John’s Blog

Many of you will know that Linda and I own a chestnut farm in Nannup in West Australia. In November a book was launched that features 30 farms in the region that were doing something unique. This coffee table book included our farm, Chestnut Brae. It is wonderful that we have only had the farm […]

Consumers are increasingly looking for local products. In the UK the main avenue has been Farm Shops whilst in Europe it has been via Farmer’s Markets. In Australia it has been the Farmer Market that has been the main driver of getting local food to local people. This is now changing and evolving. The new

Online grocery shopping is now well established. The problem for most consumers is that it has been a boring interface. Now that is all changing. Aussie Farmers Direct have developed a 3D App called “Aisle One” and have promoted it as “the world’s first virtual shopping experience”. This is the nearest to real life shopping

“Decoding the Irrational Consumer: How to commission, run and generate insights from neuromarketing research” by Darren Bridger, Marketing Science Series. This is not a book for the practical retailer looking for new ideas to grow sales. This a book if you want to look at the research behind how the consumer thinks. We are all irrational consumers

Five weeks before Christmas I did some consultancy in one of my local shopping centres. Walking around one had to question what was the driver to get people to spend at this time of year. One company I looked at had a 40% off Christmas sale…in my youth sales occurred after Christmas…price was not the

Whilst many of us are still trying to understand how to retail to the Millennial generation, the next generation are appearing as consumers.  Gen Z’s think differently to the generations before them. An article in WGSN stated that there are 2 billion Gen Z’s globally and they are already spending 44 billion dollars a year.

The hexo+ arrived on the market this month. This is a drone that wirelessly tethers its self to a smart phone and follows you anywhere, available for around $300. As a business you may not have a need for drone following you around, but there may be times it could be valuable. The reason I

I realise that is a sweeping statement, but I do believe this is the best retail book I have seen this year. Retail Marketing Strategy…Delivering shopper delight by Constant Berkhout and published by Kogan Press. The title tells you what the content of the book is about. Constant has worked with retailers in Europe and

Switzerland may only have 8 million population, but this small landlocked country has four official languages, German, French, Italian and Romansh and a thriving horticultural industry. On first impression, it seems to be a DIFM (Do It For Me) rather than a DIY (Do It Yourself) society as the landscapers seem too far outnumber the

Norma Burnson is the author of a book “Sustainable Food for the Globe, Everyday People Producing Food in Abundance” Norma interviews seventeen entrepreneurs from around the world who are developing ideas and creating projects to grow food. The book takes you from Canada to the USA, Pakistan to Switzerland, Uganda to Pakistan and New Zealand