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Tired of waiting for spending to rebound on its own? What can you do to encourage consumers to start shopping again? Some retailers have come up with novel stimulus plans to help revive sales. Stores like Sam's Club, Target, Toys "R" Us, Staples and Office Depot are offering unconventional promotions to get visitors into their stores. What can you learn from their efforts?

The sales promotions fall into the following categories:

1. Loans for shoppers backed by the SBA ( Sam's Club small business owners).
2. 5% Discounts to store credit card holders (Target).
3. Holiday Fund program where (Toys "R" Us) adds to shoppers' savings.
4. Give Away Offers for a penny or at no cost (Staples and Office Depot).

Against the current backdrop of uncertainty in the economy, retailers are taking bold steps because consumers are just not spending and consumer confidence continues to be weak. These companies do not expect these programs to be big moneymakers. The point is to get customers spending more freely and, they hope, spending at their stores. Office Depot is giving away products trying to lure back-to-school shoppers and will soon sell some supplies, like glue sticks and scissors, for less than $1. It will also give away other items, like markers, free, even without a purchase. Again, the goal is to get customers into their stores in the hopes that they then buy everything else that they need.

Since a lot of the government programs have come to an end gourmet retailers are best served focusing their sales promotion programs on the upcoming 2010 fall and holiday sales season. Now is the time to ask yourself the following questions about your sales promotion program:

• Starting with the customer...are your promotions matching your customers' expectations? It's all in the mind of the customer. Do your customers expect a gift with purchase? A big dollar discount? What will it take to get your customer to spend?
• What is your promotional mix? What are your offers? What does your current program consist of to revive sales? What can sales promotions do?
• How do you currently manage your customers? There are three kinds of customers: Existing customers (the best market for future sales), former customers, and potential customers. A great promotion will stimulate sales in all three customer groups. Familiar with the Subway $5 Foot long promotion? This highly successful promotion generated sales of roughly $4 billion in one year. Subway hit their customers expectations right on the head. The VALUE offer of a foot long sandwich for only $5.
• How to market on a shoestring budget and be successful? Mint.com (a startup company) grew in just two years to be worth over $170 million while spending very little (roughly $700 a year) on marketing. How did they do it? Using new social media and communication technologies, they partnered with adept public relations strategies and raised their profile and got tons of exposure to successfully market their product. Check them out at www.mint.com.
• What are some ways to remind your customers that you're out there? Here are some ideas of what works from my market research: (1) Price deals (2) Contests/sweepstakes (3) Special events (4) Premiums — Gift With Purchase (5) Sampling (6) Point-of-purchase — special displays (7) Coupons.

What else can you do during these difficult economic times? Its time to revisit my 10 Pillars of Success to keep you pumped up and motivated for today's challenges:

Did you know that it costs seven times more to acquire a new customer than to retain a current customer? The surest way to profitability is to acquire repeat customers. Keep in mind the customer life cycle:

• Customer acquisition: Promote your products and services and offer innovative products and services. New products are essential in the mix.
• Customer growth. How do you grow a customer? New products, cross-selling and up selling.
• Customer retention. Put the emphasis here on customer service. Survey your customers and ask them what they want. It helps to personalize the relationship by giving the customer a voice in product selection. Also, be alert to hearing what customers are saying. Are their products in your selection that do not work? Customer feedback can help you not only drop the products that don't sell, but help you drop products that don't work.

Marshall's Top Business Books • Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson. I keep coming back to this topic of learning to accept change time and again. It's a must! • The Cluetrain Manifesto by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls and David Weinberger. The Web is a conversation — one that's changing markets. • Blown to Bits by Philip Evans and Thomas S. Worster. How the Internet is reshaping business models.

Now is a good time to sharpen your business intelligence (BI). BI includes the gathering, management, and storage of data. There are many benefits in knowing your customer's preferences, buying history, and improving the customer experience. Resulting in: Customer loyalty, reducing defection to competitors and increasing the value of the customer. Its highly beneficial to your bottom line to know which of your products are most profitable, which ones are selling, and which ones sell well together. Simply selling an omelet pan together with a hot handle holder can improve profitability. Effective planning—inventory replenishment, reducing excess inventories and target marketing—is the right road to improved profitability.

Being successful with technology helps you:

• Get closer to the customer.
• Deliver useful, relevant, timely accurate selection.
• Satisfy the need for speed.
• Understand your limitations.

I remember a quote from an IBM business guide that stuck in my mind:

"Business owners who combine common-sense marketing with first-hand familiarity of the Internet and good insight into what their prospects, customers, partners, and suppliers want will be best prepared to make the most of their business opportunities."

Good advice. Will you take it?

Marshall Marcovitz is the founder and former CEO of the CHEF'S CATALOG, a leading Internet shopping site. Currently, he is a lecturer, a university professor and a marketing consultant. He may be contacted at mmmellow9@yahoo.com.