Andrea Syverson

’Tis the season! Starbucks has brought seasonal coffee bliss back to its customers with its beloved Pumpkin Spice Latte (known as PSL by its fans). In just 10 years, Starbucks has created a fall tradition that translated into more than 200 million of these beverages being sold since it launched. Here's another product success story — perhaps a bit quieter, but one that also focuses on the branding and merchandising potential of one powerful verb: SAVOR.

I love products that make me stop and think; products that halt me in my tracks and cause me to say things like, “What's that?” and “Just how did they do that?” Then, upon studying it further, “Well, now that makes perfect sense. I wonder why no one ever thought of it before?”

How can your brand nudge its customers to make your products a bigger part of their lives? What are some small ways that you can make your brand more accessible to your customers?

This summer, why not chat about the strength of your merchandise’s kindle factor and see if there aren’t ways you can turn up the inspiration intensity of your product offering?

Ali Wing has a lot to smile about. giggle, was founded in 2003 with a website and concept store in the city's SoHo district. Since then, the founder and CEO of this cross-channel retailer of baby products, gifts and informational resources for new parents has seen it grow to include 11 brick-and-mortar stores throughout the U.S., a sophisticated transactional website, a series of print catalogs and a growing line of baby products called giggle Better Basics

Stop and ask yourself: Do your merchants think of themselves as servants? That is, do they come to work each day thinking about how they can create products that make your customers’ lives better in some way?