Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The holiday season is upon us. I know that now more than ever.
In luxury retail, we cater to the high-brow spenders. Those include shoppers who spend with us not 4, 5, or 6 digits, but well into the million of dollars on clothing, jewelry, and cosmetics, annually. Like most companies managing their relationship with the public, we attempt to create some semblance of charity this time of the year. And who better than an organization with access to the very rich to carry out these good deeds? You can imagine my shock that our main charity, St. Jude, receives a paltry $300k from our efforts. By no means am I saying our customers are not charitable. Demographic studies show them as among the most charitable of Americans. But they do not do it with us.
This population is solicited by professional fund raisers while we simply ask them for a donation - after they’ve spent $1,000 on a Chanel purse - to make a small donation. They are clearly donating elsewhere. But with the marketing and media around what we do for St. Jude, you would think we brought millions in. The reality is that the good customers of luxury retail do not raise enough to cover the average medical costs of a single patient.
It's all propaganda.
In luxury retail, we cater to the high-brow spenders. Those include shoppers who spend with us not 4, 5, or 6 digits, but well into the million of dollars on clothing, jewelry, and cosmetics, annually. Like most companies managing their relationship with the public, we attempt to create some semblance of charity this time of the year. And who better than an organization with access to the very rich to carry out these good deeds? You can imagine my shock that our main charity, St. Jude, receives a paltry $300k from our efforts. By no means am I saying our customers are not charitable. Demographic studies show them as among the most charitable of Americans. But they do not do it with us.
This population is solicited by professional fund raisers while we simply ask them for a donation - after they’ve spent $1,000 on a Chanel purse - to make a small donation. They are clearly donating elsewhere. But with the marketing and media around what we do for St. Jude, you would think we brought millions in. The reality is that the good customers of luxury retail do not raise enough to cover the average medical costs of a single patient.
It's all propaganda.
# posted by otas : 7:59 PM
