Corvallis’s Office of Economic Development will be looking for a new manager. Kate Porsche has accepted a position with Oregon State University that will take her up to her hometown of Portland.
Porsche will be working as Director of Industry Engagement for the Center for the Outdoor Recreation Economy (CORE) – a center that took conversations with industry leaders and developed a better understanding of the outdoor recreation economy and how to retain diverse, inclusive, and equitable workforce. She will be starting her new job by Nov. 11. We wish Porsche the best in her new position.
Inflation & Holiday Shoppers: Despite today being Halloween, most small businesses are already knee-deep in getting ready for Christmas. The earlier-than-usual start has everything to do with a continued 8% and over inflation rate.
As things across the board get more expensive, many consumers are worried about whether or not their paycheck will allow them to buy gifts for everyone on their list. This is leading many businesses that rely on holiday spending to make the year a profitable one to stock their shelves sooner in hopes of avoiding the shipping issues from the last two years and of getting shoppers the best deal early enough to beat the competition.
AlixPartners forecasts that holiday sales will rise between 4% and 7% whereas last year holiday sales grew by 16%. Adding to the issue, interest rates are significantly higher than last year, making it more expensive for consumers to use credit and making it equally expensive for businesses to borrow for additional stock.
Also spurring this on is the early “holiday deals” idea that Amazon came out with in October. Beating Amazon in general is a goal, but this year may be tougher than others, especially given that many shoppers became used to online shopping as a go-to.
Holiday Ideas: While every business is looking for better ways to make more sales, the coming months will test ingenuity more than any other.
Shoppers like to feel as though they are buying more than just an item, but also an experience. The “experience economy” was around prior to the pandemic, but those couple of years stuck inside kicked it into overdrive.
Experience economy is an idea first floated in 1999 by Joseph Pine II. The basic idea is that different economies – the agrarian economy, the industrial economy, and most recently the service economy – pass. Pine posited that the next economy would be about experiences that are memorable – the memory of the experience being the end product that a person buys.
For Corvallis, this idea can be bundled into the buying local aspect of shopping. Having items that go hand-in-hand with coming into a store that is “quaint” or unique in some manner allows the buyer to speak to the nature of the gift sent. There are also the experience gifts – a certificate for a trip down the Willamette for example.
Other ideas for better holiday sales include offering additional discounts so that shoppers feel as though they are getting the best deal possible, bundling products to increase overall sales while offering the shopper a bundled discount, basically offering some new level of local service that will bring people into a storefront.
According to Forbes magazine, customers want a human touch this year. If there are ways to provide that, your store will have a foot up on the competition, especially if the competition is a remote online entity.
Weyerhaeuser Strike Ends: Workers for Weyerhaeuser should be back to work today as they have reached an agreement. Over 1,100 employees took to the picket line in mid-September in response to a disagreement over how health care costs would be handled.
The strike is ending as the two sides came to an agreement on fixed costs for some medical costs as opposed to specific percentages. The timber company owns nearly 12.4 million acres of timberland in the US – 2.6 million in Oregon alone, and nearly 14 million in Canada.
OSU Science Pub: In the next OSU Science Pub, Joe Davidson, OSU Assistant Professor of Robotics, will be talking about why we still don’t have orchard bots.
The world population is expected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050, and we’ll need to figure out how to grow enough food to feed those extra 2 billion of us. Row crops have mechanized assistance, but apples are still picked by hand. So where are the robots that researchers have been working on since the ‘80s?
Hear Davidson talk about what’s happening at OSU to lend a hand. Come to the Old World Deli, located at 341 SW 2nd St., for the 6 p.m. event. You can also watch online by clicking this link.
Chamber Events: Coming this week from the Chamber of Commerce…
Greeters for Nov. 1 will be held at Ticor Title, located at 400 SW 4th St. Come on by from 8:30-9:30 a.m. to talk about business.
On Wednesday, Nov. 2, join a class online to learn about making the most of a Chamber of Commerce membership. From 5 – 6 p.m., learn about making and using your complimentary web page. Find more information here.
Thursday, Nov. 3, come to Lumina’s online annual benefit event at noon to hear more about Heroes with Heart, as they thank those who have helped provide compassion, comfort, and support. Details are here.
On Nov. 6, it will be Fill Your Pantry Day. This one day event provides participants with bulk quantities of beans, grains, storage crops, meats, and preserves as a means of feeding local folks with local foods and giving growers a chance to get the last of their crops out into the hands of people before winter. The pantry will be held Sunday, 12 – 3 p.m. at the Benton County Fairgrounds, located at 110 SW 53rd St. More information about this event can be found here.
By Sally K Lehman
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