John’s Blog

Many retailers are unaware of what is going on in their business, yet we are all concerned about making a profit. I realize some of you will dispute this fact, but I presented at a conference recently to around 150 retailers. During the presentation I asked them how one category was performing per square metre compared to another category. Alas, nobody was prepared to speak up and tell, me the

I have been spreading the message over the last few months that the big end of town will soon take action to counter the increased pentetration of farmers markets around the world. The start of 2011 has seen those moves take place. First it was Wal Mart who announced that by 2015 they would have a one billion dollar fresh food offer in all of their stores and they will

In the USA in December 53.9% of the population purchased gift cards as Christmas presents according to the International Council of Shopping Centres and reported in 20 Jan 2011 USA Today by Jayne O Donnell. In January 36.3% were redeemed compared to 45% in the same month last year. Teenagers are the most likely people to redeem their gift card. According to the research consumers would rather purchase a sweater

I often talk about the key to success is really knowing your customer. I recently came across a great example of how critical this can be. In Germany they have Advent Wreaths, something unique to this country in Europe. These wreaths have four candles on them. One candle is lit every week in the four weeks coming up to Christmas. The wreaths are used in people’s homes, restaurant and other

It is that time of year when I ma asked what is going to be the colour trend for the next tweleve months. The colour trends are led by the paint manufactureres such as Pantone. Robert Prince, Chief Executive of the Nursery and Garden Industry in Australia sent me these details from Pantone. 2011 The Year of Honeysuckle PANTONE 18-2120 Honeysuckle Energizing Honeysuckle Lifts Spirits and Imparts Confidence to Meet

The UK has just recorded its coldest Novenmber day breaking all records, plus this is only the start of winter. Take a walk down the High Street and everyone is wrapped up in scarfs, gloves and winter clothes. They then enter stores and it starts to look like a striptease act. While temperatures outside have got as low as minus 17 centigrade, once the consumer enters the shop the temperature

Customers walk into your store and your job is to get them to stop and look at the products on offer, hopefully if you can achieve that they will be enticed into buying the product on offer. Your “Show Stopper” strategy is critical if you are to grow your sales in 2011. The start of a new year is the ideal time to review your yearly “show stopper “ strategy

Retailing has done it tough over the last year, but Chritmas is the time when in theory all that changes. The day after Thanksgiving in the USA is when retailers in theory start paying money to themselves rather than the taxman. Thus Black Friday has proven to be a necessary positve retailing day in that part of the world and all the signs are it was a reasonable trading day.

Marketing has gone through a revolution over the last few years and month. It seems like every month a new idea hits the market place. Gone are the days when it was as simple as writing a newspaper advert and the job was done. The retailer of today has to consider the social media, conventional promotions, word of mouth marketing, loyalty schemes and a host of other ideas to develop

One of the things that hits me us as we travel up the west coast of the USA is how much more organised the marketing of markets is compared to most parts of the world. There seems to be a lot more cooperation between markets to build the pie for everyone. Oregon could be classed as one of the homes of the farmers market movement in the USA. The first

Travelling around the world you always pick up at least one new idea in any town. I was in Geraldton in mid West Australia in March working with a group of retailers. They are just opening their first Farmers Market in Geraldton. I discovered the T-shirt shown in the photograph whilst in town. A group of retailers have combined to produce a T-shirt that promotes the town centre and the

A number of you will be aware that I was recently on the Australian TV programme, “Today Tonight”, to present a session on how retailing will change once we get over the discount mode of doing business. If you missed it click here to view. I discussed the fact that I believed “Bundle” retailing would be the new trend for 2009. This technique is venturing into all aspects of retailing

Walk down any High Street in any country over the last few months and I will guarantee you will see discounting taking place. Some retailers are discounting with 50%,70% and 90% discount signs on display to try and survive while others are planning a profitable perceived discount campaign. You may not consider a discount strategy as a means of making more money, but I have just come across an excellent

For those of you who were involved with the Tipster marketing workshop, Jurek mentioned Pride and Passion a tipster web page that has been developed by the tourist board in Scotland. www.prideandpassion.net This is the link to the web page, it promotes local tourist attractions in Scotland.

Over the last few months I have been talking in conferences about retailers using YouTube to develop their own training programmes for customers and staff. Many have put this in the too hard basket. This week The Gardening Channel was launched, a how to TV channel for gardeners. This is an excellent tool and shows the possibilities. Check it out on www.thegardenchannel.tv Other retailers and sectors should be following this