John’s Blog

In 1956, Victor Gruen from Austria built the first shopping mall, Southdale in Minneapolis, USA. Since then the USA has built 1000’s more, however they are one of the fastest countries that are returning to to village square shopping. The ‘coatless’ shopping experience that Americans enjoyed for so long is now on a downturn. The UK is abouot to open it’s biggest, the Westfield London site has cost 1.6 Billion

As a publicist and writer I get to play a part in the promotion of all kinds of internationally marketed products. From electronic goods to sports shoes to business IT services to human resources, plus of course plants and horticulture-related items. This exposure to other markets sets examples of what businesses in the horticulture industry can and should be doing to remain competitive in a rapidly changing market. Both on

Edelmans are one of the major Dutch suppliers of “Living Room” products for garden centres. Whilst in Holland in August I had the opportunity to go to their showrooms and look at the trends or 2009. One of the trends is that ‘bling’ or the platinum look is now coming into garden products, alot of kitchens already have platinum look on stoves, fridges and dishwashers. This trend is now moving

One of the challenges of our industry is getting to the younger gardener. On my travels in the U.S.A. over the last two months I met Patti Moreno, the TV’s Garden Girl. Patti is on Public Television in the U.S.A. as a segment in the Farmer’s Almanac TV. Her aim is to inspire Generation X and Y to live more in harmony with the natural world. Patti’s programme features her

Although the British media are promoting the UK is heading for the worst recession in 60 years. The Four Oaks show was busy with plenty of exhibitors from Holland, Italy and Spain. The highlights of the show for me were as follows: Pic 1 – Aerobin. The Australian Aerobin was launched at the show. This was the only Australian exhibitor this year and the only booth promoting composting. Pic 2

Yes, it’s definitely time to be thinking through how you will make this festive season the best ever for your business, your shopping centre or your town. To help you on the way, we have a special promotion for my good mate Jurek Leon’s ’52 Terrific Tips for Christmas Workbook’ . The book is jam packed with ideas, examples and exercises to help you and your team make this Christmas

“The horticulture industry needs to move out of its comfort zone and work together to improve product promotion if it is to capture the new generation of consumers” is the message being highlighted by horticulture-specialised publicist Miriam Young (Planting Stories Public Relations) in a new international trade publication due to be launched at Glee. Writing in GARDEN International, she sites the rapid integration between the garden and general lifestyle markets

I often discuss that we need to be in tune with events when it comes to marketing and also dare to be different. Papa John’s, the American pizza company have definitely achieved that with their latest effort. It is Democratic Convention week in the USA and everyone is flying into Denver Airport. If they look out the window they will see a giant pizza in a wheat field …. Brilliant

July 2008 seems to have been a busy month for researchers looking at how different generations shop. After the survey on Gen X shoppers, the Outlaw Consultancy group released a report on Gen Y shoppers. The first question was who were their favourite 15 green retailers? The results/suppliers were: Whole Foods Honda Zipcar Trader Joe’s Google American Apparel Toyota Aveda IKEA 7th Generation Apple The Body Shop Starbucks Netflix Method

By John Stanley Chelsea Flower Show may be the most famous garden show in the world but the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is the biggest. The show is held every year at “the palace” on the outskirts of London. This year it ran from 8th-13th July. What I like about this show is that there are more garden designers exhibiting then at Chelsea and therefore you have more of

The Australian Organic Market Report has just been published and indicates the surge in organic food production down under. In the next three years the land allocated to organic food production is estimated to increase by 75%. In Australia there is now 11 million hectares down to organic food production, the majority being used for grazing livestock. Western Australia has a different mix with two thirds or organic land dedicated

Get it right and you have a very successful business, get it wrong and you have a rapidly dying business. Getting new ideas to stimulate sales in your coffee shop or small restaurant is always a challenge. It is therefore refreshing to see my mate Jurek Leon has produced a web page just on coffee shop ideas and trends. I have included the link below and hope you enjoy both

Guy Topping and his team are well known as entrepreneurs in the North West of the UK. This year they opend their new garden centre, I love their points of difference. Check out this article by the local press below. A new-look £13m garden centre in Lancashire has opened – and the men’s toilets could prove to be one of its biggest attractions. Click here to read more and view

By Valerie Elliott, Consumer Editor It may be gazpacho soup without red pepper or a smaller steak on the plate. The differences may not even be discernible to diners at restaurants and pubs across the country. But “menu-engineering” is the new buzzword in kitchens as restaurateurs and chefs fight the credit crunch. They are using their culinary skills to keep prices down and reservations up. Click here to read the

We’re all been trained to believe we need to pay more money for organic food. But, according to an article in the International Express (July 2008) this is not the case today. Organic or Eco friendly fruit and vegetables are grown without chemicals and tend to be sold locally. Fuel price increases and increasing costs in farm chemicals that are hitting the majority of the farming community are not hitting

“Don’t destroy your brand credibility” In my presentations with clients I often talk about brand integrity; we discuss the fact that the brand is based on the consumer’s expectations and experiences. This was brought home to me in a very clear way recently. We were hosting a group of Canadian business people in Australia recently. For all Canadians in the party it was their first visit ‘down-under’ and they all

70percent of parents say children influence their purchases Children in seven out of 10 city households have a say in which brand of product their parents purchase, according to a study by the Bureau of Market Research of the University of South Africa. About 70percent of the parents who participated in the study said their children influenced their choices by suggesting which brands to buy. The study was intended to

By John Stanley The fun of retailing is that there are always opportunities to grow sales, even when the consumer may not like the product now that may sound like a contradiction in ideas. Let me give you an example. Heinz, the food company recently carried out a survey in the U.K. to find out which was the least liked vegetable by children in that country. Baby Boomer readers of

Around the world there is economic uncertainty, one day the stock market is up and the next it’s down. Trying to build your consumers confidence in such a difficult time is a real challenge. The key is to be topical, not typical in such a retail climate. What do I mean by that? A typical retailer will tend to do nothing and “weather the storm out”, but these are not

Shrinkage – product that disappears from your business and directly affects trhe bottom line. The UK has the highest shrinkage in Europe, costing 3.8 billion pounds or 1.34% of total sales, according to research carried out by ‘The Centre of Retail Research’. Globally, shrinkage is a bigger problem in the USA and Japan than in the UK. In Australia the latest research suggests that shrinkage is around 2% of total

Over the last few months we have been monitoring the plastic bag debate. The latest news is included below for your information. Shopping bags in the spotlight Graham Readfearn March 24, 2008 11:00pm NEVER have our humble shopping bags been the subject of such intense scrutiny. Once simply something to stuff your groceries into, the plastic bag from the supermarket – or high-density polyethylene singlet bag, to use its full

At JSA we are constantly analyzing how we can be greener in the way we run our business. We made the decision that we should move from 50% recycled paper to 100% recycled paper for the copier machine. We contacted our local stationery supplier and asked for 100% ERA (Environmentally Responsible Approach) paper. They said yes, we can do that, and we sat back thinking that we had moved the

Some ideas are so simple; you wonder why you haven’t thought of them. Mates Meats is one of our local butchers, Alison and Debby have come up with a great idea. An “Order while you shop” form that is handed to their customers. You hand this in to them when you arrive at the Shopping Centre, go and do your shopping, and then collect your meat at the end of

By John Stanley Don’t tell me consumers don’t have time to go shopping; they have all the time in the world. You just have to make sure that the time is spent in your store. The key is to split the couple up before they go shopping, it can make a huge difference. Research carried out by Mary Portas in the U.K. and reported in her book “How to Shop