Club, Spa, Resort, and Healthcare Marketing

Women Rule.

Ten years after its inception, online retailing is growing up fast. According to The State of Retailing Online 8.0, an annual Shop.org study conducted by Forrester Research (Nasdaq: FORR) of 137 retailers, 2004 online sales rose 23.8 percent to $141.4 billion. Excluding travel, online retail sales also rose 23.8 percent to $89.0 billion, representing 4.6 percent of total retail sales.

The report predicts that online sales (including travel) will rise 22.0 percent to $172.4 billion this year. Sales excluding travel are expected to reach $109.6 billion.

Women’s Retail Categories Poised For Growth
Several retail categories will experience steep growth this year, largely due to the growing acceptance of online shopping by women. In fact, categories with products purchased largely by women will see the most growth this year. Online sales of cosmetics and fragrances are expected to grow 33 percent while sales of over-the-counter medications and personal care will rise 32 percent. Additionally, sales of jewelry and luxury goods (31 percent) and flowers, cards, and gifts (30 percent) are expected to rise dramatically.

Link: Forrester Research: Technology research and advice. .

The Wealthy Are Growing More and More Common

The number of millionaires in the United States grew nearly 10 percent last year to 2.5 million, according to a survey of wealth released yesterday.

The annual World Wealth Report, prepared by Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. and the Capgemini Group consulting firm, found that 8.3 million people worldwide had $1 million or more in financial assets at the end of 2004, a gain of 600,000 from a year earlier.

The number of millionaire households in the Philadelphia region alone grew to 65,008, an 8.9 percent increase from 2003, Merrill Lynch said, citing Claritas, a market-research firm. The region is the fifth-most densely populated with millionaires in the country, behind New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington.

In the next five years, there will be a 49 percent increase in millionaire households in the Philadelphia region, far outpacing an expected 2.6 percent increase in the total number of households.

Link: The Wealthy Are Growing More and More Common.

Does that come with fries?

Sexy Paris Hilton ads boost burger sales – (Wonder if we could sell real estate this way?) (bc)

“We are encouraged that same-store sales at Carl’s Jr. continue to climb, and despite the negative comp at Hardee’s, are pleased with the performance of the brand as it rolls over strong numbers from the prior year period,” Andrew Puzder, president and CEO of CKE Restaurants, Inc., said in a statement.

Puzder credited the new Spicy Burger advertising featuring Paris Hilton in a skin-tight swimsuit soaping up a Bentley and crawling all over it before taking a big bite out of the burger for driving positive same-store sales at Carl’s Jr.

Link: CKE’s Carl’s Jr. same-store sales rise – Jun. 1, 2005.

I know…you want the video, don’t you…

Don’t believe everything you read…

LAST NIGHT I BOUGHT AN unintentionally hilarious book: “Lessons from the Top: The 50 Most Successful Business Leaders in America and What you Can Learn from Them.”

Always ready to learn something new I jumped on the Path train and plunged in… I should have looked at the date of publication.

Here they were, America’s top business leaders: Bernie Ebbers, Ken Lay, Hank Greenberg, Dennis Kozlowski, and their companies Enron, AIG, and Tyco International. All ripped from today’s deadlines or should I say Court TV. Doing a quick Google search on these titans of industry revealed common search results: “The Rise and Fall of Bernie Ebbers,” “The Rise and Fall of Dennis Kozlowski,” and on and on. I would estimate that nearly 20 percent of the companies and CEOs profiled have been indicted, tried, bankrupt, and/or disgraced. Even more have suffered major financial setbacks, if not scandal.

Link: MediaPost Publications Home of MediaDailyNews, MEDIA and OMMA Magazines.

Bredesen backs TVA land swap – TN

Gov. Phil Bredesen has given qualified support to a potentially precedent-setting deal in which developer John “Thunder” Thornton would swap private acreage for TVA land where he would build a high-end residential development.

“The project involves a land exchange with TVA and it is my understanding that it is a win-win situation for all parties,” Bredesen wrote to the TVA board of directors.

Thornton’s Nickajack Shores development is controversial because the 578 waterfront acres that Thornton is seeking west of Chattanooga were taken under threat of eminent domain from private citizens in the 1960s, when TVA built Nickajack Dam. Opponents argue that land taken for public use should remain with the public instead of being sold for private development.

Rather than buying the land outright, however, Thornton is offering to swap 1,100 nearby acres on an island, farm and mountaintop – acreage that he says is far better suited for the public purposes of recreation, American Indian preservation and natural conservation.

Link: KnoxNews: Business.

Minturn residents bracing for change – CO

The Florida-based Ginn Companies will present formal plans for the 5,400-acre Battle Mountain development south of town to the Minturn town council July 6. The $1 billion-plus Beaver Creek-style resort will include 1,700 units of slopeside residences along the ski hill and golf course, and hotel rooms on land occupied by the defunct Eagle Zinc mine.Many seem to like the prospect of the change the development could bring to the town, while others are not as sure.

Link: Summit Daily News for Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper and Frisco Colorado – News.

Ritz Developer Waits On Verdict

The trial of an action brought in New York by general contractor Fluor Daniel Caribbean Inc against the Ritz-Carlton developer, Humphreys (Cayman) Ltd, is due to conclude this week when the six-woman, four-man jury retires on Tuesday to consider their verdict in the case.

According to observers, the outcome could determine the future of the $400 million Ritz-Carlton hotel and condominium project in the Cayman Islands.

Link: Ritz Developer Waits On Verdict .

Kerzner expands holdings on Paradise Island

Since opening his Atlantis in The Bahamas in 1993, Sol Kerzner has been relentless in putting his money to work for him. To date he has poured millions into buying up practically every bit of land on Paradise Island, formerly known as Hog Island in honor of an earlier existence as place for raising pigs.

His latest purchase, Hurricane Hole for $23 million gives him control of practically all major water access to the island. The purchase is strategic because it expands the resort’s marina capacity. Hurricane Hole is home to mega yachts. Guests at the resorts One & Only Ocean Club where lodging runs as high as $7,500 per night, can now safely and securely moor their yachts.

Link: Caribbean Net News: Kerzner expands holdings on Paradise Island .

China Story #2 – Is Wal-Mart good for America?

Over 80% of Wal-Marts suppliers are now based in China. How do you think this is impacting America? It isn’t “real estate news”- but we have to have jobs to buy houses…(bc)

In Circleville, Ohio, population 13,000, the local RCA television-manufacturing plant was once a source of good jobs with good pay and benefits. But in late 2003, RCA’s owner, Thomson Consumer Electronics, lost a sizeable portion of its production orders and six months later shut the plant down, throwing 1,000 people out of work.

Thomson’s jobs have moved to China, where cheap labor manufactures what the American consumer desires — from clothing to electronics — and can buy at “everyday low prices” at the local Wal-Mart.

Link: frontline: is wal-mart good for america?: watch the full program online | PBS.

China Story #1 – Chinese snap up brand-name U.S. firms

Chinese investor interest in two marquee U.S. companies, Maytag (MYG) and Unocal (UCL), signals a new wave of Asian capital washing onto U.S. shores.
Flush with cash, Chinese investors seek to secure long-term supplies of raw materials for that country’s fast-growing economy and to snap up brand names with global cachet.
The upshot: By 2025, Chinese investors could own two-dozen of the Fortune 500 companies, says economist David Wall of Chatham House. Unlike the Japanese and South Koreans before them, the Chinese are moving to buy rather than create the multinational companies they need to compete in the global economy, Wall says

Link: USATODAY.com – Chinese snap up brand-name U.S. firms.