2015

Retailing is constantly changing and that is part of the fun of being involved in the sector. Imagine dropping in to your local fashion store for a coffee and snack. That is now becoming more of a trend. In London you can enjoy a coffee or champagne in Regents Street at the Burberry all-day cafe in […]

In August I spent a week working with a number of clients in Denmark as well as travelling for two days with the International Garden Centre Congress. There were many highlights. One store that really caught my eye was Bolia, a Danish lifestyle store. Their merchandising was some of the most imaginative I have seen

The big story this month is from my wife. In 2010, Linda walked the 1000 kilometre Bibbulmun Track from Albany to Perth in Western Australia. This is the second longest walking track in the world after the Appalachian Trail in the USA. She did this solo over two months. Linda’s new book Grandy’s Long Walk, is

Many years ago I was travelling through South Africa and stopped at a small town where I noticed they had a small plant nursery. I went to look at what they were doing and was greeted by the plant manager. To him, I was another customer. As we walked though the nursery he picked a

The World Expo in Milan opened in early May 2015 . The focus of the expo is food and the advancement of food technology around the world, the theme being “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”. One of the features of the Expo was a supermarket of the future built by the Italian supermarket retailer

In February 2000 Stephen Kaufer, Langley Steinart and a few friends sat in an office in the USA and invented a website that they could use to swap travel reviews. Fourteen years latter it was voted the most trusted travel website in the world. Plus it owned 24 other travel branded sites including “booking buddy”,

The Italian Co-op built a supermarket of the future, complete with robots checking the fruit. The one area that grabbed my attention was the point of purchase digital boards above all products which could be changed from a central office. The shopping carts were also made of degradable cardboard. I have seen these before in

I expected to see promotional posters that highlighted the importance of the farmer. In Australia and some other countries we tend to focus more on the chef as the hero. In Italy the farmer is an equal hero and something I believe needs to be promoted in other parts of the globe.  

Expos are always great places to discover the weird that can be introduced into any retail or marketing situation. The Milan Expo did not disappoint with “funky” ideas that can be adapted to other locations. These are some of my favourites.

Street Food and Food vans are getting more upmarket and this was evident at the Expo. With the arrival of purpose designed vehicles coming from manufactures.