Transcripts

Mike Carruthers:
Consumer trends today don't go in just one direction…

Robyn Waters:
So, if you were looking and trying to analyze what the car trends are - would you say that cars are better, bigger and more in your face?; the Hummer is on it's third edition and doing well.

Robyn Waters, author of the book The Hummer and the Mini…

Or do you think that cars are getting smaller and cuter, like the Mini, which is selling phenomenally, and has almost a cult-like following? The answer is both.

For every trend now, Robyn says, there's an opposite trend and some businesses are finding a way to appeal to both extremes at the same time - for example, Target.

You know, Target is the upscale discounter; they've made cheap, chic. You know when I first observed this? - you walk into parking lots and you'd see as many Mercedes and BMW's as you would Chevy's and Ford's.

Robyn contends that Starbucks' success was based in part on creating a trend that was in contradiction to what a coffee shop was supposed to be. The founder of Starbucks said…

"I'm going to have the best coffee in the world, I'm going to charge $3.00 - you're going to be able to order it nineteen thousand different ways, and we're going to put these nice leather chairs in and encourage people to stay as long as they want." You know the conventional wisdom was, cheap - get the next person in, give them their fifty-cent cup of coffee and get them out the door. So, it's those contradictory business strategies - both are very viable, and as a retailer or marketer if you can figure out how to find that middle ground, there's some unique opportunities there.

At somethingyoushouldknow.net - I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.