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black Kids Don’t Read Last Words Before Retail Graveyard

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Certain principles of life and business never change. Like with the law of gravity, for example, its just plain better to know how it works even if youre not sure why.

I was reminded of this last week when the mens fashion clothing trade magazine Daily News Record (DNR) ran a story (Retail Graveyard, October 29) about a guy named Peter Divietro in Sloatsburg, N.Y., who annually for Halloween decorates his front yard with tombstones to commemorate dead retail stores.

That in turn reminded me of a failed chain of hip-hop clothing stores in Chicago called The Lark. Do you remember The Lark?

The owner was Lenny Rothschild. I met him on a sales visit at his suburban Chicago office one summer day in 2003 while my company was still making Black Fives throwback jerseys for wholesale distribution to stores. The Lark was an important account because it commanded the urban fashion retail market in Chicago.

FLYING HIGH; WITH AN UPSCALE APPROACH TO MERCHANDISING AND CUSTOMER SERVICE, THE LARK SOARS IN CHICAGOS URBAN MARKET, read a headline in DNR earlier that year. As Lenny Rothschild pilots his silver Mercedes-Benz coupe around Chicago, his love for the city is obvious, is how that article began (DNR, February 10, 2003).

If you wanted your goods in Chicago, you had to sell Lenny. All the biggest streetwear brands loved him, and Lenny was the gatekeeper who could make or break small, upcoming apparel brands like Black Fives. And he knew it.

Lenny was smart, and he wanted people to know it. His Harvard diploma hung prominently on the wall. Lenny delighted in explaining how to introduce new merchandise to coincide with welfare check and tax refund arrival dates, to maximize sales to his most faithful customer base, low-income inner-city residents. His stores were concentrated in those areas.

I showed and pitched my unique, attractive, high-quality, economically priced jerseys and matching fitted hats. Lenny looked them over and shrugged, and asked me how I expected anyone to know about the history of these Black Fives teams and players. I showed him some big press clippings and also explained that each jersey comes with its own informative hang tag, reminiscent of a collectible vintage basketball card, with images on one side and history text on the other. I handed him one of the cards.

This wont matter because black kids dont read, said Lenny.

Today, when I think of the immutable principles that work in life and in business, I think of two of them that applied to Lenny that day. One is that how you do anything is how you do everything. The other is that what you focus on expands. The trick is that these principles work the same whether in the negative or in the positive realm.

Lenny gave me an $8,000 order that afternoon. I shipped it, but what he didnt realize is that his loyal customers had already begun a quiet revolt. Instead of buying $300 retro jerseys like the kind The Lark was selling, his clientele had flipped the script, now buying plain white tee shirts to make the same fashion statement at three for $10. It was the revenge of the lowly urban consumer. It happened across the country. It was swift and it was bloody. Many urban retailers didnt make it.

Within two weeks, Lenny returned his Black Fives order unopened.

Whenever I shopped at The Lark, customer service didnt exist. Young African American employees were distant and resentful, usually the sign of low wages, cheap thinking, and lack of appreciation by management.

Not to pick on Lenny, because he wasnt alone in this approach to the so-called loyal inner-city consumer, but didnt you have that experience too, nearly everywhere you shopped?

By 2005, The Lark lay buried in the retail graveyard. AFTER THE LARK: MORE HIP, NO HOP; CLOSING HIS HIP-HOP APPAREL CHAIN, RETAILER OPENS ESSEX5, DEVOTED TO PREMIUM DENIM, SPORTSWEAR, read the DNR headline this time. The Lark is grounded, the article began. Lenny Rothschild has closed all 10 of The Lark stores he owned and operated, making the once-high-flying hip-hop apparel specialty chain a thing of the past (DNR, December 19, 2005).

What Ill always remember about The Lark are Lenny Rothschilds famous (last) words: black kids dont read.

The principles of life and business always work the same. Beliefs do become reality. Thoughts lead to feelings lead to actions lead to results. This works both ways, in this case to the advantage of the consumer and to the dismay of the retailer. Lenny couldve avoided it all if there had been any books like T. Harv Ekers brilliant Secrets of the Millionaire Mind available for him to read at the time. But there werent. And he didnt.

Thus, the Larks tombstone might have the epitaph, Gee, I guess black kids read after all.

Was Lenny right? Or do all kids read less? Or is it only online reading they do? Or something else? Whats your opinion?

Video Game Industry Stocks Why Is Electronic Arts More Expensive Than Activision

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I was looking through gaming stocks and noticed that shares of Electronic Arts (ERTS) are trading at a much higher valuation than Activision Blizzard (ATVI). That made me wonder, Does Electronic Arts deserve to trade at a premium to Activision?

Electronic Arts is trading just under $20 per share. EPS estimates for 2010 are 43 cents per share and 62 cents for 2011. That equates to a 46 multiple on current years earnings and a 32 multiple for 2011. The 5 year growth rate is 12.8%, which is pretty optimistic considering the negative earnings growth of the past five years. Its tough to have faith in Electronics Arts management considering the poor operating efficiency. Management has graced us with a negative ROE and ROA over the past few quarters.

One of the bright spots for Electronic Arts is the companys storied brand name and solid balance sheet. Electronic Arts has cash cow franchises Madden NFL, The Sims, Battlefield, Rock Band, etc. The software developer has $1.78 billion in cash and no debt. The stock looks expensive using any valuation method including price to book and price to sales. Shares of Electronic Arts appear to be benefitting from improving trends in the video game industry. Video game sales rose 10% last month.

Activision Blizzard is trading just under $12.00 and has a expected EPS of 73 cents for 2010 and 82 cents for 2011. 2010s PE ratio is 16 and 2011s is 14.5. Earnings growth is estimated at 14.6%. Activision raised 1st quarter guidance last week due to strong sales from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. While ROA and ROE are not very impressive, at least both numbers are positive for Activision. The management team has done a qualitative job at Activision with its acquisitions and ability to consistently grow the bottom line.

Compare this with Electronic Arts who has been trying to fix its internal problems for years. Activision has no debt and $3.25 billion in cash on its balance sheet. Shares are currently trading less than 1.5 times book value. Activision has a popular lineup of games including World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and Starcraft.

Marketing And Sales What’s The Difference

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Marketing and sales are one of the most important elements of the firms survival in the market. Although both are dependent on each other many people confuse marketing with sales and vice-versa, which is a big mistake. Marketing to design a product according to market needs and customers, promote the product through advertising etc. and creating a competitive price for the product. Marketing is a platform that sales of Cd’s. While on the other hand, the sales process is what we are doing to carry out a product to sell and get a contract. Sales and marketing as a whole is part of a sale and you can not do without the other. They are also known as the activities. The success of an enterprise is critical to the success of these two important activities.

Marketing is the backbone of a company’s future and launching pad for sales. While the process of marketing includes product design, advertising etc. the sales process is the implementation of all efforts that involve direct interaction with the customer, either in person or assembly of cold calling or making network. But there is always a rivalry between the two, on an application Dominance others. The marketing people say they have an advantage because I think that is what the product design, strategy and also provides essential tools for sale. They say that sales are the result of marketing and therefore must follow their instructions. Sales staff May not agree with this view and can be completely opposite to his trial. They believe that the sales staff who actually sells a product and the money to the company.

However, many experts believe that marketing should play a key role between the two. A successful marketing campaign makes sales easy and people believe it is the sales staff, who are the main leaders. The most important function of marketing department is to create opportunities for the sales department. Unit sales and marketing companies selling units of success. Marketing is like a life support for sales, which continues to save the sales department and the success that allows them to deliver the final product. It should not be a race to gain supremacy over another department but a race to win the market and customers working together.

Many companies selling and marketing combine together, but in reality they have different objectives. Although the sales department to meet the requirements of what the client is the marketing department is actually busy studying what the market demands. The objective of the marketing department is to predict how the market in the future. Must provide their products to market needs in the years ahead and be prepared to make changes to design their products accordingly.

It is very important that the company integrates the sales and marketing fashionable way. It is the successful integration of these two entities that fuels business growth. Sales people should not be regarded simply as the collection box. Each department has its own function and must go hand in hand in the sale of the company and should be the main criterion.

Where To Find Nice Tennis Shoes

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Where to find quality Tennis shoes
The sport of tennis has surely been growing over the years with big names such as Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Venus and Serena Williams, just to name a few. With the growth of the sport comes more merchandising of the sport and people wanting to play. Tennis shoes have been growing in quality and scope along with the growth of tennis in general. There are some people who say all types of sneakers are tennis shoes. Well not all sneakers are good for tennis let me tell you. So this article will be about places to find a great pair of actual sneakers specifically for the sport of tennis.
In my opinion the best place to buy tennis shoes are online. You have a large selection on the internet and can browse stores very quickly from the comfort of your own home. Not to mention you don’t have to waste time and gas driving around to different stores shopping. It’s also going to be a lot easier to compare prices online from a large amount of stores as opposed to only maybe a handful if you get in your car and drive to them. So in my opinion, shopping for tennis shoes on the internet is clearly the best idea.
If you do decide to go to an actual store to buy tennis shoes, make sure it’s a sporting goods store. The staff at a sporting goods store is more likely to be more knowledgeable about tennis shoes than at a standard shoe store. Not to mention they’ll probably have in stock most of the shoe sizes you’ll probably be looking for. You may not have as large of a selection with this option as you do with shopping online, but most of the time you can still get a pretty good pair of shoes.
Last but not least is buying tennis shoes from a normal shoe store. Such as Foot Locker or other standard shoe stores. They’ll probably know what a basketball shoe is, but if you ask for a tennis shoe, they may be clueless. These stores as less specialized for sporting shoes. While you very well may find tennis shoes there the selection probably won’t be as large. So this should be your last resort to shopping online or going to a sporting goods store. The latter option will more than likely always yield better shoe finding results.
So in conclusion if you really want to find a pair of quality tennis shoes, the way to go is online or sporting goods stores. I personally wouldn’t recommend normal shoes stores. So I hope this article was of some help to people and good luck finding a great pair of shoes for the great sport of tennis.

The Right Internet Marketing Tools For Online Business

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Internet marketers must use the right internet marketing tools to succeed. We have created this website to help newbies as well as to read about some of the most useful internet marketing tools and become more successful with this great business. ‘Internet marketing means different things to different people’. Term for marketing products and services online and like many all-inclusive most terms uses the argument was essentially a technical one, though, Internet marketing refers to the strategies that are used to market a product or service online, marketing strategies that include search engine optimization and search engine submission, business that encourages site visitors to take action.

Web site design strategies, online promotions, reciprocal linking, and online is constantly devising new Internet marketing strategies in the hopes of driving more traffic to their Web sites and making more sales witness the increasing use of bogs as marketing tools for business, for instance. They will simplify and automate your online marketing. These are the most effective professional marketing tools this An internet marketing plan is how you will establish the best focus so be more successful when begin promoting the business.

‘Internet Marketing tools when you look at the Internet as an internet marketing tool many advertisers often wonder how too effectively’ use it to carry out a task their goals. The internet marketing is currently being used for a number of marketing purposes, such as Advertising company products & services and Sales channel for new products Building customer loyalty with email marketing engaging post transaction with the customer Generate leads traffic online and off-line Shortening the sales cycle by providing purchase information, where & how to buy, what to expect to pay, etc.

Advertising company products & services these marketing tools will increase traffic, build links quickly, increase search engine engaging post transaction with the customer (person) the most important aspect of business sites is focusing on the internet marketing aspect of the business and designing the site accordingly. Nowadays, internet marketing very using there are two main internet marketing tools word tracker and article directory.

The first web marketing tool enables you to take a certain key word and find out all the phrases that incorporate it. Than you can determine how many searches take place on any marketing strategy plan begins with four ‘essential tools and materials’ components and builds from there.

The four components are Identify your business Know your target market and Research your plan another plan in business on line marketing tools know your budget. Let’s take a closer look at each of these internet marketing starting points Identify your business You need to figure out what your business is all about before you can begin marketing it. The types of products or services you intend to sell The global area you intend to market too IE. Worldwide, within your country, within your region who your competitors are and how they promote their business how you intend to promote your business how you will distribute the products or services you intend to sell.