Many fashion retailers can improve sales by shifting focus, on the web, from the products to the styles and trends. The promotion may say that this collection of sweaters is $29.99, but the customer may not respond if they don’t realize that this sweater style is the must have style for the Winter.

While e-mail is still king, the same goal can be applied to social media in general. Build communities, foster conversation, and engage the customer. A person won’t buy a product unless they know why they need the product.

Going to pass this post on to some of my retail clients. Thanks!

This (email, Web video) is an e-commerce extension of Drs. Foster Smiths’ *continuing* investment in a bold publishing-focused model that dates back to their founding. Catalogers call them “magalogs” and most are afraid to invest in them — focusing instead on a “per square inch yield” on each page. This extends to email and I recently presented a similar case from a company selling mattresses online. They ditched pitch-focused emails masquerading as “newsletters” for a more honest and, in the end, successful approach. By focusing on delivering content that customers WANTED (ie. for men: how to improve your love life; for women: weight loss and beauty tips) they mixed it up with an occasional offer. There was a method to their madness which I revealed recently at Shop.org’s annual event.

Indeed, info-tainment or pure, tips oriented education. It’s all about marketers becoming publishers themselves these days. Those that understand the formula and are willing to take small steps toward making calculated investments are winning. DrsFosterSmith.com has been doing this for YEARS! True pioneers extending now to the Web.