February 2009

Dr Charlie Hall is the present chairholder of the Ellison Chair in International Floriculture at Texas A & M University in the USA. He has a brilliant blog on marketing trends in the industry that everyone should be aware of. On February 15th he produced an excellent article on ‘Marketing During a Recession’. Under his […]

I recently attended the West Australian Nuffield scholar report backs from scholars who had travelled the world looking for new ideas in the agricultural sector. One presenter introduced the audience to Beyond Organix, www.beyondorganix.com. This webpage is worth checking out as it takes the discussion on organic food to the next level. What made me

I was speaking at a conference recently in the Australian capital, Canberra, and the organisers put me into the Crown Plaza. At first it was like many hotels around the world, until I went to breakfast. On the table was a promotion to inform guests that we were stopping in the first hotel in Australia

Anaconda is an Australian based outdoor store selling clothing, boots and equipment for the various outdoor activities. When you purchase products they ask customers if they would like a 10% discount if they returned on their birthday and purchased something else. They provide a birthday discount certificate to existing customers. This is a simple, but

There is one thing that is certain, shoppers change their shopping habits in a downturn. This is evident when you pick up the daily newspaper up or watch the news and see the bankruptcy of specific retailers. The challenge for many retailers has been to react quickly to a rapidly changing economic climate. We have

Retailers are doing it tough around the world, the lessons learned to grow a business in the good times, do not apply to the economic climate of 2009. Having said that, I do believe that retailers who analyse the market and introduce new strategies have something to smile about. The consumers’ attitudes have certainly changed.

As many of you will be aware, I am an advocate of Tipster marketing. Whilst driving through the snow in early February in the UK, I discovered other companies building on Tipster concepts. A large billboard from British Airways had a picture of a taxi driver on it, with the quote: “Ask a local what

As a society we seem to be in a difficult situation, apart from the recession, the environment is having its impact. It is either snow blizzards in the northern hemisphere of floods and fire down under. The following article came for Saatchi and Saatchi provides a positive insight to the future. In these difficult times

You see them in Amsterdam at the Airport, on the High Street of Balham, at Westfield Shopping centre in London, Jarlicant Garden Centre in Spain and Hares Hatch Garden Centre in Reading UK. This year full size plastic cows are the “in” thing in Europe. Do not ask me why, but they are appearing in

Many of you have emailed me about the fires in Victoria and what affect it will have on the communities and the retail industry. The best person to answer that is someone who is on the spot. Maree Planner of Grevillea Nurseries is a garden centre owner from the suburbs of Melbourne, this is her