John’s Blog

Ref: By Helen Pidd Monday September 3, 2007 The Guardian What with hotpot, crumbly cheese and Morecambe Bay potted shrimps, Lancashire has already given a lot to gastronomy. But the county’s contribution to filling the nation’s bellies is not only historic. On a small industrial estate near Ormskirk, one company is at the forefront of culinary invention, capitalising not just on the burgeoning interest in locally grown produce, but also

Tesco has gained the majority stake in Dobbies, the British garden centre chain, as reported by the UK’s Gardenforum online service. With its 53 per cent stake in the company, the British supermarket giant now controls the Dobbies business in which Tom Hunter, owner of the biggest British garden centre chain, Wyevale, was also interested. However, he has now lost the bidding battle. The Dobbies brand is to be further

To many, organic retailing is a new trend, but Waitrose in the UK have lead the way since 1983. The August edition of Boss introduced a story by Susan Owens on “How Green is my Supermarket.” In 2007 Waitrose, the UK retailer carries the largest amount of organic produce of any UK retailer with 11300 lines on the shelf. In 2001 the company refused eggs from factory farmer raisers and

(Extract from an article in BA Business Life Aug 2007) It is unlikely that anyone will arrive at The Highwayman other than hungry, which chef Nigel Howarth has opened with his partner Craig Bancroft in the little village of Burrow on the Lancashire/Cumbria border. Howarth uses his role as chef to enhance the produce of his 35 local farmers and suppliers, whose photos grace the walls and the table mats

Blueberry sales in the UK have increased 132% since 2005 according to A. C. Neilsen . In 2005 Brits spent £40mil a year on the fruit, in 2007 £95million. Why the rush in sales? This is a fruit that is one of the world’s beneficial super-foods. It contains antioxidants to help keep the heart healthy, make skin look younger, protect against cancer, heart disease and aging. The majority of blueberries

According to Hansom Hosein and Heather Huges in their 2006 documentary, Independent America, it takes on average 1,500miles for the average piece of food to get to the average fork in the USA. Those who have been to my recent seminars will be aware that I am promoting neighbour to neighbour marketing as the new trend. This excellent documentary is in support of this new concept. A must see movie

Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto, Canada has established a unique way to get customers. It is using its roof. Venture onto the roof and you’ll find an organic garden cared for by the hotel chef, David Garcelon. At present Aubergine, gooseberries and edible flowers are grown on the roof, but he is about to install beehives to enable him to gather the honey. The chef has found guests are

I heard a news report on the radio yesterday that said “A study shows kids will eat vegetables if they are presented to them in a Mc Donalds bag.” One of the challenges in Australia is children’s obesity. Like other countries we need to try and change the eating habits of schools. Different countries are tackling the challenge in different ways. In Australia a canteen expo is being developed.

Last weekend, the town next to mine, had a Gourmet Farmers Market. This was the launch to judge whether it would me a viable market. We ended up buying a $100 truffle; the area I live in is the southern hemispheres biggest truffle growing area. At the market, I could also have purchased a variety of types of olive oil, macadamia nuts, local breads, truffle oils and butters and organic

I was recently at a conference where we were talking about the bling effect in retailing, one retailer in the audience was brave enough to mention he had no idea what we were talking about. Bling to some is a hit record called ”Bling Bling” made in 1999 by the group The B.G. This group is recognised as introducing the word bling into the English language. Bling is now recognised

Over the past decade or so, there has been a shift in consumer preferences. Baby Boomers and their Generation X children have dominated the market for the past several decades, but now Generation Y is coming in full force. All Members of the industry need to be aware of the changing marketplace to remain successful. Todays young consumers have different qualities than those of their parents and grandparents. Some major

Ref: Daily reader 16 July 2007 OFA Newsletter Many Business owners overlook the use of low-cost or no-cost incentives as a way to let employees know they are appreciated. These 21 ideas are designed to challenge your creative senses. Get your employees involved and find out how they want to be recognised: Welcome new hires by preparing for their first days on the job. Make sure their workspaces have what

Ref: Daily reader 16 July 2007 OFA Newsletter If you’re a business owner, you have probably felt frustration accompanying expensive new marketing techniques. You want to increase your profits, but you need to spend more to do so, right? In “How to Get Customers for Next to Nothing,” Bob Negen of WhizBang! Training presented methods to help avoid this trap. Business owners need new, inexpensive ways to attract customers, and

In a recent newsletter I mentioned that in my view Mr. Price Home of South Africa was one of the best merchandisers I was aware of. That caused a flurry of emails from South Africa offering other retailers I could add to the list. In July, I was working with clients in the country and they insisted on taking me to other entrepreneurial retailers. I’ve called them my X-Rated retailers

A reader of our newsletter, Andre from the Mica group in South Africa has suggested we provide a regular update on colour trends to help our readers. Thanks for the idea. Colour trends go with seasons, but tend to keep to the same patterns around the world. In gardening the purples seem to be a standard colour trend in flower colour, with hot pink keeping its position as the statement

I spotted this in this weeks Time Magazine. Julian Treasure isn’t happy with what he hears. Standing in a coffee bar in London’s Soho district, he’s forced to raise his voice to list the noises bouncing around the caf: the rumble of an espresso machine, the hum of a chiller cabinet, and the tinny tones of Michael Jackson through shoddy speakers. To Treasure, it sounds like money slipping away. “The

In 2003 Lowes found out 80% of women are doing �everyday fix it� projects around the house on their own. 2002 Ace Hardware �Americas To-Do List� found 62% of women tackle home improvement. The average man spends $12.27 in store and $17.74 for women. 2003 survey by Home Improvements Research Institute of Tampa, Florida found women are getting more involved, faster than men in DIY, in fact male spending is

The industry must have come of age …. the Australian Post Office released a set of stamps this week to celebrate farmers markets.

By John Stanley Winning awards as best retailer in your retail sector, best customer service in town or retailer of the year are great marketing opportunities. Awards can be used in internal and external store marketing campaigns and set you apart from the rest of the retailers in your catchment area. The strategy works for two to three years, after that, if you use the campaign, the message being communicated

By John Stanley Customer Service, we’ve probably all attended courses on the subject. I for one have tutored hundreds of them over the years, but in customer service we still often miss the point and fail to impress the customer. Let me give you two examples from my experiences recently in hotels. I stayed at �The Nelson Hotel� in Norwich recently, I had not been to Norwich for a number

My daughter, I�m told, is a typical Gen Y. She rarely watches T.V. and therefore misses out on T.V. advertising, she does not read a newspaper and also misses out on that form of advertising and when she goes shopping she is cynical of most in-store advertising. How does the market get their message out to her and the rest of Gen Y? They do, very successfully; they in fact

The consumer is always looking for stories, it helps them remember products and it boosts sales. Nigella Lawson and Jonathon Ross managed to get tens of thousands of consumers to use goose fat last Christmas when the story was told on UK TV. The Wollemi Pine from Australia has also seen sale increase due to the story attached to it. Stories are great to grow sales, but alas, too many

The latest edition of Time Magazine reports on the latest market research carried out by Fitsimmons and Morales who teach marketing at Duke and Arizona State University. It highlights how product placement on the supermarket shelf affects sales. It provides some interesting tips. John Stanley is an internationally recognised conference speaker and retail consultant with over 25 years experience in 18 countries. He has authored several successful marketing and retail

Stock width and depth is always a challenge. I believe to many retailers offer too much choice within the range and offer too many samples. I discovered this interesting article on my journeys.

As retailers we often assume too much and think the customer has more knowledge than they do. Having said that I was wandering through an organic supermarket in London and came across this excellent means of getting information across from their newsletter.