difficulty of actually doing a Goldschläger shot (due to intense flavor) has also tied its character to Jägermeister’s. The connection to this “scene” has changed the Goldschläger brand identity from one of novelty item to one associated with drinks that end in the word “bomb.” Its rise in popularity has been noted in pop culture as well, where the brand appeared on the hit show The Office ((Dwight: “Goldschläger. Extra flakes.”) and was spoofed in the film Superbad (as “GoldSlick”).

This brand metamorphosis has been puzzling for Goldschläger. In addition to a change to the brand’s identity there is also a power shift in which half of the brand’s owner-consumer relationship is doing the most identifying. Diageo is losing some control of its brand—a common consequence from a boost in business. The real challenge for Goldschläger, however, is to engage its new identity.

In 2003, Goldschläger attempted to court its new demographic. It went poorly. With ads featuring very young men holding Goldschläger bottles and wearing protective equipment like crash helmets and safety goggles, the brand made the invite: “Drinking a shot with friends should be enjoyable. So be careful out there.” Consumer groups were not impressed or amused. Diageo pulled the ads and appears to have learned its lesson, as no others have been forthcoming.

And why should they? Even without conventional advertising, Goldschläger’s popularity benefits from the undercurrents of the in-the-know. One trip through YouTube’s collection of “Goldschläger” related videos is all the promotion the brand needs. This collection even includes a homemade near-genuine ad. The brand is so at peace with its trajectory that it doesn’t even bother maintaining a website (having been “currently undergoing maintenance” for quite some time).

Yet it is a stretch to think that any of Goldschläger’s current market would want to go to their official site. That’s what a Facebook page is for: “Goldschläger... It’s like someone chewed a shit load of Big Red and spit in my mouth. But it’s totally awesome...” Indeed, Tama of Napa, California, indeed.

With that level of customer loyalty, Goldschläger’s brand is poised to become stronger and stronger one shot a time.

Coca Cola Oldies

Saffola oil spill

by Preeti Khicha

March 16, 2009 issue

Saffola, a leading brand of commodity products in India, knows that it must pay attention to online customer engagement to ensure that visitors stick around for more than just a few minutes—as they do at a supermarket shelf.

The Saffola brand, owned by Marico Industries, retails a portfolio of products like salt and flour, but the brand name is popularly associated with its core product—cooking oil. In the cooking oil segment, the brand has garnered tremendous trust and is practically a generic name among homemakers.
The brand has been very successful in promoting health as a central theme throughout its messaging—especially on its website, where a diverse selection of products is featured.
On the brand’s homepage, the site’s color scheme is reminiscent of the brand’s bright yellow packaging that stands out in grocery stores. The center of the homepage is dedicated to promoting the brand’s latest offering in the market—a salty baked snack called Saffola Zest.
The imagery of a happy Indian family grabbing a bowl of snacks conveys that the product is a healthy snack meant for everyone. Given the health controversies revolving around the oil and salt content of potato crisps, the launch of this “healthy” option—with its call to “Say No To Fried Snacks. Say Yes To Baked Goodness.”—is well timed, and should garner sales among health-conscious consumers.
Details on the product are displayed in a simple manner—flavor, price and some bullet points on its healthy aspects. There are no overwrought or glitzy descriptions—perhaps to compel visitors to stay curious and take the extra effort to learn about the product.
The rest of the homepage follows a clean layout and is focused on other relevant details about Saffola’s brand—its products and recipes and its commitment to health and wellness. Clicking on the Products section leads to a page that explains how Saffola flour is beneficial for diabetics. Sadly, other products are somewhat hidden—for no apparent reason—on the left menu bar of the page.
In terms of layout, the brand could definitely take a few pointers from Wesson—a brand of vegetable oil produced by ConAgra foods. Rather than scattered content, the Wesson site has a well-structured products page where color and layout blend beautifully together to create a page that is visually appealing.
Sticking to its objective, the site has all the necessary tools to effectively characterize Saffola as a “health-conscious” brand. The Eating Right section educates the reader about nutrition myths, beverages, health benefits from particular plants and other pertinent health topics. Also, accompanying images break any content monotony and make the page more reader friendly.
The Healthy Heart link on the homepage transports the web user to a section that outlines the initiatives the brand has taken in the community. The company has organized several outreach programs, and details on such events are available online. Corporate social responsibility is an important facet of any brand today, and Saffola does an admirable job describing these initiatives on its site. A more prominent header, however, would ensure that visitors don’t miss this section while browsing.


Given that Saffola is in the food business, the Recipes section is important. Saffola keeps its target audience (housewives) happy with an extensive roster of recipes but could exhibit more business savvy by weaving Saffola products into the recipes—similar to what Bertolli has done. Another value addition to the site could be a section on “quotes from the experts,” where leading Indian doctors can give their opinion on the benefits of Saffola products.
From health tips to the Dial-a-Dietician feature, the site successfully conveys the message that Saffola is a health-conscious brand that cares about its consumers. Yet the website could expand its online presence by providing information detailing its parent company's plans to leverage Saffola’s brand equity.
The Saffola website is a wise place to execute this endeavor.


Preeti Khicha currently lives in Mumbai, India. She graduated from the University of Bath, UK, with a master's degree in management, specializing in marketing. She holds an undergraduate degree in economics and psychology from the University of Virginia, USA.