John’s Blog

A recently published Government sponsored report in Australia revealed that in the view of the author small retail businesses would not exist in five years. No more independent bookshops, newsagents, garden centres or travel agents. I can accept that we are seeing dramatic changes, but the disappearance of sectors of retailing takes some digesting. I was reminded of this the other day, that when I gave a conference presentation 15

A question I am often asked is what software is best for the retail industry. This is not an area of my expertise and I normally tell my clients to talk to a local expert. One of our newsletter readers is Mike Koploy of Software Advice and he is one of the experts in this area and a source of information for newsletter readers As we are aware inventory is

The fastest growing marketing technique at present is ‘Value Marketing Coupons’. This is where a retailer provides a coupon on a dedicated web site. According to research 34% of women users of E Coupons are frequent users of them, whilst 51% of 18 to 24 year olds will use them if they are presented with them. Consumers have always liked coupons. In the USA according to Advertising Age, the Advertising

Last night’s announcement [June 28th] of the launch of Google+ as a competitor to Facebook will be an interesting development for retailers to watch and to know when to join in. This is Google’s second attempt to get into social media, they tried with Google Buzz, but that failed last year. The new social media page works on circles of friends. It allows you to group friends based on their

According to research carried out in the UK by IGD Shopper Track and reported in June/July Commercial Horticulture in New Zealand. 52% of Brits are saying they are going to shop less due to fuel prices and 50% are going to use shops that are nearer to their home. 41% said they would use a supermarket that had a petrol station on site and offered petrol discounts. 31% stated they

One of the messages I have been passing on this week is the challenge of change. Generation X and Baby Boomers, for example, are still dedicated to moving around in cars whilst Generation Y prefer buses and trains. In fact over 30% of public transport users in Perth are Generation Y, and they do have driving licenses. Having said that young Asians from overseas that come to our city and

The West Australian Government released a report on June 14th that shocked a lot of retailers. It was produced by the Productivity Commission who were asked to look at the future of retailing in the State. The commission mentioned that many retailers will not survive the next few years due to the changing shopping habits of consumers. The retailers at biggest risk were newsagents, departmental stores, book and music shops.

In a recent article I mentioned that Mary Portas had been appointed by the UK Government to provide ideas on how the UK High Street could be revamped. When I walk down a UK High Street these days it can be depressing to see so many closed shops. The UK research company U Switch.com released a report this week that focuses on the dilemma. 74% of the population used to

Many pundits have used the example of the demise of Borders and Barnes and Noble in the book industry due to the e-book revolution and Amazon.com. What do you do with all these empty bookshops scattered around the world? In fact, we have one on our own town. The answer … open a bookshop! Small independent bookshops have struggled for years due to the big end of town coming into

Food retailers need to understand their market. A recent report carried out by Capricorn Goats Cheeses in the May 31 edition of International Express could help retailers plan their food category; 20% of consumers have never tried olives, asparagus or aubergine. 50% of Brits are not interested in trying new food and would not encourage their kids to experiment with food. 70% would refuse to eat liver or sushi even

On May 24th 2011 a survey was released and mentioned on ABC News in Australia. The survey asked consumers how much profit or mark up a retailer should be happy with. The result was that customers feel that retailers should be putting a 34% mark up on products. This gives the retailer a about a 25% Gross Profit. The report went on to say that many retailers were marking products

My mate Jurek Leon invited me to a marketing meeting recently held at the Brand Agency, one of Australia’s top agencies. It was an excellent insight into how that side of the industry operates. One of the presenters for the Brand Agency had recently been on an STW Group Training session where they presented their view on the 10 Habits of Client Service Excellence. I would like to share these

You have heard it said before, men know the price of nothing and are easy to sell to. That may have been true in the past, but recent research published in the USA magazine Supermarket News on 23rd May 2011 would disagree with your findings. According to the latest research; 44% of men are making more effort to save money 35% are shopping at several stores to find the lowest

Consumers are being driven to retailers with price. This is defiantly the case in the food industry…or is it? In Australia the “Masterchef” TV programme is now in series three and again getting the nation hooked on cooking. It is relying on product placement to promote specific brands and Coles, the supermarket chain are a key sponsor and are trying to convince consumers that there is the place to shop.

Consumers are being driven to retailers with price. This is defiantly the case in the food industry…or is It?. In Australia the “Masterchef” TV programme is now in series three and again getting the nation hooked on cooking. It is relying on product placement to promote specific brands and Coles, the supermarket chain are a key sponsor and are trying to convince consumers that there is the place to shop.

Imagine you are going to the airport and are one of those passengers that enjoys being checked in by a person. You arrive and are told that if you can self check in or you and go to the desk to be checked in, but that to talk to somebody will cost you $10.This is the scenario that will be introduced by Jet Star in Australia in November 2011. This

Every retail conference that I attend there is a discussion about the needs of the retail industry to improve customer service. Alas, many retailers are not sending team members to workshops on customer service training and as a result most surveys I look at indicate that customers believe customer service is on the decline. You can train your team in customer service in a cost effective way. Jurek Leon is

Over the last two days I have received a number of communications concerning the price war going on in the hardware and garden market around the world. Many parts of the USA are seeing bad weather delaying the spring rush into the garden. This means that many large retailers have asked nursery suppliers to reduce the price of plants and a discount war is occurring. The only problem is that

According to researchers the three industries that get the most complaints from consumers are retailing, budget airlines and Telecom providers. We can relate to the last one as we are in the process of having a dispute with our own provider. They billed us for an unknown $1,500 and we then contacted them to ask what it was about,they said they would get back to us within 48 hours. Of

Take a look at consumers, more and more of them are walking in and “fiddling” with their phones. What are they doing? Well according to the research 52% of those new customers have used that phone to find your store, 48% of them are browsing products using their phone, 40% are comparing your prices with your competitors and 30% are telling their friends about their experience in your store. These

Istanbul is the second largest city in Europe after Moscow with the population reaching 20 million people. The city is one of the oldest in the world and can boast the fact that it has the oldest retail complex in the world …. in fact the oldest and the second oldest! The Grand Bazaar or Kapali Carsi was built in 1455 during the Byzantine period in Turkey. It has seen

Don’t get me wrong. We are strong supporters of organic and biodynamic foods and whenever possible we use organic / biodynamic products at home. Plus we grow our own vegetable s and fruit as much as possible and only use organic methods at home. The 2011 UK Organic Market Report published by the Soil Association was released on 4th April and provides some interesting insights to the UK food industry.