John’s Blog

“Successful businesses do not have a manager – they have a leader” When countries move into recession, some businesses fail while others prosper. Success, in business is up to you. Successful businesses operate on the same principles. Many call it common sense, but this is, in fact, “rare sense”. If it were common sense then everyone in the world would be running a successful business. Here a few ideas that

I was recently in Augusta, West Australia. This is about as far as you can go in Western Australia going south, the next stop is Antarctica. Augusta is a small town famous for whale watching and the tallest lighthouse in Australia. I was there to do a workshop with the retailers. After the talk I took a walk around town. The Augusta Pharmacy has a great idea. I had talked

Consumers are growing their own food and the UK style allotment, a piece of land in a community dedicated to food production, is booming again. It was obvious that one opportunity was to open “The Allotment Shop” as a serious retail venture and the first one opened in late October in Kingswinford, West Midlands in the UK. The store has a 1940’s feel to it, promoting the nostalgia feel. The

That may not be the thought going through your mind after the last few weeks. Wexe2x80x99ve already talked to people in the retail industry who have informed us that next year they will only invite speakers to their conferences that are xe2x80x9cfreexe2x80x9d.xc2xa0 Do you think customers are going to attend a conference expecting ideas on how to improve their business from xe2x80x9cfreexe2x80x9d speakers? Businesses will take one of two directions

October 2008 will be remembered as the month the world was forced to create a new order when it comes to the financing of business. The ups and downs of the global stock-market (alas, mostly down) means that every business around the world will see change take place. Retailing may take a little longer to see the affects of October. Finance will inevitably get tighter and the consumer will start

Over the last couple of months the world economy has changed almost daily, alas, very rarely for the better. Many of my clients have asked how I feel this will affect the retail sector over the next few months. As in all situations there will be winners and losers. Firstly, some retail sectors will find it more difficult than other retail sectors to build sales. Retailers selling high ticket luxury

Retail Rethink Promoting your products used to be easy. Placing adverts in newspapers or on the radio or T.V. would ensure that the majority of consumers would be exposed to what you had to sell. But, times change, the new consumer is not reading newspapers, downloading their music on to an iPod and picking up their morning TV from their own computer. If you rely on traditional means of getting

Australia, like many countries, has an Open Garden Scheme. This year the Stanley’s bit the bullet and opened their garden to the public for the first time. We had no idea what to expect, but it turned out to be a fun two days. Plus, an opportunity to chat to consumers in a relaxed environment. We have produced a ‘movie’ of the garden, you can view below how our garden

Rethink Retail I recently went to my local hardware store with a planned purchase in mind of $800. Since no staff were available in store to ask a question I went to the checkout to ask for advice. The reply was disappointing “I don’t know, I’m only a checkout operator” and she let me leave the store unable to make a purchase. What disappointed me, was not only could I

Arboretum Lifestyle Garden Centre in Ireland their plants as shown. It not only provides a description, but also provides provenance. A great way of showing the source for the consumer.

Tim Smit from Eden Project really caught everyones imagination at the awards ceremony at GLEE in the UK. His thinking is very much inline with mine, here is a snippet from his speech. The above quote comes from Tim Smit, one of the co-founders of the UK’s Eden Project in Cornwall on recieving a prestigious award. Smit said the biggest issue in the next decade would be food security and

By Daily Mail Reporter 28th August 2008 Superfruit: Aronia berries A berry reckoned to be the healthiest fruit in the world will soon be available in Britain’s shops for the first time. The aronia is a ‘superfood’, richer in anti-cancer antioxidants than raspberries and more modern imports such as the goji and acai. It even has three times the level of antioxidants found in blueberries. Now a six-year plan by

Whilst in seminars I have promted the fact that the future includes text marketing, I have had a few worried faces. But, Marketing Trendz magazine from the USA endorse my findings ….. read on. Texting Wonders Can’t get shoppers to respond to your marketing prods? Start texting. According to the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) first-ever quantitative research project on mobile marketing, text messaging is the most effective technique and it

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