John’s Blog

According to Scarborough research on July 2nd 2012. This is what Americans have been doing around their home in the last twelve months. 27% Gardening and landscaping 26% Painting and wallpapering inside their home 13% Carpeting and flooring 12% Remodelling the bathroom 10% Painting the outside of the house The garden industry may be concerned that they have dropped from the number one hobby in the USA to the 12th,

The USA retailers are more confident than I have seen them in some time. They feel the consumer is starting to spend again and that the future will see an improvement in the economy …. time will tell. Working with retailers it is becoming increasingly clear that the lack of product knowledge training is affecting the bottom line. I have been in a number of situations where a so called

Fred owns an independent music store in St John’s Newfoundland From the outside it dares to be different, it stands out from the crowd. Each CD has a had written sign from Fred or one of the team telling the consumer what the writer thinks about the CD and music. He has new and second hand CD’s, in fact he has a treasure trove! He is an independent that stands

Take a walk past an Apple store before the store opens and you may see the team adjusting the products before the doors are opened. Except they are not just tidying the store up. They are adjusting the iPad’s to the correct angle ….. to help you see the screen … wrong! To force you to pick the iPad to look at the screen. They realize that once you pick

Father Day arrives in USA and new research shows the changing habits of the consumer. The National retail federation in the USA has been carrying our t spending for Fathers day. It used to be that dad got a power tool or some other manly present,but that is all changing. The experience driven gift market is where the money is going,the same as it did at Christmas time in Australia.

Travelling around the hills of Ontario at present in Canada. It is strawberry time and it is wonderful to see seasonal retailing in action. Many retailers have lost the art of seasonal retailing and the excitement that can create in the marketplace. Providing anticipation for the customer can help generate the marketing hype. Farm retailers have a wonderful opportunity to create this, it is something other retailers could copy.

Retailers seem to be doing it tough and there seems no light at the end of the tunnel. What do they need to do to grow sales? Look at many retailers and their approach is to reduce the price, but how long can this go on for? Working in the USA, Canada and Australia over the last few weeks, I have started to identify five opportunities retailers need to be

Over the last few months I have been promoting the importance of a “Bricks and Clicks” strategy in your business. This does not just apply to retail stores it also applies to magazines. Australians are the biggest buyers of magazines in the world but that industry is changing as well. Pick up a copy of the June, 2012 edition of “Better Homes and Gardens”. A magazine that already links a

Some ideas are so simple. Look at this sign I saw in Palmer’s Garden Centre in Palmerston North in New Zealand. What a great way to grow sales!

Tim Atherton, the Financial presenter was at the same conference I have just attended and presented after me. His advice was as a retailer you can grow your net profit by 25% and this should be your aim. How do you do that? Increase your average sale by 1%, plus increase your customer count by 1%. Increase your conversion rate by 1% and reduce your costs by 1%. In challenging

Today I had the opportunity to walk around Sydney looking at the retailing taking place. It became clear retailers are being faced with making a decision. A decision which has three options; Option One – Do nothing and face the consequences. The consequences for many retailers is a slow death! Option Two – Play the discount game and sell a commodity at a price. All the text books will tell

Attending a conference on the Gold Coast, Australia, has highlighted to me how important Product Placement is in relation to product messaging .Coca Cola was used as an example and that they like 8 messages on the product before the customer gets to the product. They have found this increases sales dramatically. How many retailers and suppliers have a carefully planned strategy on product messaging and product placement. I still

This months Time Out, the Sydney Magazine in Australia, identifies a trend that is taking place in fresh food. Consumers are either looking for a bargain or they are looking for the best.When it comes to the best that means buying fresh food where the chefs buy fresh food.Time Out has supplied a guide on the places where to buy food where the chefs buy food.This is a new and

The Sydney Morning Herald of Feb 25-26 20102, revealed some new trends in shopping. 37% of Australians who have smart-phones use them to do research on products, whilst 44% will use them in store to do research on products. Woolworths have launched the first virtual grocery store in Flinders Railway Station in Melbourne. This follows up on the one launched recently in Japan. While waiting for the train you can

The key to retailing is to provide what you say you are going to do. Last night Linda and I went to Crystal Jade Restaurant in Singapore and were enticed in by the above marketing campaign. Alas, the marketing team did a great job, but forgot to tell the owner what this meant in the customers eyes. They place napkins and peanuts on the table which we assumed were part

Over the last few days one of the questions I am being asked is how do I see Pinteret affecting the retail scene. This is still a new social networking page and time will tell. The fact that it is creating so much interest is a sign that we should be watching it closely. The best I can offer at this point is for you read the following on Pinterest.

Over the last few months I have been encouraging retailers to create a “Bricks and Clicks” retail model. Some retailers are well ahead in there thinking while others are being left behind. A report came out this week that highlights the importance. The Oracle Cross Channel Report our t of the USA looks at consumers and asks what they expect online and in store. The findings are as follows. When

This week I am working with retailers in Japan. The main point of difference is customer service. Everyone gets greeted when they enter a store. Plus, this is the most honest country I know. Retailers can leave products out on display and be confident that know body will steal the product. The main lesson from Japan is to focus on greeting the customer. The result is the customer feels welcome.

Difficult times mean you have to think differently. Imagine if you were Harley Davidson and you were seeing a down turn in your market as male Baby Boomers are keeping their money in their wallets and not spending it on expensive toys for themselves. The answer is that you look for a new market. That market has turned out to be women. But, they are afraid of riding a bike.

Craigie’s Farm Shop in Scotland are making their own jam to sell in store. They, are like many other farms around the world , are looking to this as a unique opportunity to make extra sales via an added value option. Farm jams are common in many countries. It seems like everyone is making their own jam. Craigie’s are taking this one stage further. They are taking Mothers recipe and

One of the fun things about my job is discovering the unexpected. I was travelling through the back roads of Virginia this weekend and dropped into a farmers market that did not look the best from the outside. The signage inside was excellent. The one that really caught my eye was the “If Tomatoes’ could Talk “ sign. Think how you could use this type of message in your business.

The American economy may be seeing an improvement, but I just had an interesting conversation with a consumer. Her comment was the consumer has “Sticker Shock”. I asked her to explain what “Sticker Shock” was. As you have probably gathered it is the shock when the consumer sees an increase in the price. This indicates how critical it is that we as retailers understand the principles of price barriers and

The challenge in retailing is getting people to stop and look at your shop window. How about this idea from Tokyo.. bet it would make you stop.

I am in Amish country at present in Pennsylvania. The retailers here are benefiting from the nostalgia drive in the market place. They are building on the old traditions and what was old is now new. Think about the nostalgia elements in your business that can be developed as a marketing tool. The key is to use modern technology to enhance the nostalgia elements the customer is looking for.

Six months until the Olympics in London and retail is developing strategies to meet the needs of the market. Here is quick update · The UK consumer is not the big spender this year. London retailers are relying on consumers from overseas. It used to be attract the American, not any more. The big spenders today are from the BRIC countries. The average spend of the Chinese shopper is 1310