John’s Blog

In my presentations I discuss how advertising has become less effective for retailers due to lack of trust. This week the Canadian Advertising Standards released a report which actually puts some figures to my argument. These results are Canadian and I will leave it to you to decide whether Canadians are different to the rest of us; 39% of those surveys believe Adverts are misleading and exaggerate the virtues of

The snow is on the ground and it is minus 10 Centigrade outside. The middle of November and the winter has arrived in Alberta. This creates a challenge for many retailers and in an upcoming Blog I will show you how one street, Whyte Avenue in Edmonton has set about making a difference. The next few weeks are critical for many retailers. 30% of the sales that take place in

Research carried out in Canada shows that in the lead up to Christmas the average Canadian shopper will spend 8 hours buying presents in a shopping mall and 5 hours buying presents online. This emphasises the need for an online retail prescience!

This thought comes from a cloudy and miserable weather day in London. Companies around here are now getting geared up as sponsors for the Olympic games next year. It identifies how important it is for retailers to get behind a cause. You may not be able to support an event like the Olympics, but what local events can you get behind as a sponsor?

The second week of November and John Lewis the UK department store are seeing a 50% increase in the sale of Chirstimas trees over this time last year. Is this an indicator of a busy Christmas trading period or consumers are spreading their spending over a longer period? The next few weeks will let us know. In Singapore the sign “Limited Edition” is being used a catch the consumers eye.

It is now three years since the GFC became a common acronym in the English language. Prior to that as business we were riding the wave of success. The initial reaction of most retailers was to discount product o get them through the crisis. It would surely not last more than a year. Three years later and the economies of the world are still on the edge. One thing that

Sunday 20th November was National Stir day and Delia Day according to the UK supermarket Waitrose. This is the first time I have come across a retailer working with a celebrity and announcing a National Day. The Delia day is to do about Christmas cakes. Baking is the new trend hobby and making a Christmas cake is the ultimate hobby this year. Delia has come to the rescue with a

In my White Paper that was released in August and is available for our webpage I have mentioned that retailers in the future need to be seen as part of the community and engaging the community. I was recently in Ontario giving a presentation at Niagara Falls Convention Centre, the chair to my meeting was the owner of Country Baskets Garden Centre in the city and when I discussed community

This is not just another Monday, it is day that could change the mind set of retailers around the world. Switch on the news and you will hear about the financial crisis in Europe or America and the knock on affect around the world. Customers are cautious and not spending. What is the answer, have a sale? In previous articles I have mentioned this before and that it is not

This was the heading to an article written by Sada Ayupova in the Budapest Business Journal while I was in Hungary last week. GfK Hungaria, a research company was commenting on the retail scene in Hungary. The retail scene in this country is healthier than many companies and I admire the initiative of young Hungarians at present. But ,this report could have been written in any country. Quote from a

Many of my presentations at present are based on the Bricks and Clicks strategies retailers need to be aware of. If bricks retailers do not get into clicks strategies they may have an uncertain future. “Click and Collect” is one of the strategies that need to be considered by retailers. It is therefore interesting to read in the Thursday September 8th edition of the Daily Mail in the UK that

Every expert has a view on selling. I recently received this blog from Murray Barton, a newsletter member, and it is an excellent description on what selling is all about and I thought it was worth sharing. It has some great guidelines for all of us. http://bostinnovation.com/2011/08/24/how-to-sell-tips-from-a-marketing-guy-who-can-actually-sell-something/

It has been twelve months since my last took a walk down this excellent retail street in Chicago. I was interested to see what has changed. The crowds are still there, the floral displays look as excellent as they have always done. The retailers, well many had not moved on. The inevitable sale syndrome was ever present, but some retailers caught my eye and have identified a point of difference.

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