Got a little booklet at the Consumer Electronics Show this month … Mommy, why is there a server in the house?  Part of Microsoft’s publicity on their new Windows Home Server.

Here’s the story in a nutshell. Two young kids are told that “when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much, the daddy wants to give the mommy a special gift. So he buys a ’stay-at-home’ server. He installs it… He does it all by himself“. (Mommy and daughter are shown watching the installation).

But the children are warned that other kids might make fun of them because they have a “stay-at-home server”. They’re quickly reassured that it’s because these kids are “just jealous. Deep down, they wish their daddies would buy them a stay-at-home server, too”

Nice that daddy loves mommy so much, but do only daddies buy electronics? The latest stats show that not only do 60% of women work (ie. earn money), many also want and buy new technology. And in 2007, for the first time, over 50% of women were unmarried and/or divorced, so I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest a few “mommies” (single and married) might also have the resources to buy (and even install) a home server!

“When shopping for a mattress, don’t buy pillow tops - they compress more than the rest of the mattress over time,” says Good Housekeeping Research Institute’s Kathleen Huddy in the magazine’s current issue (Feb ‘08). “Instead, buy a replaceable padded topper,” she advises.

Mattress toppers are finding their way into more and more homes. I bought a 2″ foam topper 18 months ago (about $100 at Costco), and so have quite a few other people I know. But the trend may not be against attached pillow tops so much as towards memory foam.

A memory foam topper shouldn’t be used on a tired old mattress, but if the mattress is still supportive, the topper provides some of the comfort of a memory foam mattresses at a much cheaper price.

The latest web site feature, according to Crain’s New York Business magazine (Oct 14/07), is to tell customers what other customers are buying.

Amazon.com is believed to have pioneered the concept, but other e-tailers are following suit. The article cited a survey where 54% of e-tailers said they’ll put more focus on a best-seller list in the year ahead.

Consumers want to know what the next big thing is. “We heard over and over again that the customer wants to know what people are buying,” said Denise Incandela of Saks.com, the first upscale department store to post a list. 

Some retailers believe their customers have their own strong sense of personal style, and a best seller list won’t drive their purchases. Others, concerned that best-selling items don’t create the fashion-forward image they want to project, are offering an ‘edited’ or ‘filtered’ list that combines best sellers with other merchandise to show a broader range (credibility could be at risk with too much editing).

“Anything that provides some outside validation goes a long way,” says Scott Silverman, Executive Director of Shop.org. “Customers trust each other more than they trust the retailer.”

So what about a home furnishing best-seller list? With consumers more shaky about their home furnishing decisions than about their clothing, it’s an interesting idea. If consumers don’t mind wearing the same things in public, they shouldn’t mind having some of the same things in the privacy of their own homes? And it might even boost their confidence and odds of buying.

Is a best-seller list giving your competitors too much information? Not really. The ones that would knock-off your best sellers already know what they are from watching your ads and talking to your suppliers. 

At the Consumer Electronics Show… flat panel screens up to 108″ (that’s 12′ W x 8′H), and this 150″ screen from Panasonic.

Impressive, but not particularly practical, and far from affordable.  Even for commercial use, it takes a bit to move these around. Most of us will probably stick with the 65″ and under varieties for now.

Getting organized continues to be important to consumers, as seen by just a few of the newstand cover stories on the topic in January.

Furniture retailers - Where are your organization messages? We’ve heard the “pay nothing til 2012 message”. How about helping consumers with furniture that improves their quality of life? Furniture manufacturers - let’s get serious about functional improvements in furniture before we miss this market phenomena. 

For more information: http://roomplanners.com/order/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1

E-tailers set an all-industry standard for customer service and satisfaction during the fourth quarter of 2007, according to the Customer Respect Group.

According to their Customer Respect Index (CRI), a 10-point scale that reflects site usabiliy, comunicaiton and trust, the following e-tailers rated highest:

1. overstock.com      7.4

2. Lowe’s                 7.2

3. Kmart                  7.1

4. Sears                   7.1

5. Wal-Mart             6.9

6. OfficeMax            6.8

7. Staples                6.7

8. Amazon.com        6.6

9. CVS                      6.5

10. Target                6.5

E-tailers’ average score was 6.1, slightly higher than the year before, influenced by ‘enhanced self-service facilities’ and ‘greater emphasis on providing effective real-time answers to customer questions’.

Source: Twice Magazine, Jan 7, 2008

Another funny ad from IKEA. Click below:

http://www.visit4info.com//advert/IKEA-store/6907

“I want this in white. Truman thinks it’s too girly, but I love it. It’s modern but very ornate. It reminds me of Versailles.” Minhee Cho, age 33.  Inc Magazine reader 

 Calling this ornate bed from brocadehome.com ”modern” doesn’t come naturally to some of us. But to many young consumers, that’s exactly how they see it. In an era where there’s not much left to invent, what’s modern is what can be reinvented, rather than what’s minimal. Yes, after a generation of casual, contemporary and country in the mainstream, traditional designs (ironically inspired by the fanciest of all eras - baroque) are new and modern to younger consumers, especially when “modern” white and black finishes are applied.

 Source: Inc Magazine, Dec 2007

ComScore reported 2007 holiday e-tail sales up 19% (Nov 1-Dec 21) to $26 billion, compared to the same period last year.

MasterCard reported 2007 holiday e-tail sales up 22.4% (Black Friday-Dec 24).

The top shopping day? 

Dec 10th according to comScore, at $881 million sales.

Dec 10th according to Amazon.com, who reported sales of 5.4 million items, or 62.5 items per second. 

Dec 13th according to MasterCard.

“CyberMonday” (Monday following Thanksgiving) ranked as the ninth busiest day.

Soaring gas prices, ‘disruptive weather’ and gains in online customer satisfaction energized Web sales in 2007. According to research firm ForeSee Results, online shopper satisfaction rose 3.3% (Dec 3-9th) over the same week in 2006.

Source: Twice Magazine, Jan 7, 2007

Some believe Nintendo’s Wii system is increasing the time older and younger generations spend together, and creating more family time at home.

If that’s true, we should see plenty of inter-generational family time in 2008.  During the holiday season, Amazon sold Wii systems at a rate of 17 per second when they were in stock. 

(It looks like we won’t be getting lost when we leave home either… Amazon also sold enough GPS units to make a trail from Philadelphia to New York).

Source: Twice Magazine, Jan 7, 2008