I clearly remember first time I was told Facebook was for “old people.” I was at Mayfair Mall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with my Gen Z step sibling, who was the conveyor of this shocking information. Sure, direct marketing invitations to join Lularoe “flash sales” and imbibe “revolutionary diet smoothies” had increased since I joined the platform. But it was hard to imagine that the second social media network I had ever joined –– after MySpace –– had already become passe.

This was eight years ago. Instagram was, as of yet, still a flash in the pan. My memory of Facebook opening up to the general public, rather than requiring a college ID number for signup, was still fresh in my mind. How times change.

Only 18 percent of Facebook users are between 18 to 24 years old, whereas 40 percent of TikTok users are in that demographic. Nearly 11 percent of Facebook users are over 65 years old, which means that users aging out of the platform is a very real concern.

Today, 7 in 10 Americans use social media to connect with one another, view and create content, and interface with their favorite brands. Facebook has become a social taboo in which many of us still engage. It’s social media’s answer to Amazon: we aren’t proud to use it, but everyone we know does and we know exactly what we’re going to get.

Let’s take a look at social media platform usage by demographic and how retailers are using these platforms creatively to get through to new customers.

Facebook and Instagram Drama Alienates Few

Is Facebook a simple social media platform or a tool for psychological warfare? It all depends on who you ask. After the Cambridge Analytica Scandal, a lot of platform users blamed Facebook for the role it played in the 2016 election. Everyone’s worst fears about social media platforms were suddenly coming true and it felt like we were involuntarily catapulted into an episode of Black Mirror.

Facebook’s 50 million users and the American Federal Government had been manipulated. During an election. For profit. And Russian political gain. Once Facebook’s role in the election came to light, shares and likes on the platform decreased by 20 percent. The number of platform users, however, continued to grow.

Many Facebook users paid lip service to the idea of leaving Facebook…on Facebook. But few followed up on their threats for a long enough timespan to create a significant impact. Large scale political manipulation wasn’t enough to quell Facebook’s skyrocketing user numbers. But there’s another factor, something quite a bit tamer, that just might be.

We Need to Talk About User Age

One thing we talk about a lot in retail, but haven’t yet had to address with social media, is the phenomenon of “aging out.” This happens when a brand, performer or social media platform’s core audience becomes too old to continue their patronage or begins to die off. It’s a natural phenomenon that most try to avoid discussing, and Facebook will be the first major social media platform to experience the phenomenon.

Statista reports that of Facebook users, just 18.5 percent belong to the 18 to 24-year age group. Another 18 percent fall between 35 to 44 years old. While 13.7 percent of Facebook users are 45 to 54, another 11 percent are 55 to 64, and 10.8 percent are over 65 years old. But here’s what’s notable: Facebook’s smallest audience is its teen users. Just one in every twenty Facebook users is between 13 and 17 years old.

Facebook’s sister platform, Instagram, is known for having a younger user demographic. However, when you look at the numbers it quickly becomes clear that Instagram’s user base isn’t much younger than Facebook’s core demographic. Just 27.3 percent of Instagram’s audience in the United States were ages between 25 and 34 years old, while 25.9 percent fell between the ages of 18 and 24. But critical users between 13 and 17 years old accounted for just 5.9 percent of Instagram’s U.S. user base.

Compare this to TikTok’s popularity among young users: 39.91 percent of all TikTok users are between the ages of 18 and 24. Are you starting to see how Facebook and Instagram’s “uncool” status will soon impact the retailers that sell and advertise with them? Let’s reiterate: 18 percent of Facebook users are between 18 to 24 years old, whereas 40 percent of TikTok users are in that demographic. Nearly 11 percent of Facebook users are over 65 years old, which means that users aging out of the platform is very real concern.

Reasons Behind the Exodus

Facebook isn’t just uncool these days, it’s untrustworthy. Next gens grew up in a cancel culture, so they won’t quickly forgive and forget Facebook’s role in the Cambridge Analytica Scandal. Besides, their parents and grandparents are on Facebook. So, while they may use it to connect with elder family members, it’s not where they’re looking for their next cool hoodie or pair of kicks. Both YouTube and Instagram have tried to monopolize on TikTok’s unique niche with next gens, creating YouTube Shorts and IG TV. But trend followers aren’t trendsetters… and the kids know this.

To successfully advertise and sell on social media, retailers need to go beyond researching who is using what platform. They also need to know what functions customers fulfill on each platform. We know that one-third of Facebook customers have bought a product directly from Facebook. Whether that one-third purchased through corporate advertising, a direct sales post from a friend or family member (Lularoe rears its ugly head), Facebook Live, or another method needs to be taken into consideration. As does the nature of the product being advertised. Facebook may be a better place to sell gifts for family members and home goods. Whereas Instagram is a fashion destination.

The bottom line? Don’t judge advertising performance by user demographics. Every social media platform is used for different purposes by different demographics. People from drastically different demographics may buy the same thing for different reasons. Understanding this will help retailers conceive of a more streamlined, targeted social media strategy. So, they can stay cool and relevant… no matter whom they’re selling to.

Facebook\’s much-loved acquisition Instagram, now with over one billion users, has been a boon to users, retailers and brands. The app\’s initial role as a creative outlet has evolved into a tool whose prowess at customer acquisition is unmatched. While Facebook has labored to distance Instagram from the bad press surrounding its own brand image, Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have decided to unfriend Facebook after six years – and not so quietly. Their departure is yet another ding in Facebook\’s armor and is a catalyst for skeptical chatter about the future of Instagram.

Do I Still Like Facebook?

The Facebook app is being deleted by an alarming number of Americans. According to a Pew Research Poll published in September, \”54 percent of Facebook users have adjusted their privacy settings, 42 percent have taken a break from checking the platform for a week or more and 26 percent have deleted the app altogether.\” While the disaffections and defections have not yet rubbed off on Instagram, consumers are scrutinizing their social media sources, putting Band-Aids over their laptop cameras and dreading the next hack. At the Code Commerce Conference 2018, Framebridge Founder and CEO Susan Tynan said, \”As useful as Facebook is, and how good it is as a channel for targeting customers, we have shifted nearly 40 percent of our Facebook spend to other platforms.\”

Pinterest Is Rapidly Gaining Ground

In the meantime, Pinterest, an alternative to the more dominant social platforms, has been quietly gaining audience share and increasing in value as a marketing tool. Andrew Lipsman, retail analyst at eMarketer, describes Pinterest in a recent New York Times article: \” The business case was simple and powerful: It was a shopping mall disguised as a mood board that held its users\’ aspirations, unearthing pure and unfiltered commercial desire. You can draw a direct line from those interests to a commercial opportunity or retail category.\” Pinterest now boasts 250 million active monthly users, a 75 percent annual increase with 77.4 million users in the United States alone. There are 1.5 million businesses currently advertising on Pinterest which combines a visual search engine with a social network to create a discover/save tool. Pinterest states: \”61 percent of Pinners have made a purchase after seeing business content on Pinterest.\”

The core of Pinterest\’s advertising model is shoppable content. The Shop the Look feature allows users who discover specific items on the platform to purchase with a click, if they are for sale, and if not, to direct the user to similar items for sale within Pinterest. Pinterest Lens, which facilitates the Shop the Look feature, has seen a 140 percent increase in usage since 2017.

Instagram on the other hand, has not offered a dedicated shopping function. Vishal Shah, Instagram Director of Product Management was also interviewed at Code Commerce. When he was asked about Instagram\’s shoppable functionality and a much-rumored shoppable Instagram app, Shah would only say that the company \”would soon be testing a dedicated shopping function.\” Instead, he emphasized the platform\’s dominance in moving product \”90 million people are clicking on products through shopping tags on Instagram.\” Shoppable Instagram tags while useful, do not offer a robust search functionality — they direct the consumer to a sales point for that particular product. Rather than shoppable content, Instagram\’s supremacy lies in its social media and omnichannel dominance. A recent Daily News article highlighted this dominance and spoke of the value of Instagram to high-end brick-and-mortar retail, detailing how associates are racking up sales by connecting with clients via Instagram. By contrast, Pinterest can drive immediate online sales and grow basket size through visual search oriented shoppable pins. Still, by design, not all pins instantly drive conversions and Pinterest is happy to, and may even prefer, playing the long game for both e-commerce and brick and mortar. A unique advantage of the platform is that pins are not ephemeral. Once selected, pins exist in a state of discoverability on boards and continue influence consumers as they consider their choices over time, be that for a wedding, vacation, home renovation project or a new winter coat. Pinterest\’s demographic reach hits the retail sweet spot of millennials but extends from Gen Z through the Baby Boomers with meaningful integration.

Another advantage to Pinterest is the ability of marketers to target customers at different points of the purchase journey. In a recent episode of eMarketers\’s Behind the Numbers podcast, Pinterest\’s retail vertical lead Amy Verner described the platform\’s unique position: \”When I think about the brands and retailers that are doing really well on Pinterest, they are thinking about inspiring someone early and continuing that relationship. Pinterest often leads to a deeper exploration by the consumer and allows them to get smarter and savvier about what they are purchasing. We can reach consumers at different points in time and ultimately influence what they eventually buy.\”

At the Decoded Future\’s November 2018 Conference, Pinterest\’s Head of Market Development Vikram Bhaskaran said, \”Pinterest is not as invasive as other platforms. You don\’t go there for social content, you go to get something done or to find what you are looking for. Helpful information is not competing with a baby video. Pinterest may not offer the dopamine hit found in other platforms, or what I call a high fructose media diet. Pinterest is interested in giving you the content you want, to get you offline, living your life.\”

A recent article in the New York Times by Erin Griffith describes the platform, \”Pinterest: The web\’s last bastion of quaint innocence. Having de-emphasized its social media elements years ago, Pinterest aims to be a safe and happy place for inspiration, self-improvement and salted caramel cookie recipes. It also rejects Silicon Valley\’s typical unicorn formula of moving fast, breaking things, chasing growth at all costs and bragging about every victory.\” The company\’s co-founder and chief executive Ben Silberman has bucked this Silicon Valley ethos and pushed back against venture capitalists pressuring the company to conform. His measured approach has led Pinterest to a valuation of $12.3 billion built on three billion virtual pin boards. The Times article underlines the contrast between Silberman and his high-tech cohort of Zuckerberg, Kalanick, and Dorsey, \”He also doesn\’t focus on Pinterest\’s image in the business world. Instead, he dedicates an outsize amount of time to meeting with Pinterest users, going on six tours a year and holding weekly lunches at Pinterest\’s offices.\”

Pinterest Rising

While consumers still enthusiastically flock to Instagram, our warm feelings toward Facebook and Twitter seem to have chilled, at least according to the data. Plus, the carbon footprint from the private jets ferrying our embattled social media executives back and forth across the country is growing. We are tiring of our tech leaders\’ apology tours for a variety of ills from hacks and unauthorized data sharing to hate speech. Pinterest\’s alternative rule book, particularly their commitment to understanding their community, offers insight into the increasing popularity of the platform. The platform\’s consumer-centric approach provides an alternative, or at a minimum, a complement to a brand or retailer\’s social portfolio. Pinterest not only has a lot to offer, it has nothing to apologize for.
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Just over a year ago I wrote “Amazon Ain’t Just a River in Egypt”. The only thing that’s changed in its content is that Jeff Bezos is no longer the second richest person in the world. Today, he’s the richest person in the world.  In this sequel, I want to focus on another form of denial: social media. It really is time to get with the times. I am still astonished by how many people in the workplace who still just can’t be bothered with social media. This is not about following the Kardashians on Instagram. We all continue to crave and/or seek relevancy at work and at home. But please believe me, you can’t deny it’s power and it’s not going away…ever. So, just as I identified the disease of ADS (Amazon Denial Syndrome), you must not fall victim to SDS (Social Media Denial Syndrome).

Thanks to Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, our brains have been trained to be much more productive and absorb a lot more information – and faster than ever. In today’s virally social world, there’s really no excuse whatsoever for anyone to not be informed about everything that matters. If you are of any generation, (not just my tribe of 50+) and realize your colleagues, husband, wife, partner, kids or grandkids are so much more socially connected than you are because they have Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat or WhatsApp, etc. then you need to get real – real fast with social media. At a recent Fashion Group International/The Robin Report “Radical Retail” conference in New York – I commented that if anyone in the room wasn’t on any of the above apps then they had no business being at the meeting. The comment wasn’t meant to be glib – it’s just true. Half the room was nodding their heads “yes” and the other half looked away. How can one can go to endless numbers of weekly conferences, take notes or listen to all the business stories and advice without also being socially informed? This is no longer an era where you can get away with saying, “I don’t even know how to set the VCR.”

However, if in fact you are on top of your mobile digital social skills, then be one of the first to follow me and you needn’t read any further.

Signing up to any social media doesn’t automatically make you an Influencer. But it does get you to a place where you can at least follow others who are influential and truly learn from them. Joining any of these social apps or platforms (don’t ever call them websites – that’s so passé) is completely idiot proof. Really. And anyway, if you do need guidance then just ask Siri or Alexa. They’ll talk you through the steps. And if you’re concerned about privacy, don’t be. Ask them to protect your privacy and they will help with that as well. Just one tip: don’t automatically click on “connect to your contacts” unless you want to. My friend Ron Frasch mistakenly did that and everybody and their mother was after him about a job. It’s not required, no matter what they say. Also – here’s another privacy link that may help >>:

Go ahead! Please try one or more of these apps now, then come back to this story and I’ll share the example of someone who is breaking every single rule out there and killing it!

Welcome back. How did it go? “I’m good!” or…“WTF”…#good #terrible #awesome #allthumbs #welcometothe21stcentury.

So now that you’re app’d, meet and follow the man who has more LinkedIn followers than Emmanuel Macron, the president of France and Angela Ahrendts of Apple – combined. Gary Vaynerchuk aka Gary Vee is chairman of VaynerX, a media and communications holding company, and CEO of VaynerMedia, a full-service advertising agency servicing Fortune 100 clients. He’s a rock star, and just this week he left CAA and joined WME.

Now spend a few days or weeks following/tracking him and see how brilliant he is at “social” and how he applies it to every facet of his business and personal life. Here are his stats:

• LinkedIn – Over 2M followers  https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyvaynerchuk/ 
• Instagram – 3.4M followers https://instgram.com/garyvee
• Twitter – 1.7M followers https://twitter.com/garyvee
• Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/explore/gary-vaynerchuk/

Sure, he doesn’t have Selena Gomez’s 138M Instagram followers but for someone like a Gary Vaynerchuk, it’s very formidable. After a few weeks, you may decide you want to delete him completely from your life. Why? Because you will find him everywhere you are online (well maybe not everywhere – wink!) He’s not everywhere because of any machine learning algorithm – it’s just because he is smartly everywhere, thus the potential to grow weary of him is high. I had to stop following him for a few months when my son said, “Dad – what the hell are you doing? Who is that guy?” He’s ten-years-old.

Why am I obsessing on Gary Vaynerchuck aka GaryVee? He is insane. And he’s definitely a “radical”. He can be slightly grating, especially in person. But’s he’s “genius.” And I will take ten times of grating genius any minute of the day over staying the status quo. He’s a role model for social media management at its best.

Warning: the overuse or abuse of any of the above apps, like alcohol and drugs, is not recommended. Yes, people, especially young people, are spending way too much time on apps. Always be socially responsible with your social media and get out a little for some fresh air.

P.S. Just to lighten things up a bit, download the Bitmoji App.

It’s a blast and it reeks of relevancy.

Inching or Sprinting To Social Commerce?

Not long after Facebook was launched in 2004 as a social network, retail industry experts were bantering about whether or not it would ever become an e-commerce platform.  Fairly unanimously, most believed it would never happen — with one exception. Founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, believed that eventually, Facebook could be commercialized.  However, while Facebook’s influence on purchasing behavior via word-of-mouth is beyond dispute, as well as its growing advertising platform, its attempts at expanding into an e-commerce marketplace (“F-commerce” as it was called), failed early on. Its first foray with 1-800-flowers.com in 2009 was followed by several other retailers in 2011, including Gap, JC Penney and Nordstrom’s, all of which pulled out. At the time, Forrester Research’s Sucharita Mulpuru, said, “… it was like trying to sell stuff to people while they’re hanging out with their friends at the bar.”

Along the way, Facebook Groups were formed (specific sets of people), as well as Facebook Pages (created by businesses, at no cost, to promote their goods and services).  Then buy buttons were added to businesses pages to provide users a one-click ability to buy the product featured, as opposed to being clicked through to the product’s website.

Move Over eBay

Now Facebook launched its peer-to-peer (P2P), local selling tool, called Marketplace, on its mobile app in the U.S., UK, Australia and New Zealand. Currently over 450 million people use Facebook Groups, to buy, sell, trade and barter. Postings can be made by anybody in the group for items they want to sell. Now Marketplace will streamline and enhance the process by offering a dedicated venue that will be able to match and update listings based on a Group’s local and personal preferences.

It opens with photos of items listed for sale by people in nearby locations. It also facilitates search for items, categories and prices of particular interest, and can drill down to other details including the name and photo of the sellers and their locations. Once a choice is made, it can either be saved for later or one can send the seller a direct message from Marketplace to make an offer.  Facebook does not participate in any way during the transaction, delivery or exchange of the goods.

With Facebook’s billions of global users and its trusted brand name, eBay should be looking over its shoulder, particularly since it has been experiencing decelerating growth over the past few years. In fact, Marketplace could attract and steal buyers and sellers right off of eBay’s platform, and for that matter, from Etsy and other P2P marketplaces as well.

Mark “The Bezos of Social Commerce” Zuckerberg?

Even though social commerce was introduced by Yahoo in 2005, Facebook, with over 1.5 billion active users per month, according to Statista, compared to about 244 million on Amazon, no wonder Zuckerberg was dreaming about how to commercialize it all from day one.

And since shopping has been a more or less social occasion forever, why is it not logical to imagine retailers, brands and service businesses to operate in Facebook’s Groups neighborhoods? Since they have figured out how to blend stealth marketing and advertising communications into these “communities” without offending the social fabric, why is the next step to purchase so unlikely?  For those that have cracked the code of communicating with and among these social groups as opposed to talking at or to them, it would seem to me that the next step to facilitating shopping and buying should be a slam-dunk.

If we revisit Sucharita Mulpuru’s comment about commerce in Facebook’s social network and why it failed the first time around, let’s look at it today. Maybe the local Budweiser distributor, who fits the profile of this group of friends, enters the bar and buys a round of beer for all of them. In this scenario, he’s not only blending in, he’s suddenly their new best friend.
And Facebook is going to scale social commerce to an astronomical level, just like Zuckerberg has had his eye on the universe from the get-go.

Have you heard enough about Millennials? If you immediately answered yes, we’re right there with you…but not so fast.

First we glorified them. Then we demonized them. Now it’s time to appreciate them for the influential force they are.

No new news: Millennials are the take-the-bull-by-the-horns, build-a-better-mousetrap generation. Empowered by generous praise and you-can-do-anything encouragement from their Boomer parents, a challenging job market propelled them to explore alternatives.

With technology at their fingertips, this demographic has radically transformed the business environment. Instant media darlings, Millennials have been the subject of extensive study and discussion, gaining notoriety for an innovative and often aggravating worldview.

We suggest the greatest legacy of the Millennial gen may be its demo-destroying superpower. Regardless of motivation, there is evidence that consumers of all ages are picking up the tricks and traits that make this MVP demographic so interesting.

Here is a quick look at how the Millennial generation has taken its place in the cultural conversation leaving an indelible mark on its generational neighbors, most particularly Boomer and Z.

Boomer Bait

Boomers’ Millennial-esque attitudes are a result of the close relationships they share with their Millennial children and colleagues. They have embraced next-gen lifestyle and career goals, and they remain in awe of Millennial technical know-how.

Social Media Adaption

Hand-me-down social media platforms have introduced the older generation to social media and now they are hooked. Millennials gave Facebook to their Boomer parents on a silver platter.

Career Care

Watching their Millennial children follow their passions to pursue careers or start businesses made an impression on the Boomer generation. Finding themselves in the workplace longer than expected, Boomers are discovering passion projects and making career pivots.

Urban Living

Boomers are gravitating to cities for myriad reasons — closer to their Millennial children, culture and cuisine, walkability, easy commutes for longer career spans, diversity — the same sentiments attracting the Millennial city dweller.

Experience Over Acquisition

Millennials’ interest in experiences and subsequent lack of interest in logos and status has shamed the once ostentation-obsessed Boomer. The Boomers’ relationship with luxury has matured. Still interested in high-end brands, Boomers look for a more meaningful interaction with brands through valuable shopping experiences and dedicated customer service.

Gen Z-Millennial Mapping

As older Millennials become parents (a whole other topic of investigation for TOBE), Gen Zs move in as a souped-up version of their predecessors, carrying the torch for Millennial core values and behaviors, but with the backdrop of their Gen X parents’ pragmatic and principled ways.

Conscientiousness Is Cool

Not an add-on or an option, businesses that want to do business with Gen Z better be doing some good. Corporate responsibility is built into their DNA just like that of their
Millennial siblings.

Early Entrepreneurialism

Witnessing the success of the generation preceding them, Gen Z will feel compelled to start and sell a business (or two) of their own before graduating from college, if not high school.

Entertainment End Around

The Millennials started it but Gen Z will finish it. Anywhere, anytime entertainment will run its final play against network TV as Gen Z kicks the cable addiction for good in favor of streaming video, apps and virtual reality.

Next-Gen Authenticity

Authenticity has been the Millennial mantra, but as younger consumers understand the marketing angle of authenticity, a new standard will emerge. The only way to describe what’s coming next is Authentic Authenticity. It will have to be in the very fiber of a brand or business for Gen Z.

Next Up

The numbers don’t change; a demographic of this size will continue to hold significant sway. It’s worth mentioning a few more Millennial
lessons we expect to influence all consumers.

One and Onlys

Millennials love digging around for vintage items and anything they can find that they will be the only one to have. By extension, they also love niche and small batch over mass-produced. Ditto for entertainment, food and travel.

The Tip: Unique and special items and experiences will be contagious.

Patina Plays

This gen likes a little more lived-in feel in environment and product than previous generations might have. Bonus points if they can rough it up themselves — cutting, patching, tattooing or coloring.

The Tip: Consider make-it-your-own options.

Value Trumps Disposability

Not big spenders, Millennials are very cautious with their money. That said, raised on fast fashion, they are not prepared to pay up for investment purchases. They insist on a subjective definition of value — good quality for a fair price.

The Tip: There’s a new (old) value equation.

Tapped Senses

The Millennial generation is decidedly multi-sensory. At its simplest, they have re-imagined food and beverage. Audio solutions are on the uptick and synesthesia-driven art and entertainment enthrall.

The Tip: Roll-call those senses as you develop product and services.

Is the Pan-Consumer the New Demographic to Chase?

Expect consumer behavior to continue to transcend age range, birth order or gen-designated definers. We see an uber-demographic that’s faster, smarter, more worldly, more cultured and better-informed, not to mention in control of the conversation. Get prepared for an homogenized consumer atmosphere.

Millennial Change Agents

• Pioneered social media. (Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest)
• Pioneered social media. (Airbnb)
• Given retail a run for its money. (Birchbox, Rent The Runway)
• Made cash obsolete. (Venmo)
• Revolutionized the fitness landscape. (Classpass)
• Resuscitated the food industry. (ByChloe, Blue Apron)
• Hijacked the media. (Mashable, Refinery29)
• Challenged the luxury sector. (Mansur Graviel)
• Upended transportation. (Lyft)

By bringing hair, makeup and nail pros right to your door, on-demand apps are claiming an ever-bigger chunk of the beauty budget.

Pass the oxygen mask — StyleSeat is sucking all the air out of the room.

This past July, when the San Francisco based startup announced that its Series B fundraising had yielded a cool $25 million—on top of the $15 million in VC money already sitting in its kitty (some even courtesy of Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick)—jaws dropped throughout beauty land.

Why have the money gods smiled on StyleSeat and not one of the umpteen other service-bookings apps? And why a service-bookings app instead of a good old-fashioned, scrappy little indie brand?

Launched in 2011 at TechCrunch’s annual Disrupt NY newbies powwow, StyleSeat was a first mover in this now-crowded field. As such, it paved the way for a slew of similar services, including Glamsquad, Vênsette and many others in the “style” camp, i.e., Stylisted, Stylez and StyleBookings.

While some service bookings entities merely facilitate salon and spa appointments, connecting the dots between potential clients and providers, the newer wave brings the provider right to the client’s door at a moment’s notice. And though a handful are website-only, mobile apps are where it’s at. After all, these companies skew young, and those young ones are on the move.

A Few Little Guys Step Out Onto the Stage

Before we take a deeper gander at StyleSeat — aka King Kong among a sea of Fay Wrays—let’s investigate two up-and-comers: Stylez, an app launched in 2014, and StyleBookings, a website that made its debut this year.

Born in Miami, Stylez is a consumer-facing product by the very inside-baseball, industry-driven Hair Construction Co. Through the creation of mega training materials (look-books, videos, step-by-step “recipes,” product recommendations), three-year-old Hair Construction does the heavy lifting for tens of thousands of salons around the world. Its team of 40 coiffeurs from 10 countries gathers in one locale twice a year to knock out these training tools, and then they take that act on the road—to Moscow, to Caracas, to Colorado Springs. Everywhere, basically.

But stylists and don’t need to hike to a Hair Construction seminar to learn how to execute each season’s trendy looks. For a monthly fee, they can join the digital platform, get access to the materials, and have a mini bookings website built for them, personalized with their portfolio and contact info.

Hair Construction’s Stylez app, which is free, adds an incredibly consumerfriendly twist to all that stylist intel: users can choose from among 400 celebrity looks (300 for women, 100 for men), find a salon, and then get the exact style they’re after because the participating hairdresser or barber can download the corresponding video tutorial, shot from all angles.

Consider Stylez the 3D version of ripping a picture out of Vogue or GQ, and bringing it to a salon or barbershop, hoping for the best. Plus, there’s a social media feature: Users can post before and after shots for their friends and followers to ooh and aah over.

It’s a very smart idea; no wonder Hair Construction beat out 200 other applicants for a chance to present Stylez to Mark Cuban and billionaire hair guru John Paul DeJoria at the first BeautyPitch at CosmoProf Las Vegas this summer. “The crowd of 1,700 interrupted us with applause twice during our presentation, which was very heartwarming,” recalls Hair Construction co-founder Cory Hoffart. “And we were approached by dozens of companies after the event with requests to work together. It was a game changer.”

For some, it’s about the niche, not the numbers…

On the far more niche end of the spectrum—but equally distinctive—is StyleBookings, the brainchild of superstar hairdresser George Kyriakos. Three years ago, after conceiving the idea of bringing top editorial talent to the doorsteps of chic New York women, Kyriakos rekindled an old friendship with makeup whiz and entrepreneur Vincent Longo.

Shazzam: Instant startup synergy. “Vincent and I go way back,” says Kyriakos. “We used to shoot for Vogue and Elle and Bazaar together. And not only is he a brilliant makeup artist, he’s a brilliant businessperson, too. He knows so much about branding.”

UBERIZING:

Alongside their roster of 30 carefully vetted hairstylists and makeup artists in New York, Kyriakos and Longo expect to add Los Angeles to the StyleBookings mix shortly. But they’re moving slowly and carefully, eschewing outside financial backing—for now—so they can call their own shots while beefing up their track record.

“I’ve been approached by two hedge funds in the last year,” notes Kyriakos.

“I know this sounds crazy, but I didn’t actually want VC money. We have certain milestones we want to hit first, and we’re also in the process of developing our app. With angel financing, they own you lock, stock and barrel, and they make every decision.”

Let’s hope that when Kyriakos and Longo are ready to cede a little control in exchange for investor dough, there’s still some to go around. Especially with the kind of returns StyleSeat must be offering its angels. The company reportedly has 320,000 service providers in its network, spanning thousands of U.S. cities. It has booked 30 million appointments in four years, to the tune of $1 billion.

No matter how you slice it, $1 billion is a lot of money. But it’s actually only sliver of the revenue StyleSeat expects to eventually generate. In 2011, at launch, company founder Melody McCloskey estimated the total bookings market at $40 billion.

The Carving of the American Beauty Budget

Those numbers have to make beauty manufacturers and retailers nervous. After all, for every dollar spent on a salon or spa appointment, or hair and makeup done in the privacy of one’s home or office, that’s a dollar that won’t be finding its way to the coffers of an Estée Lauder or a Saks Fifth Avenue.

“The question is: What are all these bookings services doing to the pie?” asks Wendy Leibmann, CEO and Chief Shopper, WSL Strategic Retail. “The pie isn’t getting any bigger, and it’s being sliced into lots of little slivers.”

Right now, the retail pie-slice is nothing to write home about. “Growth has been incremental, it’s been slow—however polite or impolite we want to be about it,” says Leibmann. “One percent, two percent.”

At between six and 10 percent, growth in traditional online sales is more robust, but still far from stellar. Leibmann says she isn’t remotely surprised that bookings services have caught on. \”When you look at the tradeoffs people are making—and we call it ‘the good life vs. stuff’—they’re looking for, and willing to spend more on, things that are experiential rather than just another lipstick, or frock, or something else. That’s where the $75 for the at-home blowout is coming from. It’s not additive to the budget; it’s ‘I’ll do that vs. that.’”

More ominous, says Leibmann, is that consumers got used to buying fewer actual goods during the economic downturn, and they’ve yet to bounce back.

“One of the data points that jumped out at me from our 2014 ‘How America Shops’ mega-trends study is that four out of 10 participants said to us: ‘I had to cut back during the Recession and realized that I don’t need all that stuff,’ she says. “So that isn’t a majority, but it’s still a big number. And it’s the same for Millennials as in all the other demos.”

Still another factor aiding and abetting the bookings services, particularly the Uber-esque, on-demand apps: time deprivation. “People are incredibly overwhelmed and busy,” says Leibmann. “Whether it’s juggling several jobs in this ‘gig’ economy, or it’s the house, the kids, and everything else they have going on, people will step back and say: ‘I don’t have time to do [hair, makeup, nails] myself, so I’m willing to pay for it.”

Getting Off the Sidelines, and Into the Mix

Rather than huddling in a corner, wringing their hands and watching the bookings services and on-demand apps eat their lunch, beauty companies should dive right in to the sector, says Leibmann. After all, most of the biggies—L’Oréal, Estée Lauder Companies, Coty—now have booming professional divisions, and vast networks in the salon distribution channel.

And hair is only part of the equation. Why not build a MAC fleet of on-demand makeup artists? An Essie team of mobile manicurists? Everything these beauty behemoths need to fight the bookings revolution is sitting right in their front yards. “They’ve got the door opened already with a lot of their brands,” says Leibmann. “They have the ability to bring those brands to the shopper. It’s a huge opportunity. And they’re smart. They’ll figure it out.”

This is a challenging time for retailers to invest in global expansion. About ten years ago the industry experienced a Gold Rush of sorts, heeding calls to “Go West” (or  “Head East,” depending on your perspective) to China and India. Some launched seriously misguided formats, like those of Tesco and Carrefour, that didn’t properly serve local consumer preferences or failed to come to terms with political realities. (Since then, many adjustments have been made. Retailers who had the fortitude to stick it out stayed and eventually grew to understand and manage to the local shoppers’ environment and needs.

More recently, the call was to move into Brazil, Russia and South Africa, the balance of the so called “BRICS” countries. No longer labeled “emerging markets,” BRICS offered opportunities for fast growth from both new money and the promise of government investments in infrastructure.

However, recent political and economic developments, including unstable currency and concerns about corruption, have caused retailers to rethink where and when to expand across borders. Many have postponed moves into what otherwise might be promising expansion markets. Much of Africa fits this description of potential shaded by high risk. With the possible exception of India, so far none of these regions look very promising in the next few years.

Enter Mexico, where we’ve recently taken a deep look into what we  believe are tremendous opportunities for  U.S. businesses. There is a longstanding though complex set of relationships between the two countries, intensified by the mechanics of free trade (NAFTA) and substantial migration across borders. And clearly there is the influence of each culture on the other, with Latino traditions becoming well known in the U.S., and U.S. holidays, brands and entertainment quite familiar within Mexico. All of this makes setting up shop in Mexico far easier for a U.S. retailer than moving to most other countries.

Why the Time May Be Right for Mexico

Many positive developments and indicators make Mexico worth considering as an expansion site. First and foremost, there is a growing middle class.

Until recently, there were two economic tiers in the country, the very wealthy and the very poor, providing little promise for U.S.-style retail, which serves busy, two-income households, The poor wouldn’t have been able to afford to shop there and the rich, with their big houses and staffs of domestic help, didn’t need it. However, the rapid expansion of middle- and high-quality manufacturing in the last decade has created a growing and educated middle class comprising almost half the country. Mexico now looks quite different than it did in its bipolar past. Mexican shoppers want to shop, and they want good retail experiences.

Suburban Sprawl

This larger middle class is driving an overall shift of the population to the suburbs, along with a move to dual incomes in most cases. Not only do they want to shop in nicer stores, they want to do so after work and on weekends, which is at odds with the traditional informal retailers. Sound familiar? This is exactly where the U.S. was four decades ago, at the start of its big phase of retail sales growth.

Though malls are on a general decline in the U.S. as they age and lose out to online retailers, in Mexico about 50 malls per year, averaging a million square feet each, are being added. Since the new suburbs lack the infrastructure for large shopping areas, and the older cities have real physical constraints to being able to support these requirements, the new malls are being built on commuter routes between suburbs and cities, to give access to both.

The Palacio de Hierro and Liverpool department store chains have been remodeling and expanding their existing malls, and plan on adding five new ones each year between them. The supermarket chains Chedraui and Comercial Mexicana have similar plans.

Mexican shoppers are tuned in to American brands. Hundreds of shopper groups each month take organized bus trips from Mexico to Southern Arizona to stock up on merchandise that is unavailable at home or that is perceived as better priced stateside.

Since the burgeoning middle class does not have household help, there are more home furnishings and kitchen stores. The department stores and malls are creating destination food courts for these time-pressed and experience oriented shoppers.

The Wealthy Want to Shop, Too

Not to be outdone, the very wealthy are flocking to their own new malls in cities like Cancun, Xalapa, Polanco (within Mexico City), Santa Fe and Monterrey. Carlos Slim, the most successful businessman in Mexico, is committed to creating more of these mega malls and integrated shopping experiences such as those on the north side of Polanco, where he has rebuilt the entire area around the old rail yards into multiple malls, with entertainment centers that include a world-class art museum and aquarium. Crate & Barrel, Saks Fifth Avenue and Gap are now in Carlos Slim’s Plaza Carso development.

Viva American Brands

Mexican shoppers are tuned in to American brands. Hundreds of shopper groups each month take organized bus trips from Mexico to Southern Arizona to stock up on merchandise that is
unavailable at home or that is perceived as better priced stateside. But overall these trips are less about pricing and more about experience. The malls, shopping centers and retailers that receive the bulk of these visitors provide a superior shopping environment. It is telling that the older shopping plazas on the south side of Tucson and in the border town of Nogales have lost much of the Mexican trade on which they were built, as Mexican shoppers drive past them to shop at Macy’s, Nordstrom Rack and the major lifestyle malls.

Challenges Remain

This is not to say that Mexico is an automatic route to success. While we’re not exactly saying “Mexico is the new China,\” there are several challenges to doing business in Mexico.

Corruption in Mexico has come more into the glare of the public eye than in the past. However, though still a reality, it is not  necessarily on the increase. Key services, such as water and the building of infrastructure, continue to be distorted by ‘unseen hands’—but the government has become far more active (and successful) in reducing the impact of bribes and racketeering in some other areas. The police and public security organizations continue to improve, the oil industry has been made partially public, and even the Teachers Union has been challenged. Social Media has played a large part in driving public opinion to force these changes and is providing a backdrop of “social shaming” that has had some effect.

Infrastructure is improving more quickly, starting with the modernization of ports on the Pacific and the Gulf, along with the land ports on the U.S.-Mexico border. Rail freight and intermodal containers have improved greatly in the last ten years, resulting in a huge increase in air freight and commercial travel, particularly at the smaller airports. And although the highway system has enjoyed the biggest improvement, it has not kept pace with the increase in passenger cars and trucking. Home delivery remains challenged, with the last 1000 meters from the transportation network to the home still a problem.

Violence from the drug cartels is very real, but has lessened greatly in most areas also. It can flare up quickly, however, so it needs to be monitored accordingly. Organized crime is still a concern for business and for individuals in most parts of the country, and retailers have become remarkably quick to shift to a far more nuanced and effective security network to offset this challenge.

eCommerce Still In Relative Infancy Although the middle class shopper in Mexico is highly engaged with online activities, including social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter, Mexico’s ecommerce sector has barely gotten started. The Latin American pureplay online retailers of Linio.com and MercadoLibra.com do reasonably well, but they also experience limitations in fulfillment due to the evolving infrastructure and perceived dangers of home delivery.

Amazon has announced it will be launching a Mexico site, and is aligning with the large distributor and retailer FEMSA—which not only  owns 13,000 OXXO convenience stores and close to the 1,000 drug stores, but is also the largest distributor to the small retail store in the market. Being able to deliver to every neighborhood of any size in the country on a daily basis will be crucial to establishing a stable eCommerce business in Mexico, as will the ability to provide credit to Mexican consumers. So the opportunities in Mexico are primarily in the brick-and-mortar sector, at least for now.

Any U.S. retail brand considering expansion into Mexico must first ask itself a few  key questions: How  does the brand translate into the Mexican culture? How does the retail and brand experience offered serve unmet shopper needs? Are the broader infrastructure issues something the retailer is willing to deal with?

The growth in Mexico’s middle class, increasing demands on consumers’ time, and expanding payment options offer a sweet spot of opportunity for  many retailers today, and should not  be  ignored.

Don’t let the challenges of Mexico scare you. The ultimate reward might be more than worth the risk.

Q&A with Miguel Flores, American Eagle Outfitters Mexico, who gives further insight into how a U.S.-centric brand can succeed in Mexico.

Gwen: How did you decide to launch in Mexico?

Miguel: Many retailers don’t pick Mexico as they consider expansion early on. They go to Asia or they go to Europe. At American Eagle Outfitters, we fielded a global study that told us Mexico was an obvious choice. We also knew that Mexicans love our brand and were already transacting heavily in tourist destinations and border stores. Culturally it\’s embedded in the lives of Mexicans to go to the U.S. to shop for better value, better service, and better quality. So they are familiar with U.S. retail brands and we knew that AEO as a brand fit right in with Mexico’s teen and young adult aspirations. “Real Clothes for Real People” really strikes a chord with them.

Gwen: What hurdles did you see?

Miguel: The challenge for us was to overcome the unfortunate perception that you might not get the same quality of service in Mexico as in the U.S., and that the pricing is unfavorable. Shoppers were skeptical that our pricing would be fair. We maintain the same price with currency exchange from one country to the other.

The second issue was that many brands that have a certain positioning in their home market come to Mexico pretending to be something they are not. For consumers who know the brand, they always end up saying \”You know, it\’s not the way I expected it to be here.\” So we needed to deliver the same standard of experience within the store and online.

Gwen: How do you evaluate if particular campaigns originated in the U.S. will play well in Mexico?

Miguel: It’s always a fine line. We are a U.S.-based brand, and we want to have the same campaigns, but occasionally they don’t translate. For example, for holiday last year, the U.S. windows featured down jackets with the line \”Get Down.\” That would not play well, so we substituted a very typical Mexican phrase that means \”We\’re Warming Up.\” So we keep the brand’s DNA and the essence of the promotional message while making it relevant for he local consumer.

Gwen: Tell us more about how the AEO brand fits within the competitive set in Mexico.

Miguel: The denim market is a 1.7 billion (USD) market in Mexico. We thought that was very attractive. We knew the market was being dominated by traditional players, brands launched over 20 years ago, but that a lot of new brands were also coming, like GAP, Aeropostale, Hollister and Abercrombie. But consumers told us, “I don\’t like to be told what to wear, I have my own style but I still need some inspiration.” They also said they liked our everyday fashion and unique styling. So we loved that positioning. It gave us an amazing opportunity, and we looked at this and we said this is exactly where we want to be. We saw that we could capitalize on our brand strengths and connect with Mexican consumers’ personal sense of style.

Gwen: Can you describe your launch? Did you have a spokesperson from Mexico?

Miguel: The fact that we don’t use celebrities worked well for our launch. We opened 18 stores in 12 cities throughout Mexico. Again, “Real Clothes for Real People” allows us to showcase great lifestyle and fun people in everyday life. The trick was to create buzz in social media before we were ready to launch an ecommerce site.

We did his by taking a pop-up experience to universities and malls around the country. We invited people to try on the jeans and share their love of the great fit with their friends. We gave them coupons to redeem at a physical store.

We started with 817,000 people that were already following us on a corporate Facebook page before opening in Mexico. In only two years, we\’ve been able to grow that base to over 2 million people. And then we opened our Twitter organically and already we are at almost 100K people.

Gwen: Any advice you would like to share?

Miguel: First, we invested the time required to really understand the brand in the context of the Mexican market and our core shopper. We did not rush, in and this was key. Second, we capitalized on our brand’s strengths relative to the lifestyle our consumer in Mexico aspires to. Third, we showed respect for the community. We started a campaign to fund public spaces where our consumers go to meet and have fun.

So we heard them, we asked them, we looked at them, and we followed them. We decided on how to approach our customers. We engaged them, we got them to go to the stores, and now the big challenge is to keep it going, to continually exceed our metrics for traffic and conversion.

Note: at the time of article publishing Miguel Flores has moved on to other endeavors and is no longer Country Leader for AEO.

After 114 years, Seattle-based Nordstrom finally made it 143 miles due north to open a store in Vancouver, British Columbia on September 18.And what a store it is. As someone who has visited many Nordstrom stores in the U.S., I can say that none can match the 230,000-square foot store in Vancouver’s Pacific Centre on the corner of Robson and Howe in the heart of the downtown shopping hub.

Vancouver, which is Nordstrom’s third full-line unit in Canada, is considerably larger than Calgary (140,000 square feet, opened September 2014) and Ottawa (158,000 square feet, opened in March 2015).

Two more stores will open in 2016, both in Toronto. A 213,000-square foot unit in the Eaton Centre downtown, and an 188,000 square-foot store in Yorkdale Shopping Centre.

According to Retail Insider, Pacific Centre is Canada’s highest revenue-generating mall, averaging $1,498 (Canadian) per square foot. Eaton’s and Sears were the two previous tenants in the 42-year old building that Vancouverites had dubbed “the urinal” because of its windowless white stone tile paneling façade that was designed by famed American architect Cesar Pelli. Nordstrom, on the other hand, has dramatically enhanced the statement of the building with long vertical glass windows on every floor that help bring the exterior inside.

Jamie Nordstrom, president of stores, told me that Vancouver represents the company’s biggest commitment to designer offerings, on both the first and second floors. A partial list of vendors includes Christian Louboutin, Balenciaga, Saint Laurent Paris, Stella McCartney, Céline, Chloé, Lanvin, Burberry and Delvaux (which is exclusive to Nordstrom in Canada).

Nordstrom’s overall merchandise presentation is a statement to Canadian shoppers that they would not bring “Nordstrom Lite” north of the border—unlike Target, which was accused of offering “Target Lite”, and eventually closed dozens of stores that they had opened virtually simultaneously. Nordstrom is taking its usual methodical, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other approach. “With every store we open in Canada, we learn new lessons,” said Karen McKibbin, president of Nordstrom Canada.

Nordstrom’s go-slow approach is reflected by its decision to wait until next year to open Nordstrom Rack stores. The company wants to thoroughly understand the market before making its moves. And when it does open Rack stores, you can be sure that it will be both strategic and rapid. In all, nine full-line stores are planned for Canada and 12 to 15 Racks locations, BMO’s analysts suggested.

The downtown Vancouver store is a signal that this fourth generation of Nordstroms intends to take the company that was founded by their great-grandfather to new heights. Vancouver fits into Nordstrom’s strategy of offering spectacular downtown flagship stores that cater to tourists and visitors, and raise the company’s profile both nationally and internationally.

Nordstrom is in the midst of remodeling its other downtown flagship stores in Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco. The company will be opening another downtown flagship store in Toronto next year.

“We’ve really focused on this location,” said Erik Nordstrom co-president of the company, along with his older brothers Blake and Peter. “Vancouver is an opportunity for us to start from ground zero. We’ve tried to do some different things and really stretch ourselves. This store is a representation of where we are today.” Pete Nordstrom added: “This store is the next chapter in the book.”

Nordstrom’s downtown flagship strategy will reach its peak (literally and figuratively) in 2018 when the company opens its first location in Manhattan at 217 W. 57th Street. The 285,000-square foot store will occupy the bottom seven floors (three below ground; four above ground) of the 1775-foot building, which will be one of the tallest in the Western Hemisphere.

“We’re hopeful that a lot of our partners in the market will come out and see this store, particularly as we get ready for our store in Manhattan,” said Erik Nordstrom. After the New York opening, Nordstrom will definitely have established itself as an international brand. In my opinion, I could see Nordstrom opening in a world-shopping hub such as Singapore. (I should add, this is strictly speculation on my part.)

Erik Nordstrom said that the Vancouver store offers several new services, such as free two-hour delivery to downtown locations as well as same-day delivery within 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) for a charge of $15.00.

To ensure that Nordstrom’s new Canadian employees delivered the company’s legendary level of customer service, before Nordstrom opened any Canadian stores, they brought several dozen Canadian managers to Seattle for eight weeks of training in The Nordstrom Way.

“These are Canadian stores run by Canadians,” said McKibbin. Observing the new Vancouver sales people in action, it was evident that the lessons took, beginning with the moment the doors opened for the first time, and thousands of shoppers, curiosity seekers and (no doubt) competitors filed in, while store employees cheered and applauded the customers who cheered and applauded right back. With cellphone cameras held high, employees and customers shot videos of each other, as “Should I Stay Or Should I Go?” by The Clash blared over the speakers.

In the Nordstrom tradition, many family members were in attendance, including fourth-generation co-presidents Blake and Pete, as well as Bruce and John of the third generation. I asked John what his father and uncles (who were shoe retailers) would have thought of the Vancouver store, he laughed and said, “Those guys didn’t understand what my generation was trying to do. They just let us do it.”

The opening was the culmination of Nordstrom’s introducing itself to the market. The evening before, Nordstrom hosted an Opening Gala, which raised $420,000 to benefit BC Women\’s Hospital & Health Centre Foundation, BC Children\’s Hospital Foundation, Covenant House Vancouver and the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The Vancouver opening epitomizes how Nordstrom introduces itself to a new market. Although most British Columbians are well acquainted with their Washington State neighbor, Nordstrom acted as if they were an unknown quantity. The company’s public relations team methodically created a buzz through strategically placed stories, special store previews for media and selected consumers, and the philanthropic Opening Gala with fashion show—all leading up to the store opening and the accompanying coverage through television, print and social media.

Although some industry sophisticates might read Nordstrom’s humble “we want to earn your business” approach as disingenuous for a $14 billion powerhouse, it’s not an act. While the Nordstroms are as competitive as any players in the business, they don’t allow hubris to overpower prudence. Other retailers should take note.

My favorite 14-year-old girl, like so many in her generation, is lost without her phone. In spite of school, sports, eating and sleeping, she spends almost eight hours a day on social media. Instagram and Snapchat are her addictions. Selfies are taken and posted hourly. In the social media scheme of things, Facebook is only for old fogies. The worst punishment Mom can give her is to take away her electronics. She is a 21st century girl. And yet the way to her heart is to take her shopping. T.J.Maxx, Joe Fresh, H&M, Anthropologie, Uniqlo, Hollister—she has outgrown Dylan’s Candy. I often hire her to take retail pictures for me. She is cute snapping pictures; I, on the other hand, am intrusive.

Marketplace Mentality

We, as a species, have been going to marketplaces since we were hunters and gatherers. It was not just about the acquisition of goods; it was about a meeting ground to look at and interact with other people, especially strangers. Our fascination with shopping may be as much about natural selection’s predisposition against incest as it is the need to acquire. Get them out of the house to meet new people and give them joy with owning something new.

Doubling Down

For most Gen-Xers and millennials, the mall was the first place they got to be their independent selves. It was the first place they met strangers that didn’t live on the same block, go to the same school or attend the same house of worship. It was the first place they got to see the broader world and spend (and sometimes make) their own money. While some B and C malls across the country are failing, try finding a parking space at Short Hills or Garden State Plaza on a Saturday afternoon. It’s a tale of three malls.

Mall Mavens

Across the developing world, malls, or what we refer to in the industry as organized shopping, offer a series of virtues that cannot be found on an urban street. The mall is climate controlled and clean. Since shopping in 2015 tends to be a female activity, hygiene plays well globally and the mall is doing just fine. The mall is also safe. In many countries it screens its visitors with security checks, not unlike airports, and operates its own private police force that make our mall cops look like patsies. In 2013, the terrorist attack on an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi resonated everywhere—but particularly in developing markets.

The demise of retail is a result of aging white males who were programmed like hunters to walk in the door (or the forest), shoot something quickly and drag it home. They are relics of the past. And for them, we have Cabela’s, which is the top tourist attraction in some of the states it is located. Guys drive for hours and camp in the parking lot. As an urban person, when I visited the mothership of Cabela’s outside Sidney, Nebraska, it was as close to the dark side of the moon as I‘ve gotten. Yet it’s a highly successful male-focused, thriving retail-empire where the shopping therapy side of a male’s brain can be indulged and not judged. The presence of guns, fishing tackle and duck blinds give the male visitor permission to buy pants, shirts and underwear.

Retail of the Absurd

Make no mistake; modern shopping is in an uproar. As a culture, we are over stored. There are too many places to buy the same stuff. Almost all American retail chains would be healthier if they could shed 30 percent or more of their underperforming properties. The root of the problem rests on Wall Street where those same chains are more answerable to analysts looking for growth and stock price, than the historic retail measures of profits (cash), customer satisfaction and loyalty.

North American retail empires often struggle as they get past the germinating passions of their founders. Anyone remember Gimbels, Altman’s, Montgomery Wards, Korvette’s, … much less Woolworth? When a store brags they’ve been “Open since 1937,” it’s about still being alive when all of your competition is dead. But survival does not equate to success. We celebrate our merchant gurus including Gordon Segal, Mickey Drexler and Les Wexner whose minds, hearts and guts built remarkable enterprises. The real question is whether they have been able to institutionalize their visions into their organizations to continue on when they are gone. The passionate merchants who have the vision and resilience to sustain a brand are few and far between. The world of stuff has changed and the role of retail curator is now subjected to markdowns and knock-offs.

All the abundance of choice for things we don’t need is creating a fatiguing sense of commoditization. As an antidote, in 2015 we tend to celebrate how little we spend for something rather than how much. Our immediate access to pricing information for industrially produced stuff gives us power. We can ferret out the value of things ourselves, not be led by marketers who can’t resist the spin.

Our value-power is coupled with a new sense of personal preference for what we do want, when we want it. Thus, Murray’s Cheese at New York’s Grand Central Terminal or in selected Kroger store-in-stores can sell us artisanal French Brie or Swiss Emmental at prices we are very willing to accept, whereas a Toshiba laptop purchase tends to get relegated to the lowest priced merchant.

Shopping Fatigue

I repeat a line I have used hundreds of times: After age 40, roughly 80 percent of our weekly purchases are routine. Why should we have to go back to the store to buy the same stuff? Our future will be simplified by smart kitchens that text us weekly shopping lists that we can add to or edit, and then place the order either for delivery or pick-up. Let me save my shopping energy for what really matters. I will shop for fruits and vegetables at the farmers’ market where I can talk to the people who grew them, and feel a sense of artistry when I pick out the ones that please me. Laundry soap, sugar, paper towels, toothpaste, bottled water: that’s a rote replenishment buy.

Online Memes

Yep, the online world of shopping and buying is growing. Amazon Prime is a genius idea even if the FAA is unlikely to permit delivery drones in the next five years. But for all of its cool factor, the Web has flaws. So many good ideas are subject to instant knock-offs. Unless you are able to build seriously and scale quickly, e-commerce is subject to overnight cannibalization. And with the Web, everything has equal weight. It can propagate the Protocols of Zion and the Psalms of David equally.

The e-commerce world has been taken by surprise by how fast Internet access migrated from laptop to the tablet and smartphone. The ubiquitous online solution has been seriously challenged. How we shop on different devices tends to be very different, and all our measurement engines for understanding online behavior are based in click streams (what we do) rather than finding ways to understand why we don’t do something.

For example, the male geek world has struggled to understand why some women spend hours shopping online and buy nothing. They don’t realize the 14-year-old and many of her kind are bored with reruns of 90210; they have no intention of buying online, but have very healthy fantasy lives that need to be fueled by trolling through shopping sites.

If we are honest, we should look at our retail landscape and recognize that change is healthy. What made a good store or point of sale in 2000 is different from what works in 2015. Retail is a good dipstick to presaging the evolutionary changes in us. It’s also a point in case of natural selection that some retail businesses will die. One way or another what is steadfast, and gives hope to all merchants and their customers, are our emotional, psychological and physical needs for stuff.

My favorite 14-year-old, whose closets are totally stuffed, still wails that she has nothing to wear.

Back in the 1950s with McCarthyism barely in the rearview, my parents always warned me never to sign anything for fear I would be a branded a Communist agitator. I was 6 at the time.

In the 1960s and 1970s as garbage piled up and crime ran rampant in a deteriorating New York City, we were told: “Don’t get involved.”

But the pendulum, as pendulums do, has swung in the opposite direction. Since the early 2000s, corporate social responsibility has become a moral imperative, as important a part of every company’s mission statement as profits, and the pathway to gaining the respect and loyalty of a younger socially conscious demographic.

Even in the cold, heartless canyons of Wall Street, where return on shareholder equity is a religion, socially responsible investing is becoming de rigueur. This is in no small part thanks to people like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, whose personal fortunes are supporting social causes throughout the world as well as retailers like Starbucks, Whole Foods, Walmart and Loblaw—the only Canadian company to sign the Bangladesh Accord after the Rana Plaza factory collapse.

Then there are the persistent consumer advocacy groups demanding—or at least requesting—“social audits” in order to make a company’s activities more transparent.

Playing the Odds

I’m willing to put up hard cash that most companies, given the choice, would like nothing better than to remain asocial. The odds of coming out on the right side of the big, messy and convoluted issues such as the First Amendment, religious freedom and cultural values are slim. There will always be a backlash from some group, somewhere.

However, it is no longer possible to sit on the sidelines.

For the past decade, companies and top executives have become increasingly brazen in their defense and opposition to major social issues. They are putting skin in the game with financial and philosophical support of cultural issues such as race, religion, the environment, marriage equality, civil rights, gay rights and animal rights. They are also joining social justice efforts to save everything from humpback whales to the Piping Plover.

There is a growing list of companies for whom sales and profits are a means to an end or, as Whole Foods CEO John Mackey calls it, “Conscious Capitalism,” recognition that companies have a higher purpose.

Buy a pair of TOMS shoes and another pair is given to a child in need. In fact, the company works with over 100 partners globally to supply shoes, drinking water and eyewear to people in need. Warby Parker, which has set the traditional eyewear industry on its heels, distributes free glasses for every pair sold. Patagonia is the poster child for environmental stewardship, and fashion industry icons Ralph Lauren and Donatella Versace are deeply involved in cancer research and children’s organizations.

They have taken to heart the words of the 18th century Irish political philosopher Edmund Burke, who said: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

On the other hand, noted economist Milton Friedman espoused the theory 40 years ago that the social responsibility of business in a free enterprise system is to increase profits, and therefore, executives are simply agents of the company with their ultimate objective being making as much money for the company as possible.

I wouldn’t dare spar with an intellect like Friedman nor his disciples. But it seems that he had an answer for simpler times. Business, for better or worse, has clearly evolved to a point where it is irrevocably intertwined with social issues. Altruism and activism are part of a broader corporate strategy that is quite simply good for business.

Transparency

Clearly, social responsibility, ethics and even morality can be subjective. However, the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University in Ma. has reported that nearly half of the 1,000 largest corporations in the U.S. have in-house ethics programs and codes.

Many of the good men and women who run them have come from every corner of the retail industry. They have the courage of their convictions; unafraid to speak out against what they see as injustice and, in doing so, put their company’s reputation on the line.

But when it comes to involvement in social issues, the big questions are how and when? And at what point, in either mainstream media or social media, does an opinion become an intrusive rant that puts the brand itself in danger?

Look at some recent developments and how they fared.

Freedom of Choice

Apple CEO Tim Cook, who last year announced he is gay, is a vocal and powerful opponent of discrimination against gay, lesbian and transgendered people. He is only one of the many Silicon Valley power brokers flexing their muscles on social issues, some of whom have stated they will reduce their investment and employees in states that pass laws with which they disagree. On the downside, Apple continues to be scored by advocacy groups for shipping manufacturing jobs overseas to take advantage of cheaper labor.

Companies like Walmart, Levi Strauss, the Gap and NASCAR were among the corporate giants that vociferously criticized Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act and similar legislation in Arkansas, which they felt would legalize discrimination based on sexual orientation.

On the other side of the religious and marriage equality issue we have Chick-fil-A, the Georgia-based purveyor of chicken sandwiches and traditional Christian values. Although the company is looking for expansion in major cities, home of the legendary liberal urban Millennial, CEO Dan Cathy came out against same-sex marriage. He was being true to his long-held Christian beliefs, but it also came out that the company’s trust has made millions of dollars in donations to anti-gay organizations. This resulted in a half-hearted attempt at a boycott. But the chain dodged the bullet, proving that a strong brand image and fine chicken sandwich trumps Constitutional principles any day of the week.

Another retailer that sent ripples through Constitutional law and religious freedom was Hobby Lobby, a family-owned company whose Christian beliefs didn’t jibe with providing contraceptives under Obamacare. The argument ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court, which decided in the chain’s favor. This set a legal precedent and there was an outcry from some segments of the public. But people seem to like their hobbies as much as chicken sandwiches and little, if any, lasting damage will be done to sales.

On the other side of the coin, companies like Nike, Office Depot and others have come out firmly in favor of such issues as marriage equality, a stand that didn’t seem to have a positive impact on sales either.

Equality and Fraternity

Long before the racial strife in Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore and New York came to a head; Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz championed a national debate on race. His motives were sincere but his #RaceTogether campaign on coffee cups was ill conceived for several reasons. People willing to fork over $5 for a cup of coffee want cappuccino not conversation and they certainly don’t want to debate on a sensitive issue with their barista. They want what most customers want—to get in and out quickly. Hashtag activism is not on their agenda. Additionally, it put employees in the middle of a debate they may not be prepared to have and their opinions may open up a proverbial can of worms and create more confrontation than conversation with customers.

Overall, business has to learn how to navigate the waters of social activism in order to serve society while protecting its brand image. Consider these elements:

• Don’t try to be all things to all people. It only dilutes your message. Prioritize the issues you want to address based on your company’s culture and expertise. For instance if you’re in the food business focus on that and try to get your suppliers involved.
• Make sure executives understand that their personal pet causes are just that and not to involve or push the company into taking a stand.
• Involve employees on a strictly voluntary basis. Don’t mandate it as part of the job.
• Don’t bother spending millions of dollars on advertising and public relations or hire expensive advisors if you’re not willing to follow through with a CSR strategy that has real objectives and is not just window dressing.
• Create a “shared value” with consumers by connecting the company with a specific social purpose. For example, Nestle defining itself as a nutrition company rather than a food conglomerate.
• Focus on grassroots or community-based issues or sustainability issues rather than getting involved in sensitive national debates.Business, like life, is a battlefield. Watch out for landmines.