August 2013

In August, I presented my Ghost Town, Clone Town, Home Town presentation in Boddington, a rural town in Western Australia. The aim of this presentation is to work with small business in the community to address the needs of the consumer. This is a small town and many of the retailers are not using social […]

When I was in Chicago last month I met up with Kurt Fromherz from Connecticut. I have known Kurt for many years and he is one of the innovators in retail marketing. He identified, like me, that loyalty clubs are still an essential marketing tool, but consumers do not want their wallets and purses filled

As a consultant most of my time has been spent in store making sure that sales are optimised in the store. That is still a key element for success, but the up and coming need for many retailers revolves around delivery to their home. Customers used to be happy that they would have to wait

Pinterest may have only appeared in 2010, but it is one of the most valuable tools for retailers. It reached over 45 million consumers in the month of July (2013) in the USA alone. A report in USA Today on 22 August 2013 by Jefferson Graham showed that it is being taken up rapidly by

Jason is a subscriber to this newsletter and the Qantas magazine had this new book as a must read in their in-flight magazine in August. This is an excellent book and one I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Many of us are focused on the retail aspects of our business and we miss the importance of sourcing

This is the topic of one of my presentations at present. Think about what is usual and what is unusual. In the last few weeks we have had a major social media driven business buy the Washington Post…who saw that coming? Plus the launch of AmazonFresh, a same day delivery service launch on the west

While I was on Vancouver island I came across this sign at a man’s hairdresser. Take a close look at it, it is really targeting the consumer and putting a smile on their faces.

All the time I have worked in the USA it has been clear that American’s love their lawns and a green lawn around the house is a status symbol. Until climate change I would have said the lawn was here to stay. But, now consumers are changing their thinking patterns. America is facing extreme weather

Many of you will be aware that one of my new presentations is entitled Ghost town, Clone town, Home town. This presentation looks at what retailers in communities need to do to make sure their town is unique retail experience. On my tour of Vancouver Island, Peter Kenyon told me I must got to Chemainus.