John’s Blog

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

Just spend a day looking at food retailers in Scotland on a tour. Interesting development. Whether the retailer spend a lot of money or not on the capital investment the majority of them were achieving a sixteen pound average sale. But, the one store that had the customer flow wrong had an average sale of eleven pounds and average sale. I remember Paco Underhill showing that a difficult customer flow

Many of you will know Jonathon Winchester from Shopper Anonymous. He has just presented a talk called ‘Its a Steal’. He used figures on stealing in the UK which are quite scary; 3.5 million people admitted to stealing in the UK in the last five years 25% by accident and returned the goods 60% by accident and kept the goods 15% deliberate stealers He mentioned that the supermarket Sainsbury’s has

It is equally important they know what you do not stand for. I am attending a retail conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. One of the other speakers has just come out with this quote which I remember from a few years ago. It is a very relevant quote for today’s consumer. I have just been on a tour of retail stores in this region and none of the stores we visited

On this tour I attended the NABMA Conference in Birmingham. One of the speakers focused on Night Entertainment and the role of retailers. Melbourne in Australia has an excellent retail night market and this was used as an example on how night retailing should be a part of the future retail mix. The keys to success are; Food Theatre Design and merchandise guidelines Village Environment Organised chaos Strong management Retail

International Retail Month started in the USA in 2009. The aim is to get the message across to the public that independent retailers are essential to the vibrancy of the retail scene. The key is Impact-Connect-Engage. The promotion is now spreading to the UK and Australia. This is an ideal opportunity for retail groups and Chambers of Commerce to get together and promote the month. It is a reason for

In my article on trends for 2012 a few weeks ago I mentioned that video communications would be one of the driving trends of the year. Well three weeks into the new year and YouTube releases new figures that highlight the success of this social media trend. Another one hour’s worth of footage is placed on YouTube …every second. That is a 30% increase in usage in eight months. That

There is a lot of information coming out at present about how the older consumer shops versus the younger. Both groups expect a different offer. I have just received the Great Cafe’s blog form the UK and this reinforces what is happening out in the market place. According to the HTA in the UK 55 million consumers visited garden centre cafes in 2011, up from 36 million in 2008 and

One of the golden rules of retailing is knowing who your customers are and then addressing their needs. When you have a national or international chain this can be quite challenging as the easiest model to adopt is “one size fits all”. Tesco in the UK are about to change their model to improve sales. They are introducing a two tier model; In less affluent communities they will merchandise the

Retail sales in UK and USA were better than expected over the Christmas season. This is a good sign for retailers. However this does not mean we should become complacent, there are still a lot of changes ahead. Retailers need to focus on the little things that will make a difference to the bottom line. Customer service is the easy way of making a difference in the consumers mind. I

One of the main focuses for many retailers is how do they attract women into their store. Men are often neglected. Research carried out in Ireland by Jim Bradley revealed that when women went shopping with men , the average sale of the transaction and shopping time went down. The challenge is to either put men off shopping or to create “Toys for the Boys” and entertain them while their

I am in the USA and after the gloom the optimism is slowly coming back. Recent sales figures for retailers is up and the consumer has turned the corner. They are starting to spend, slowly, but they are starting. Let’s hope this becomes a trend that is followed around the world. Trade show exhibitors are also confident that the consumer is more confident and optimistic.

Successful retailers are passionate The key is how do you show that passion to your consumers. I recently came across this promotion in Ohio which really gets that message across “Our Family, Our Farm, Our Life Pastimes Farm and Bakery” This is so simple ,yet I still go to businesses where there is no message that passes on the values of the business. I am told all our customers know