December 2011

This is my “last blog” on the road for this trip. Pantone have just released the fashion colour for 2012. They are promoting Tangerine Tango as the colour of the year. When building displays next year remember if you want to be seen to be tune with fashion, this is the colour you should be […]

My trip has now brought me to Denver and Pimping.Some of you may be confused by what I am discovering in the Rockies. Happy Canyon Flowers are the leading pimpers in the USA. This is a term used by the car industry when they use 3M adhesive to cover a vehicle in a promotional wrap.This

I remember when Hamburger restaurants sold hamburgers and nothing else. Then they diversified and you can now buy a latte, breakfast and cakes at my local MacDonald’s in Perth. But, the latest trend is back to specialisation and it will be interesting to see how this develops. In Manhattan in New York the home of

Research released today looks at what Americans dread about the holiday season that is now upon us 68% dread lines in shops etc 37% gaining weight 37% going into debt 28% gift shopping 26% travelling 24% seeing certain relatives Having just had a nightmare flight across the Atlantic I can agree with one of the

Around the world there are garden retailers looking at the future and wondering what they need to do to develop their own business in a changing world. Many of them have downloaded the White Paper from our website to look for new trends and ideas. The challenge for many garden centre owners is how do

Chladek garden centre in prague are the bioggest single outlet seller of Christmas trees in Czech. This year they have invited Ghristmas tree buyers to decorate their trees take a piture and place it on Face book. They will then judge the bes tree and award a prize. A great way of integrating socila media

One of the important elements of retailing is customer interaction. At Chladek Garden Centre in Prague this St Nicholas weekend they hade a Make A Candle session for children. All the staff dressed up as angels or wicked elfs and St Nichiolas greeted all the chioldtren.To malke the candle the children had to collect different

The Czech retailers have a special skill when it comes to Christmas decorations in shops. They rely on traditional and local props and use them in different ways. For example they take Birch twigs and spray them in different colours. To see Christmas trees decorated with purple sprayed Birch twigs is simple and effective. With

I was walking through a crowed train station on Friday in London and all of a sudden a women started singing opera. Then the whole station came alive as actors around the station started singing. The commuters were all of a sudden on a stage. The next day I was at the Gloucester Victorian Market.

I have just presented a paper at a French Retail Conference. One of the other speakers was Lisa White, Trend Specialist. Lisa mentioned that the key trend for 2012 and onwards is cosyness. This means smaller products presented in a cosy way. Be prepared to get cosy and select cosy products.