The writing is on the windows and browsers for Woolworths
The most telling thing about the sad demise of brand Woolworths was the message on their UK website broadcast first thing on 11th December 2008 “…Currently undergoing essential maintenance. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Please check back later.
With the company facing £385 million of debts, just after 4.30pm on 10th December Woolworths’ head office sent an email to the managers of all its 815 stores announcing that no buyer had recognised the wonder of the Woolies brand. Today stores open with signs printed at the last minute reading:“closing down sale”.
The company’s administrator, Deloitte confirmed the awful news for 30,000 staff that if no solid offers for Woolworths were forthcoming, “some stores may close before the end of December”.
The Woolworths brand lost direction and focus. It persisted in the notion that consumers still wanted an old fashioned emporium of loose ends rather than a store of focused brands. Even traditional DVDs and toys were being bought via competitive, more focused websites, or at better brand positioned specialist retailers.
A blue Christmas
Consumers facing hundreds of brand messages each day need clear messages about what stores mean. Woolworths lost that meaning. Ironically, the only time the brand had a cohesive meaning – ‘value and fun’ – was during the very season that it collapsed: Christmas.
As consumers come to expect retailers to chase hard for custom, other high street names will scramble to balance the benefits of bigger discounts against diminishing profit margins.
In terms of branding, whilst price wars offer savings, longer term, such battles may lead to poorer and ‘fuzzier’ brand perceptions; making one brand appear much the same as another – and so eroding its cachet.
Perceptions
From a public perception point of view – especially for staff, with Christmas just a couple of weeks away, many more well known hard pushed brands may hold off until mid January to make further dramatic redundancies. If this prediction is true, the only people on the high street left making profits in the new year could be printers turning out endless last minute signs announcing even further closing down sales.
Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 9:45 amand is filed under Branding, British brands, Misc, global brands, retail brands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
