Response to Colin's Post

Do you believe that the initial price of clothing is established with the belief that the clothing will not be sold at that price so that the store may offer discounts to make the customer believe they are getting a better value? Do you believe, as a customer, that you would be getting as good a value or as good a quality product if they started at the lowest discount price? 

I believe that only a portion of clothing is expected to be sold at the retail price. The clothing industry is one of the fastest changing industries and clothing manufacturers realize that a certain style of clothing will only be popular for a short period of time. Therefore, the likelihood of thier clothing becoming discounted is very high.  I do not think that my value in a product would be affected if that item started at the lowest discount price.  When developing loyalty to clothing brands, I consider price, quality and style. If I can get a high-quality, stylish product at the lowest possible price, I would consider that to be a great value.  

Measuring and Quantifying Social Media

Like any form of marketing, social media involves costs and return on investment.  It may seem difficult to quantify such an abstract form of advertising.  The first step to do this is to obtain a baseline of revenues and cost numbers prior to your exploration into social media.  Then, determine the costs involved in your company's participation in such social media in order to calculate your return on investment.  (In order to quanitfy time spent in a new business, multiply hours spent creating media by a fair hourly wage.)  Next, you need to monitor the effects of social media on your business.  You can do this by monitoring the public's comments on your social media outlet, tracking redeemed social media related coupons and tracking this activity on a calendar so you know the exact results by the time period.  After a certain period of time (a year, for example,) take another baseline and compare it to the first baseline. If there were no other significant contributing factors, much of the results can be attributed to the social media involved.

What flaws can you think of in this method of quantifying social media?  Do you think it is still a viable tool?

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219745