John’s Blog

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.  

This is the time for community marketing. Before I left Perth I saw this been developed at two ends of the retail market. The Noodle Night Market is where small retailers in a specialised niche area can get together and create a community event over a number of evenings. At the same time Coles Supermarket,

An excellent newsletter I receive is Becky McCrays Small Business Survival In the last newsletter she discussed Grand Opening’s, these are her tips… In a small town, it’s a little easier to get people’s attention than in the big city, so you don’t have to compete to be on the TV news. It also makes

No not me, a lecturer in the USA who wrote “The millionaire next door.” Jurek Leon, from Terrific Trading sent me this quote. “There were many lessons Dr. Stanley taught us. One was a valuable marketing lesson that has stuck with me through the years, about avoiding activities that everyone else is doing. Dr. Stanley

Phone Apps are a key marketing tool and some retail sectors are far more advanced than others. One of the slower moving retail sectors when it comes to Phone Apps is the garden retail sector. Two new Phone Apps have caught my attention in the last month. Smart Gardener.com is designed to help gardeners garden

I’ve done it and I’m sure you’ve done it; we’ve walked into a shop and told a disinterested salesperson that we are “just looking thanks.” We’ve then left the store disappointed and may never go back. I recently worked with a retailer who was in financial difficulty; he believed the answer to his financial problem