ICC/Decision Services Launches Second of its iPhone Applications – ConversionCalc

The latest in iPhone applications shows retailers the dollar value resulting from increasing their conversion rates.

New York, NY — ICC/Decison Services’ latest in iPhone applications shows retailers the dollar value resulting from increasing their conversion rates. ConversionCalc™ is the second of its iPhone applications available for free download on iTunes. ICC’s existing application, the UpSellCall™, was the first of its kind in the industry when it was launched this past summer. ICC/Decison Services is an international customer experience management company based in New York City.

Field management loves our calculators because they are portable and easily show store management the power of associate behavior. “We received great feedback on the UpSell Calc, our first application,” says David Rich, President/CEO of ICC/Decision Services. “Field management loves our calculators because they are portable and easily show store management the power of associate behavior. Corporate loves them because they point to increased revenue. It takes so much to get customers in the door in today’s marketplace,” continues Rich, “but many retailers don’t realize that increasing your conversion rates by only 2% can increase revenue by 10%. The ConversionCalc™ will quantify that lost opportunity for retailers and can produce calculations for a single store, district or the entire retail chain.”

Other features of the ConversionCalc™ include: easy one-screen operation; allows calculations over multiple time periods (days, months, quarters, etc); reveals the true dollar amount for increased associate performance.

Click here for more “ConversionCalc” conversion rates information, iPhone applications and download links.

About ICC/Decision Services
ICC/Decision Services was founded in 1979 to design and execute Customer Experience Management programs. ICC/Decision Services offers a wide range of qualitative and quantitative business tools, including mystery shopping, shopper intercepts, iPhone applications, conversion rates tools, customer satisfaction and employee engagement. Clients include Coach, L.L. Bean, Rite Aid, 7-11, Foot Locker, CVS, Walmart and others. The company is headquartered at 122 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001, U.S.A. Phone: (800) 444-1717. More information is available at www.iccds.com.

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Black Friday Launch Pad for Brand Social Media

There is mounting evidence in the use of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, as an advertising medium. A prime example is the way that brand marketers are targeting Black Friday by sending out messages featuring special deals for their followers. Why? A recent blog post on Simple Thoughts quotes Deloitte Research as saying that, “One in five shoppers plans to use the sites in their holiday shopping this season.”
 
It has been widely reported that retailers and manufacturers have been effectively using sweet deals to attract consumers to follow their company presence on various social media outlets. The hope is that shoppers will continue to follow and build brand loyalty. Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, presents itself as a great jumping off point to disseminate information and gain followers. Hundreds of special offers are being leaked to vigilant consumers.
 
Brand marketers get additional penetration from special deal sites such as dealnews.com who also track and list Black Friday offers. Many e-commerce deals extend to the Monday after Thanksgiving, now known as Cyber Monday, because of consumers’ propensity to shop from their computers that day.

Customer Choices to Take Holiday Hit

The answer for many retailers to counter last Holiday season’s margin killing discounting is to slash inventory. According to a story in the Boston Globe, Saks Fifth Avenue has cut inventory by about 20 percent, JCPenney by 14 percent and Wal-Mart by about 6 percent. The thinking on the side of retailers is that they are willing to run low, or even out of stock, rather than be left with a pile of discounted merchandise. The message to consumers is that, “if you don’t buy it, it’s not going to be there next time.’’

Some experts disagree with the strategy saying the smaller selection will chase the customer away. One statistic in the story says that 40 percent of chief financial officers at leading retailers say insufficient inventory is the biggest risk to holiday sales.

Retailers are turning to their websites to soften the blow to consumers. They are not carrying any more inventory, but they are hoping that their websites will allow them to better manage and distribute inventory.

This strategy is risky for the retailers. The consumer, not being able to find what he or she is looking for, is almost always turned off and won’t reward the retailer by following up on the web. Those that do follow up on the web may prefer on-line shopping and stop visiting the store altogether.

Those who are going to attempt to manage a tighter inventory should consider the cost of brand loyalty and proactively take steps to be ready for the customer service challenge. Making it harder to find an item is almost never a good tactic to attract and retain good customers.

ICC/Decision Services Launches UpSellCalc™ iPhone Application — Available Now for Free Download on iTunes

New York, NY July 14, 2009 — ICC/Decison Services (http://www.iccds.com), an international customer experience management company based in New York City, has developed an iphone application is the first of its kind in the industry. Now available for free download on ITunes, the UpSellCalc ™ will quickly and easily calculate the sales potential of increased suggestive selling.

Retailers, restaurants, financial institutions and brands deal too often in numbers and percentages when dollars are what really matter. In just a few simple steps, the “UpSellCalc ™” takes current suggestive selling numbers for a corporation and calculates the dollar value of the upsell on the sales floor, in the fitting rooms and at the register. Taking it one step further, UpSellCalc ™ will also calculate the dollar value should the frequency of suggestive selling increase by 5, 10 or even 20 percent. Other features of the UpSellCalc ™ include: easy one-screen operation, ability to calculate ROI for a specific store, district, region or across an entire retail chain, and key indicators of the true dollar amount for increased associate performance.

“Mobile technology is playing an increasing role in the retail and brand experience every day,” says David Rich, President/CEO of ICC/Decision Services. “At ICC, we believe first and foremost in showing our customers a return on investment, and with the UpSellCalc ™ we have developed yet another tool for delivering this information to them–in this case right into the palm of their hands. We look forward to introducing several other new tools in the mobile technology and social media arenas in the coming months.”

Click here for more “UpSellCalc” information and download links.

ABOUT ICC/DECISION SERVICES
ICC/Decision Services was founded in 1979 to design and execute Customer Experience Management programs. ICC/Decision Services offers a wide range of qualitative and quantitative business tools, including mystery shopping, shopper intercepts, customer satisfaction and employee engagement. Clients include Coach, L.L. Bean, Rite Aid, 7-11, Foot Locker, Walmart and others. The company is headquartered at 122 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001, U.S.A. Phone: (800) 444-1717. More information is available at www.iccds.com.

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Future of Shopping Malls

The report card is in, and it’s a C- for the mall. BNET article covers the study the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and the market-research firm Verde Group, which yields less then pleasing results for mall based retailers. Read more…

The Recession Proof Shopper

A survey conducted by Elle magazine in fall 2007 reveals that women are still fashionably shopping even though gas prices and energy costs continue to increase. The shopper survey was based on a composite scale of price sensitivity and annual expenditures

Researchers identify the “recession-proof shopper” as a woman who is at the median age of 29 with a median household income of $62,000.

Click here for more information.