John’s Blog

By John Stanley In the last few weeks a number of events have caused me to focus on 2026. Twenty years into the future. Firstly, Linda and I became grand parents for the first time and this inevitably causes you to look at the future. While we awaited the great event, the �Australian� our national newspaper ran a 13 edition colour supplement forecasting what life will be like in 2026.

Baby Boomers are the �Do It For Me� Market and when it comes to sustainability they are no different. Imagine someone coming in to your yard, building an organic vegetable garden and maintaining it. That is exactly what �Your Patch� (www.yourpatch.com.au) will provide. They will select the best location your garden, work with you to plan a planting around your favourite vegetables, build it, reticulate it and maintain it. All

In the last two years chocolate fountains have been all the rage. Is this the next stage? Will garden centres and farm shops be building chocolate Christmas trees next year�� it would be a crowd puller. Ref: Retail Link – Bangkok Hotel Building a 200kg Chocolate Christmas tree – www.hospitalitynet.org/news/154000320/4025643.html

By John Stanley One of the challenges for any retail business is getting new consumers to enter the store. The mass merchandisers normally rely on price promotions to get the consumer through their front door and this means small independent business have to rely on other means of �touching the consumer� to get there attention. To achieve this, a retailer needs to know their consumer target exceptionally well and to

My local garden centre, Zanthorrea, has just been awarded in the inaugural �Australia�s Most Weed Wise Nursery� by the Australian Weed Societies. The award is presented to the nursery that is most proactive in its approach to environmental weeds that present a threat to native plants, wildlife and the environment. Zanthorrea refuses to sell high-risk invasive garden plant species and did so well before state legislation banned the plants. Congratulations

Today’s marketplace holds few competitive advantages in terms of product or price, therefore emotional engagement and memorable experiences are more important than ever. Click below for a message from John Stanley and Pete Luckett about making your customers say WOW! about their shopping experience. Cant see the video? Click Here to download Flash Plug-in for your Browser!

By John Stanley Japan with a population of 127 million, most of whom are congregated along the eastern side of the main island, is an intensive market. Traditionally known for Japanese gardens, bonsai and chrysanthemums, the market is now expanding as the population becomes more demanding. In October I had the opportunity to speak at the IFEX Conference just outside Toyko and also the opportunity to look at the garden

By John Stanley Christmas is one of the most important trading periods of the retail year in the Western world. The impact it has on sales will vary with each retail sector but, whichever sector you belong to, it is critical that you maximise the sales potential of this peak festive season. One of the keys to success is staff trained and ready to handle the extra demands of this

By John Stanley It is always a challenge for me to walk past the coffee shop in our local town. The aroma of those fresh coffee beans being grinded draws me to the store every time. I then have the challenge of passing our local bakery where that aroma gets to me again. My daughters rave about a company called �Dusk� who have created a scented candle haven. �Lush� natural

By John Stanley In the last edition of G.T.N. we featured an article on Cleeve Nursery and the changes taking place. Cleeve Nursery is a small plant focused nursery; the type of retailer who has a huge opportunity to expand their market as long as they make the appropriate changes. Alan, Felicity and the team needed to create ideas and solutions for their customers and to attract new customers. With

By John Stanley I recently read an article that stated that the number of coffee shop brands in the UK had doubled to over 2,500 brand outlets in eight years. I realize we are now in the �coffee culture�, but take Starbucks out of the list and how many retail coffee shop brands can you name?, that�s before we start on the list in your local supermarket. Branding, in today�s

In May I was presenting a seminar and asked the group how they had planned as retailers to build on the World Cup fever that would spread around the world in June and July. To my surprise got some blank looks from the audience who felt it would be a non event as far as retailing was concerned. A client of ours, Woody�s Garden Centre in New Zealand used the

In recent weeks there has been a globalmovement to promote brest cancer awareness. My daughter in the UK recently entered a London run for women on behalf of raising money for breast cancer research. At the Chelsea Flower Show this year pink flowers were promoted with donations going to cancer research. At a recent seminar I presented at in New South Wales, pink containers and pink cyclamen were displayed on

This May is the longest time I have ever spent in and around Perth, this will quickly change as the rest of the year takes me around the world many times. It has given me the opportunity to ponder on the local scene and to review what is happening. Perth, Western Australia, is, we are, told the fastest growing economy in the western world at present. If the building boom

By John Stanley There is a change going on in the outside plant area of garden retailing. To the outsider or uninitiated it may appear that the leading garden centers are just changing the paint scheme to brighten the place up, but there is far more to the change than a lick of paint. What is happening in the market place? Over the last few years many independent retailers have

By John Stanley People don’t reads signs, you heard people say it, you have had said it yourself. What is the point of putting a signage strategy in your business when nobody reads them in the first place. Let’s look at his popular myth in more detail. Firstly, all retailers have to accept that consumers today are inundated with messages on signs, as a result, the majority are not read.

By John Stanley Many managers have attended our seminars over the years, listened to the newest ideas, trends and innovations and yet still hold onto the old way of doing things. They can see evidence of success in the innovative businesses and yet are holding back. Some of them even watch while their business becomes redundant and loses market share. Meanwhile others ramp ahead, winning new custom and profit. Some

By John Stanley Stores without products how would they survive, but this is 2006 and anything goes. A few years ago I was approached by a global bank to do some consultancy; the brief was I was to design a bank that did not hold any money, a money less bank. Head office was convinced that by 2010 their banks would not be places where consumers would actually collect money.

Are trends in the garden industry global or regional. I’m often told that things are different in this part of the world, but are they much different? The Australian Garden Market Monitor, produced by the Nursery and Garden Industry Australia and Horticulture Australia Ltd has just been published and part of the report looks at trends. What are the trends downunder? 1. Colour especially Black and white combinations followed by

By John Stanley Successful retailers realize you have to have passion for the product and the consumer. In today�s retail environment you would think everyone would be chasing that elusive dollar. But, that is not the case and this should be an opportunity for anyone who wants to grow their business. The best example I can give you of today�s market place is based on the experience we have just

By John Stanley McDonalds built a global business by understanding these two generational groups. Can you build a better business by understanding them better? Spoodles (spoiled toddlers to you and me) are aged between 0 and 5 years old and although not purchasers of garden products, they have parents who are. These parents are looking for easy parking, pram friendly parking and access around the garden centre is essential. Plus,

By John Stanley As a consultant, retailers are often asking me how they can increase sales. But, when I put my consumers hat on I�m often exposed to what seem obvious ways to grow the business. The life blood of retail is to get existing customers to revisit a store and also to spend more than they anticipated when they walked in the door. Customers generally have a purpose when

By John Stanley Billy Connolly, the Scottish comedian often jokes about his obsession with �beige� people, people without character who are quite literally beige in their outlook and views on life. Billy�s perspective on people could equally be applied to retail business. Retailing has developed into the hourglass environment, with the �beige� business being squeezed in the middle. Being �beige� in retailing is a recipe for failure. Retailing growth and

By John Stanley I recently worked with a Council who were developing a new library and I was asked in by the Librarians to provide some visionary direction. To maintain confidentiality, I will not name the organisation, but while working with them, it dawned on me that libraries are different to retail establishments, but not for the reasons that first came to mind. Retail Vision When working with retailers, the

By John Stanley The world is getting smaller and ideas move around the world rapidly. One of the challenges as a retailer is mounting and protecting your brand or retail uniqueness. I am often confronted by clients who are worried that somebody will pinch their ideas. My reaction is always don�t worry; they cannot pinch your brand or image. Why not? The brand or retail uniqueness is not the product,