Food Lion, Macy's, Target & Kroger: Recession is the Mother of Retail Invention

Retailers can’t control economic forecasts, but they can control their response to the voices of recessionary doom and gloom. While many look at today’s recession reality and get paralyzed, a few creative retailers like Food Lion, Macy's, Target, and Kroger are looking beyond what's happening today and getting mobilized for tomorrow.

• Food Lion announced this week that it is helping its customers identify IRS-approved health care products that can be purchased from their Health Savings Account or Flexible Spending Accounts. I have one of those health accounts, and I have never yet used those pre-tax dollars on anything because I don’t know what’s “legal.” I just wish I had a Food Lion close to me now. Perhaps they can take over my neighborhood Albertsons that is closing down at the end of August. Perhaps my Albertsons wouldn’t be closing down if they had proactive strategies like Food Lion.

• Macy’s has mini FAO Schwartz’s. Stop & Shop has Starbucks juniors. J.C. Penny has Sephora boutiques. Little stores inside big boxes is a way that retailers are partnering for profits. I’ve always been an advocate of the “don’t compete, create” philosophy and these creative partnerships are great examples of it. How about a washeterita inside an AMC theater? I love escaping to the movies, but I would love it even more if I knew someone was folding my underwear while I was eating my $10 popcorn.

• This month Target started offering next day installation of consumer electronics products like high def TVs purchased from its website. With this quick and easy service, Target hopes to not only boost sales, but also decrease returns. Good idea! I still can’t get TV sound through my entertainment system speakers, and my DVD-R still doesn’t “R.” I have returned more CE products than any other category because I’m always convinced that it’s the machine’s fault, not mine, when I can’t get it to work right. Perhaps it was my return receipts that helped inspire this Target offer.

• Kroger has gone mobile with its coupons in Atlanta. Through a wireless system that I don’t fully comprehend, shoppers can select coupons from their cellphone which will then be loaded to their savings card and automatically applied at checkout. To participate in this, I would need to charge my cellphone and figure out how the picture screen thingy works. Luckily for Kroger I am not in the target age group for this innovation. It does seem like a great way to reel in those youngsters, though, who barely know what a newspaper is and would rather eat dirt than clip coupons.

Fresh strategies can lift the energy of a retail operation and lift the spirits of those shopping there. Today's retail industry is what it is, but tomorrow is what creative retailers will make it to be.