John’s Blog

Target Your Business to an Age Group, Not to the World! By John Stanley As a consultant working with retailers, one of the first questions I ask a client is can they paint a picture for me of a typical customer. Some clients can be very specific, whilst others just give me a blank look, then follow it up by saying everyone is a potential customer; how can they paint

The Ups and Downs of Horticultural Retailing By John Stanley In July 2005 I had the opportunity to work with garden centres in the U.K. and South Africa. This gave me the chance to take a snapshot of the industry in the winter and summer and at the same time. What was surprising were the similarities in both countries when looking at the independent sector. Whilst I was in the

Nobody Reads Signs and Other Popular Myths 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

Be a Brave Heart, Now is Your Time By John Stanley I recently experienced one of those strange weeks in retailing that occasionally occur. I was working with clients in the U.K. during the infamous 7/7 week in London. The week started with celebrations and confidence as Londoners realised they had won the 2012 Olympic Games and all that brings to retail businesses. The next day the city was in

Small is Beautiful and Back in Retail Fashion By John Stanley I have just returned from a visit to Chile which gave me an opportunity to study retail trends in that region of the globe. I discovered the hardware stores of my early childhood, stores that were independently owned and full from floor to ceiling with hardware items. A real treasure trove to the hardware fanatic. Alas, this type a

Retailing Comes of Age By John Stanley Have you been to buy any dog food lately? Do you remember the days when you just picked it up in the supermarket and kept walking? Walk into any pet �box store� today and it�s a whole new experience. Prior to purchasing today�s canine�s lunch, you need to know the age and size of your dog. If you don�t know these two critical

By John Stanley Have you been to buy any dog food lately? Do you remember the days when you just picked it up in the supermarket and kept walking? Walk into any pet �box store� today and it�s a whole new experience. Prior to purchasing today�s canine�s lunch, you need to know the age and size of your dog. If you don�t know these two critical facts, the shopping experience

LIBRARIES that sell wine LIBRARIES that sell wine, provide breakfast and have comfortable sofas could be the way of the future, according to a leading international library consultant. John Stanley, who has been consulting for 30 years, said libraries needed to adopt a more progressive approach to meet the needs of today’s users. His comments follow the release of a British parliamentary report which found that local libraries were in

Overcoming Store or Library Blindness By John Stanley Walk into my office and you�ll notice things that are obvious to you, but not obvious to me. This is because I�m so familiar with my office that I�ve become office blind. In retail stores it�s called store blindness and I guess in a library it could be called �library blindness�. We all suffer from the phenomena. We miss the obvious whilst

Advocates are High Earners By John Stanley In previous articles and conference presentations I�ve often talked about getting your consumers to become advocates, hence our popular conference presentation �Ban the Customer and Grow Your Business�. But what is actually happening out there? According to research by Maritz Loyalty Marketing and reported in the St Louis Newswire on February 8th in America, the richer you are, the more likely you are

Changing the Mind Set – A View on the Future of Retailing by John Stanley It is rare to get delegates from five continents and twenty countries brainstorming retail global trends, but this did happen recently at the Pets International Conference in Brussels, Belgium. This topic was clearly focussed on pets, but the outcomes could apply to any retail sector and are worth sharing. In most countries the population is

Third Place Retailing – The New Battlefield by John Stanley On 10th January 2005, McDonalds� USA announced it was entering the premium coffee industry. It would sell premium coffee at a premium price. A business recognised for fast food at a low price point is re-engineering itself to provide an up-market coffee, yet coffee is looked on as the second most common commodity product after oil. Is this an opportunity

Walk The Consumers Journey – Part 2 By John Stanley Step Two: Journey of Inspiration In the last article in this series we looked at the Journey of Discovery. Consumers need to discover you exist. If you are innovative in your marketing and external promotions they may just get in their car and journey to your business. Your next challenge is you have thirty seconds to inspire them, yes, that�s

Walk The Consumers Journey – Part 1 By John Stanley Successful retailers take consumers on a journey. In the next series of articles I will explain the journey to you giving you examples on how to implement it in your business along the way. But firstly let me provide the outline to the journey so we are all aware of the process we need to be aware of: Step One:

By John Stanley The perception in the marketplace, according to research, is that customer service is declining. Whether consumer expectations have increased or services have declined over the last few years is debatable. The fact is, perception is truth, in the consumers� eyes. Having stated that, some businesses still seem to excel in customer service and get rave reviews from consumers, surely they have a different strategy. Internal Customers Remain

We all know it costs less to keep a customer than to attract a new one, but just how can you keep customers happy today when they expect so much more than they used to? Successful businesses today provide outrageous customer service � they focus on reducing the stressors in the lives of their customers and providing customer oriented solutions. It is no longer enough just to sell a product

By John Stanley Take a look around any box store around the world and you will discover that the layout is designed in a grid layout. This encourages the customer to walk up and down each aisle and to be exposed to every product on offer. I do use the word exposed with some intrepidation as most products get less than a five second glance from the consumer. Grid layout

By John Stanley Indoor and outdoor living styles are constantly changing and as �home living� retailers we need to keep up with the latest trends and be aware of the leading edge trends. Many home owners in the 90�s designed their living areas with Feng Shui in mind, but the leading edge home owners are now into Wabisabi. No, this is not a Japanese food dish, it is a design

By John Stanley Christmas is a fun period to be in retailing. I recently read a report by the Results Corporation from ten years ago which reminded me how critically important this period can be. I would like to share some thoughts based on that report. 1. Make sure the team are in the mood Forget the customers. If the team are in the mood, it will become infectious and

By Fiona Emberton Lifestyle in many countries John and I work in is changing rapidly � one part of the lifestyle being very close to our hearts � and our stomachs! In countries with an Anglo-Celtic background, plain fare was very much the norm � and very good it was too. But a little dull. If you have watched the movie Shirley Valentine � you will have seen the monotonous

By John Stanley Retailers over the last few years have found it difficult to justify the amount of space required by house plants to get a good return on their investment. The logical conclusion is to close down the department and use the space more adventurously. This is what leading edge garden centers are doing in a partnership with key suppliers and discovering the new opportunities that await them. The

By Fiona Emberton and John Stanley This article discusses the various zones you can create in your library, paying attention to the particular needs of differing demographic client groups. It outlines how retailers deal with this and suggests techniques libraries can adopt. Do you ever feel really uncomfortable in a certain music or clothes shop and slink out when you realize you are far too old ( or young!) to

By John Stanley Peter Thomson of Garson Farm has a policy of cooking beetroot every morning, prior to opening the farm shop. The aroma is the equivalent of the aroma of bread in a supermarket. Aroma is the most memorable of the senses and something we should consider when developing a farm shop. Some of the odours on the farm may also be memorable; the smells of the farm can