by Mark H. Goldstein | CEO
The retail paradigm continues to change. Its no longer OK to stack product and allow people to transact…not that this is a new observation but its a slightly different perspective for a geeky Silicon Valley guy.
by Mark H. Goldstein | CEO
LiveNation gets to dump unsold concert tickets on out of town guests, Hiltons gets to rev its marketing and associate with good time rock n roll.
Rock N’ Roll This Summer on Hilton HHonors(R): HHonors Teams up with LiveNation.com to Give Members Complimentary Concert Passes to Live Nation Amphitheatres across the Country
Hilton HHonors Members Earn a Complimentary Ticket to a Live
Nation Amphitheatre Event with Every Summer StayBEVERLY HILLS, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 19, 2008–
Hilton HHonors, one of the world’s premiere hotel loyalty programs, has announced a new promotion with Live Nation, the world’s largest live music company. The promotion allows HHonors members to earn a complimentary, general admission lawn ticket to a Live Nation amphitheatre concert, when they stay at a Hilton Family hotel between June 16 and August 31, 2008. All members have to do is register via the dedicated enrollment page HiltonHHonors.com/RockandRollSummer.Registered HHonors members who stay at a Hilton Family hotel between June 16 and August 31 will automatically receive an e-mail with a redemption code good for a complimentary general admission ticket to any concert at a participating Live Nation amphitheatre (subject to availability). To get a complimentary ticket, HHonors members simply enter their code at LiveNation.com/Hilton and choose a concert. Members will also be able to purchase additional general admission lawn tickets at the time of redemption. There are no limits on the amount of complimentary tickets that can be earned or number of shows members can see.
Live Nation offers performances by some of the world’s greatest artists at amphitheatres throughout the continental United States. With many of its participating amphitheatres close to major cities like Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Seattle, they are also just a short distance to Hilton Family hotels, allowing members to stay near the venue while earning their next complimentary ticket.
“Hilton HHonors is always looking for ways to enhance our members’ travel experiences, and this summer we would like HHonors members to be our guest at some of the season’s most exciting events,” said Adam Burke, Senior Vice President, Customer Loyalty, Hilton Hotels Corporation. “We’re especially proud of this promotion with Live Nation because it gives our members a chance to earn complimentary concert tickets in addition to points and miles with each stay.”
“Collaborating with Hilton HHonors is just another way that Live Nation can connect music fans to their favorite artists this summer,” said Maureen Ford, President of Sales, North American Music at Live Nation. “With a variety of Hilton Family hotel locations near Live Nation amphitheatres, it’s a wonderful way to reward Hilton HHonors members with an exciting live music experience.”
by Mark H. Goldstein | CEO
Microsoft (not a Loyalty Lab client) bought innovative affiliate marketer www.Jellyfish.com last year—well, they put the money to good use. Their cashback service, live today, represents impressive execution. I am a fan of reward programs and this one is going to work. Consumers respond to winning and Microsoft has a unique offering now relative to Google, AOL and Yahoo that mainstream America will jump onto. Their Cashback service will begin to stem Microsoft’s market share slide and allow them to stay in the game while they debate the next best way to be competitive to Google. Microsoft’s ownership of Jellyfish ensured the Jellyfish team was focused on one important project: Make money for Microsoft assets. Buying Jellyfish was a smart way for Microsoft to have a great Cashback offer for Microsoft Search. M&A does work. 
The WSJ sums up their foray:
Microsoft Offers Reward
Consumers Can Get
Cash for Purchases
Via Search Service
By JESSICA E. VASCULAR and ROBERT A. GUTH
May 22, 2008; Page B3
Microsoft Corp. announced a plan to pay consumers who buy items they find through the software company’s search service, the latest in a series of moves to gain ground on Google Inc. in the lucrative business of Internet search.
The idea to get consumers to use a search service by enticing them with financial rewards has been tried by companies before with little success. Microsoft, a relative latecomer to the search business, believes it can improve upon the concept by implementing it on a broader scale and by coupling it with new options for advertisers.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced the new service, Microsoft Live Search cashback, at the company’s annual event for advertisers. The program includes products from 700 merchants, including Barnes & Noble.com and Overstock.com. Consumers who buy items from participating merchants after searching for them and clicking on an ad can get a cash rebate via an online Microsoft account they create.
The offering is designed to help attract a greater share of commerce-related queries.
Microsoft also is hoping the program will draw new advertisers seeking a more precise return on their investment and choices beyond traditional models, such as paying every time an ad is viewed or clicked on.
Merchants who participate in the program will be able to select a variety of options for buying advertising from Microsoft, including paying Microsoft only when a customer completes a sale. Google has begun testing a similar model that calls for advertisers to pay Google only when a consumer completes a specified action, such as buying a product or filling in a form.
The Live Search rebates are set as a percentage of the purchase price of an item and vary among merchants. Users can find a 5% rebate on a $60 coffee maker or 2% on a $120 digital camera, for instance.
Ellen Siminoff, chairman of search-marketing company Efficient Frontier Inc., said advertisers are eager to test new models that can help them spend their dollars more wisely, but that a variety of tools already exist to help them calculate spending on the likelihood it will result in a particular action, such as a sale. She predicts marketers will spend more money on the program if it increases the number of searches through Microsoft’s search engine.
In April, Microsoft sites captured 9.1% of the U.S. search market, roughly flat from April 2007, according to comScore Inc. Google’s market share in the period rose to 61.6% from 56.1%.
Microsoft withdrew an unsolicited offer to buy Internet giant Yahoo Inc. May 3 but has floated a proposal that includes acquiring Yahoo’s search-advertising business, according to people familiar with the discussions.
The software company has tried to use financial incentives before to lift its share of the search market. In 2006, Microsoft tried a sweepstakes-like search service through which users could win prizes if their search terms matched those on a random list. Last year, it started its Live Search Club, in which users earn prizes for completing puzzles that involve searches.
The company’s latest attempt is based on technology and partnerships Microsoft acquired by buying comparison-shopping site Jellyfish late last year.
by Mark H. Goldstein | CEO
I simply wanted to post this on the blog for all to take notice. Like anything sweet—too much email is not a good thing! Email efficacy is way down and plummeting by the day……there are some merchants I will no longer visit because their email cadence was insulting. Think smart and show your customers respect.
by Mark H. Goldstein | CEO
Nau (www.nau.com), my favorite new retail brand has gone belly up. 
I was friendly with management-so it’s a gray day. I loved their passion for eco-affairs and their merchandise…style and fit-wise and their out-there merchandising ideas. But, they were too way out-there. Their desire to change the world, change how products were sold, change how products got fulfilled to the customer AND change the athletic-wear paradigm–from pure performance to a combination of luxury and performance—IT WAS WAY TOO MUCH! Lesson learned, change comes a bit more organically and changing the world takes lots of capital, lots of time and lots of luck.
by Mark H. Goldstein | CEO
Moosejaw, my clear #1 outdoor retailer website (with Altrec at #2 and Backcountry fading but holding on at #3) is pushing PayPal at its in-store kiosk. Expect REI and other big boxes to follow with making PayPal a featured check-out option. AND….Don’t expect PayPal parent eBay to not aggressively push for PayPal everywhere either…PayPal is now one of the favored payment choices for the ‘card carrying’ generation aged 35 and younger.
Traditional credit card providers and stores need to recognize this and add more relevant perceived convenience and reward value to their card services. This doesn’t mean offering low-cost debit options to compete with PayPal, IMHO—it’s too late for that. PayPal has critical mass and owns the peer-to-peer payments world. It likely means continuing to add web and service innovation at the edges that directly appeal to today’s younger buyers and influencers….it also means lots of experimentation with mobile payment and bar code technologies. Don’t expect immediate success but by not experimenting, established card firms are far more likely to miss it when critical-mass adoption takes off.
by Mark H. Goldstein | CEO
Great start Budweiser!
Now the secret is going to be to move beyond a PLCC-only program to get to critical mass. I have many a friend who would be proud members of the Bud Army.
by Mark H. Goldstein | CEO
The latest news on BlueSky combined with earlier announcements from Sharper Image, Lillian Vernon, Coldwater Creek and many others likely to come signals that catalogers need to reassess their business models. The days are over when catalogers could flood mailboxes monthly with 4c glitz and wow. They sort of hit a perfect storm a few months back – the consumer buying slowdown (especially in home goods and the ‘near high-end category’, a place where catalogers have thrived), increased postage costs, increased paper costs and the web finally tipping to over 50% of any direct marketer sales.
Is cataloging dead? No. Multi-channel retailing is alive and well and the print channel (direct via USPS) and/or via inserts, stuffers or circulars will continue to be viable. Just stop mailing your customers 3x a month! Reduce the frequency and spend the time analyzing your lists and RFM scores. The next biggie to fall IMHO will be Williams-Sonoma. Despite superior product, their mediocre web presence in combination with ridiculous mailing cadence (I get 24 Williams-Sonoma catalogs a MONTH at home) is going to doom them. The fact that they poorly treat their employees won’t make me sad to see them go through a correction either 
There are solutions. Merchants taking advantage of www.Catalogchoice.org are seeing their customers appreciate their reduced mailings by not reducing their orders at all. More on this topic soon…
by Mark H. Goldstein | CEO
by Mark H. Goldstein | CEO
Hats off to the Jackpot team on their bold idea. It’s basically a legal national lottery with a great merchant payout. I suspect the Feds will sniff at it a bit and admittedly it does smell a bit like Upromise, another huge Boston-based dream/scheme that is dying a slow death. What’s in the
