Kevin Hillstrom: MineThatData

I reviewed all clients who were charter members of my Elite Program back in 2015 ($1,000 per run for existing clients, 3x per year, voluntary performance).

A third of charter members are no longer in business.

All of the brands now out of business were catalog brands.

Other catalog brands were distressed, gobbled up by catalog holding companies.

If you go back to 2007 when I started my consulting work, about 2/3rd of the catalog brands I worked with in my first decade of consulting are gone.

Gone!

No amount of paper / printing / agency discourse changes facts. If you're still here? You did something right!

After the AI bubble pops, there will be new business models. New business models will grow at the expense of existing ecommerce brands. The cycle will repeat. It's unavoidable, it's how capitalism works.

It's also very rewarding to fight against forces working against you ... to persevere, to thrive, to overcome challenges with great merchandise!

        

I ordered a cable (from Bloom Audio) that connects my Qudelix Q5k bluetooth dac/amp to my Apos Gremlin hybrid tube amp (2.5mm balanced to 4.4mm balanced for those nerding out here). It's not exactly the type of solution Walmart or Target tries to solve.

The image below shows what arrived in my package on Thursday.

A thank you note ... and a Starburst fruit chew.

I've told you this story at least a dozen times - I worked with a company that put ghosts in their outgoing package. You received a little note about your ghost, his/her strengths, weaknesses, and potential scenarios where the ghost might influence household activities. On the socials, customers loved this little touch.

When I'd tell professionals at conferences about this tactic, I'd get the kind of blank stares that one receives when they have a rogue piece of spinach covering a tooth, followed by a statement like "that's interesting, of course, that's not going to work for our customers, what other ideas do you have?" And I'd think to myself, "why is it my job to toss ideas out for free, isn't it your job to come up with ideas?"

There's about two months to go ... then many of you become preoccupied with Winning Cyber Monday (#wcm). Until you win by giving 77% off plus free shipping, what can you do with your outgoing packages to help your customers feel special?

        

Going into Labor Day weekend, do you any questions for me? Send me an email (kevinh@minethatdata.com) and if I can answer your question, I'll do so.

Otherwise, enjoy your long weekend! See you in several days.

        

Here's something I witnessed recently.

• Annual Comp Segment Performance: -11%.
• Annual New/Reactivated Comp Buyers: +3%.