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Thursday, May 15, 2008

Its been a while.....

So this blogging thing is not as easy as I figured it would be. Finding inspiration for a particular topic takes a while and then it can be rather time consuming to get it all down. Since I last posted I have probably started half a dozen posts and have discarded them all because I didn't like the flow, there wasn't enough to the idea or the concept turned out to be really lame!

I've got a pretty good one that I've been formulating and will probably publish it soon but in the meantime, I thought I would take a bit of a Larry King approach and ramble off some thoughts that I have had recently. Here they are!

I can't decide if I like what Starbucks is doing strategically but I do like the fact that they seem to have a strong sense of urgency. Right or wrong they are being aggressive in their decision making and trying new things. Often times you are better off making a bad decision than no decision at all and it appears that Howard Schultz agrees with that thinking. As a regular customer I can tell you the difference is noticeable in customer service. The launch of the Pike's Place coffee was brilliant as is the loyalty card. I'm not sure about the extensive marketing campaign and I don't like the fact they are giving product away, but at least they are trying.

Good news on the economic front. The Fed just recently announced that inflation in March eased to .2% from .3% in February. This drop occurred despite the largest increase in food prices in 18 years. Fortunately, the increase in food prices was offset by reductions in energy costs. Huh? Based on the government accounting process they were able to determine that energy costs were flat an gasoline actually decreased by 2 percent! It appears that the government learned a thing or two from the Enron accountants.

One other Starbucks note. As mentioned, I am in the Chicopee Starbucks on a daily basis, having my Pikes Place and my Top Pot Donut (alas I'm beginning to feel like a donut). On my visits I often talk to the partners about the products and I also like to listen in and hear what people are ordering. What I've noticed is that Starbucks appears to be busier than ever. I've also noticed that the orders are for regular drip coffee or the Cafe Americano which is a lot cheaper than their other caffeine crack-like drinks. What that tells me is that Starbucks is still driving traffic but the sale per customer visit is dropping. They need to find a way to increase that -and no the answer is not by selling CD's!

I've got a brilliant idea. Let's grow food so we can add it to gas. Yes, it will probably have adverse environmental impacts and make both food and gas more expensive, but so what - inflation is down! By the way, don't forget to send that government check to the farmers so they won't farm - we gotta make sure the farmer can make money. This message was brought to you by the Farm Caucus.

In my opinion there is no better shopping or customer service experience than an Apple store. The staff is exceptionally knowledgeable, the products are presented in a great layout and the genius bar is pure brilliance. A couple of weeks ago my Macbook was having some technical issues. I brought it in and they determined that it needed some surgery to replace some parts. Within two and a half hours I had my machine back better than ever. Can you imagine that with any other store? Then, when it comes time to check out, you don't even need to bother standing in line as each staff person is equipped with a credit card unit to ring up your purchases. They will also email the receipt to you so you don't lose it. Everyone who has customers should go to an Apple store to see what they can learn about their business.

Here it is: Washington's response to the energy crisis. John McCain and Hillary Clinton think we should suspend the federal gas tax of 3.4 cents per gallon. George Bush thinks we should expand drilling in the Arctic. Good to see those neurons firing on all cylinders in Washington.

I read this morning in the Globe that the Zoots dry cleaning chain has folded. I used to be a customer of Zoots because I thought it had a great concept for a fragmented industry - 24/7 pickup, onsite tailoring, online monitoring, great locations, etc. Unfortunately, they did an absolutely horrible job in cleaning garments. I never lost anything but it just seemed that nothing ever really got cleaned. I can remember the last time I patronized them I brought in a suit with a stain; watched them mark the stain; the stain was still there when I picked it up. Amanda ended up getting it out. It once again proves that a great strategy doesn't mean a thing if you can't execute.

I've become addicted to the Huffington Post. I'm an information junkie and its constantly got new posts on everything from politics to business to entertainment. I've been particularly enthralled with the Democratic primary (better than anything Hollywood could come up with; oh wait Hollywood has created this). If your a blog junkie like me, here are a couple of my other favorites: Noah Wasserman's Founder Frustrations blog; Verne Harnish's the Growth Guy blog; VC/Angel?Private Equity gossip board The Funded; business help site Small Biz Trends; and brand insight from the Branding Strategy Insider.

Lastly, as I've stated before I'm by no means an expert on the economy, but I'm convinced that this is going to be a long-term recession that will have some serious impacts on the way the American economy functions in the future. My basic belief is that the financial industry disregarded the fundamental rules of lending an did so with the worst possible people - the American consumer. This is like feeding a gremlin after midnight and the impact has been just as destructive. Washington's response has been to get the consumer to spend even more which is how previous recessions were overcome. Unfortunately, consumer spending will only make the problem worse. To get the economy corrected the financial industry, Washington and the American consumer are going to have to get religion about leverage and property values. It could be ugly as I don't think we've seen anything yet.

So there are my thoughts on the world today. Look for another post shortly.