John’s Blog

Consumers are increasingly looking for local products. In the UK the main avenue has been Farm Shops whilst in Europe it has been via Farmer’s Markets. In Australia it has been the Farmer Market that has been the main driver of getting local food to local people. This is now changing and evolving. The new marketing avenue is a Food Assembly which is a cross between a farmer’s market and a

Online grocery shopping is now well established. The problem for most consumers is that it has been a boring interface. Now that is all changing. Aussie Farmers Direct have developed a 3D App called “Aisle One” and have promoted it as “the world’s first virtual shopping experience”. This is the nearest to real life shopping on a screen that is available. Aisle One (iPad) app from Australian Farmers Direct

“Decoding the Irrational Consumer: How to commission, run and generate insights from neuromarketing research” by Darren Bridger, Marketing Science Series. This is not a book for the practical retailer looking for new ideas to grow sales. This a book if you want to look at the research behind how the consumer thinks. We are all irrational consumers and make decisions at a non-conscious level. The brain processes decisions and this book looks

Five weeks before Christmas I did some consultancy in one of my local shopping centres. Walking around one had to question what was the driver to get people to spend at this time of year. One company I looked at had a 40% off Christmas sale…in my youth sales occurred after Christmas…price was not the driver during the Christmas period. Does this mean times have changed ? In the same

Whilst many of us are still trying to understand how to retail to the Millennial generation, the next generation are appearing as consumers.  Gen Z’s think differently to the generations before them. An article in WGSN stated that there are 2 billion Gen Z’s globally and they are already spending 44 billion dollars a year. This is the generation born between 1997 and today, compared to the Millennial’s who were

The hexo+ arrived on the market this month. This is a drone that wirelessly tethers its self to a smart phone and follows you anywhere, available for around $300. As a business you may not have a need for drone following you around, but there may be times it could be valuable. The reason I mention it is that it was financed by Kickstart and the traditional market was unaware

I realise that is a sweeping statement, but I do believe this is the best retail book I have seen this year. Retail Marketing Strategy…Delivering shopper delight by Constant Berkhout and published by Kogan Press. The title tells you what the content of the book is about. Constant has worked with retailers in Europe and the Americas and has a clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities that are there

Switzerland may only have 8 million population, but this small landlocked country has four official languages, German, French, Italian and Romansh and a thriving horticultural industry. On first impression, it seems to be a DIFM (Do It For Me) rather than a DIY (Do It Yourself) society as the landscapers seem too far outnumber the garden retailers. In late November, I was in Switzerland by the invitation of Jardin Suisse,

Norma Burnson is the author of a book “Sustainable Food for the Globe, Everyday People Producing Food in Abundance” Norma interviews seventeen entrepreneurs from around the world who are developing ideas and creating projects to grow food. The book takes you from Canada to the USA, Pakistan to Switzerland, Uganda to Pakistan and New Zealand to the UK. The book covers areas such as kitchen gardens, eco-villages, food share schemes

Food tourism: A practical marketing guide, by John and Linda Stanley – reviewed by Annals of Tourism research. This book is a new welcome addition to food tourism practice and literature. The book has ten sections, divided into four parts. In the first part, the authors present an introductory chapter followed by a chapter titled ‘‘The Changing Tourists’’. This chapter clearly explains the current food tourism playground in terms of the recent changes and

I was meeting a potential client in Chatsworth in New South Wales whilst on the road. I arrived early and decided to have a coffee. I had a range of coffee shops to choose from. The one that grabbed my attention was Lid and Jar. Why?… They had decided to take the “high” ground with the signage on the window. I walked in and the team also decided to be

The Growing Chefs Program in BC is where growers and chefs encourage school children to get engaged with growing and cooking local produce. Whilst I was in BC there was a fundraising dinner for “one-of-a-kind.” Local chefs worked with local growers, and the little chefs from the local school, to produce a meal created from local produce. It raised $25,000 in one evening. An winning formula that created a truly local

Those of you that have been to one of my presentations lately will be aware I do a session on Millennials. I picked this up from the Buzz magazine in the USA. It adds another piece to the jigsaw. Make it fun! That’s what Millennials are saying when responding to a nationwide survey conducted by Colloquy that asked about loyalty programs. In a survey of 1,000 consumers, 34% of Millennials

Cache Creek…where is that I can hear you asking. I asked the same question when I recently had the opportunity to work with a retail client in the town. Cache Creek has a population of 1,040 people and is situated 354 kilometres north east of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. It was mid-October when I was asked to work with the client and I rented a car and travelled up

Parklets was a new word to me, but a great concept. Parks are more important at weekends and roads to move traffic are less important. Therefore cities like Rio and San Paulo close specific streets to traffic and create parklets or “pop-up” parks for the weekend. You find the locals taking a walk and using the streets like they would a park. This is a great idea other cities could

There are two styles of retailing that we discovered in Rio. The top end retailers are displaying with flair and the salespeople are very engaging. Then the rest of retailing in my opinion has some challenges. Many retailers have arrived at what I believe is the final promotion,”70% Off”. Once you arrive at that promotion strategy I do not know where you go next. You have a cost driven campaign

What skills do you need to keep customers engaged? I have been to a number of conferences over the last few months where almost every speaker that is focused on marketing trends has talked about “customer inclusion” or providing a “remarkable experience” as part of the journey to grow a business in this changing world. The challenge is putting these ideas into action in a business in front of a

Many pundits would argue that the garden centre model of the sixties will not work in the future. There are number of reasons for this, these include: The move to urban living rather than suburban living and the need for garden centres to be near the consumer, especially as this consumer is not prepared to drive to the fringes of the city to purchase plants Peri-urban land, where most garden

During August I presented at the Petfood Forum China in Shanghai. This was my fourth visit to this region, but the first time downtown as the conference was held at the Expo site. I arrived the week that the stock market crashed in Shanghai although if you read the China Daily you would not have suspected anything important had happened. As a visitor, if you do not leave the main

One of the major topics on workshops these days is online shopping and its value in retailing. Views in audiences are varied and some retailers think online will never effect them while others believe it is part of the future The following Australian Sensis report makes interesting reading: Men are the big spenders. – Basically men are the big online spenders, but what will happen in the future?

If you have attended a retail of business conference over the last year, I suspect at least one speaker has addressed the need to get to know the Millennial shopper. I am one of those presenters that has been promoting the need to respond to a new consumer. 2017 is the year when the Millennial shopper starts spending more money in the retail environment that the Baby Boomer and we

One of our newsletter readers in the UK, Neil Grant, sent me this information from The Guardian on female shoppers and how to attract them to your business. Thanks Neil this is worth reading: Win over women, and the men will follow, with women controlling 85% of purchasing decisions, focusing your marketing efforts on them will pay off….      

A book that is about to be a launched that will be of interest to a number of our readers is “The Cancer Survivor’s Garden Companion” by Jenny Peterson. This will be an inspiring book and a book that many of you will want to read. Synopsis THE BOOK IN 19 WORDS: A CANCER PATIENT DISCOVERS THAT GARDENING IS GOOD MEDICINE – AND FINDS A POWERFUL HEALING PARTNER IN HER OWN BACKYARD.

Retailing is constantly changing and that is part of the fun of being involved in the sector. Imagine dropping in to your local fashion store for a coffee and snack. That is now becoming more of a trend. In London you can enjoy a coffee or champagne in Regents Street at the Burberry all-day cafe in their Flagship store. Gents are invited to have a gin and tonic when purchasing suits

In August I spent a week working with a number of clients in Denmark as well as travelling for two days with the International Garden Centre Congress. There were many highlights. One store that really caught my eye was Bolia, a Danish lifestyle store. Their merchandising was some of the most imaginative I have seen in sometime. The following pictures help tell the story…