Smart Marketer > Bad Merchandise Productivity

The comp segment analysis tells me a lot about how smart the marketer is.

Look at January / February / March. Comp Segment productivity (customers with exactly two purchases in the past year, measuring how much they spend in the next month) was awful ... -16% / -20% / -15%. 

Now look at Comp New/Reactivated customer counts for Jan / Feb / Mar. +5% / +2% / +3%.

This is a "tell" ... it tells me that there is a Smart Marketer working for the company. When existing customers don't like what you are selling, new/reactivated buyers shouldn't like it either. However, the Smart Marketer doesn't care what the merchants are doing (more on this topic tomorrow). The Smart Marketer knows that if merchandise isn't performing, then new/reactivated customers have to increase, for three reasons.

1. To meet short-term demand/sales goals.
2. To move inventory, you don't want that stuff stacking up during a downturn, that only creates more discounts and poisons the customer file further.
3. To generate enough customers to protect next year.

The Smart Marketer knows these things. The Smart Marketer protects the business, knowing the Smart Marketer WILL NOT GET CREDIT for protecting the business. The Smart Marketer does it because it is the right thing to do.

The Lemonhead? The Lemonhead sees a sales decline and cuts the marketing budget, saving pennies, harming the ability to move inventory today, harming the ability of the brand to be successful tomorrow.