Category: health & beauty
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Body Shop: Rough-diamonds should never be over-polished!
in branding & visual communication, brave-words, customer experience, customer service, customer-engagement, disruptive retail, ethical retailing, health & beauty, impulse retailing, in-store services, packaging, product suppliers, recycling, retail, retail brand heritage, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, store theatre, sustainability, telling product storiesWhere do you begin with the story of Body Shop. So many twists and turns, and so many lessons. Anyone who remembers the 1980s and 1990s experienced a totally new retail concept. Body Shop was way ahead of its time in the world of conscientious cosmetics and toiletries. It was primarily a producer, ensuring that…
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Time for us to create our own certainty in this world of retail uncertainty.
If there has always been one certainty in the retail industry, then it is uncertainty. We deal with customers who are unpredictable. We forward guess every season in terms of what we should stock in the hope we can sell it. We are at the mercy of the weather, the geo-politics of the world and…
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Where is your sales growth going to come from this year?
in assortment structure planning, branding & visual communication, customer experience, customer service, customer-engagement, ethical retailing, food & drink, health & beauty, in-store services, meaning in the retail madness, personalisation, retail, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, social savvy, store theatre, sustainability, telling product storiesWe are already in autumn, an important time of year for planning the commercial growth of our retail businesses. We may be considering extending our assortments, planning new product ranges, growing our human resources, even contemplating opening new physical shops and online sales channels. Growth can come in many ways to achieve these crucial additional…
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Bike Shed Motorcycle Club: Revving up Community
in assortment structure planning, customer experience, customer service, customer-engagement, disruptive retail, fashion accessories, food & drink, footwear, health & beauty, in-store services, internationalisation, leisure & sport, location strategy, menswear, multi-category, new retail, omni-channel retailing, Pinterest Gallery, retail, retail brand heritage, retail businesses, retail organisations, retail strategy, social savvy, store experience, store theatre, telling product storiesThe lessons for us all: “You can teach people how to be successful at retailing, if they have the passion. But it’s much more difficult to teach ‘Passion’ even to people who know how to buy & sell. People really love to buy passion, today!” The Bike Shed Motorcycle Club started in November 2011 as…
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Gymshark: Stronger & fitter Pinterest gallery
in branding & visual communication, customer experience, customer service, customer-engagement, disruptive retail, food & drink, health & beauty, in-store services, leisure & sport, location strategy, new retail, omni-channel retailing, Pinterest Gallery, retail, retail businesses, retail management, retail strategy, sales promotions & events, shop of the future, social savvy, store experience, store layout, store theatre, visual merchandising, windowsThe lessons for us all: “Build your business from nothing by doing right things in the right order. Begin online, gain visibility via social media, get advocacy & exposure by going to where your customers go, begin physical with pop-up, and take it from there!” See the image board: Click below: RetailMeaning Pinterest: An inspirational showcase…
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Marks & Spencer shows that retailing is ‘A game of two halves!’
in analytics, assortment structure planning, branding & visual communication, customer experience, food & drink, health & beauty, high street planning, home, in-store services, ladies fashion, meaning in the retail madness, menswear, multi-category, omni-channel retailing, retail, retail brand heritage, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, retail-regeneration, store experience, store layout, store theatre, visual merchandisingIt has been an interesting few years for Marks & Spencer, and a month of vindication for its commercial strategy as it once again returned to the FTSE Top 100 of the UK’s largest businesses. It’s digital-first strategy has seen it put its customer, and it’s knowledge of the customer at the heart of everything…
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For any students or retail entrepreneurs who would like some guidance in their work, then please reach out.
in assortment structure planning, branding & visual communication, brave-words, ethical retailing, fashion accessories, footwear, health & beauty, home, jewellery, kids fashion, ladies fashion, leisure & sport, luxury, meaning in the retail madness, menswear, pop-up stores, pre-loved, re-sell, recycling, renting, retail, shop of the future, social savvy, supply-chains, sustainability, visual merchandisingIt is always a great pleasure to support students and young retailers. The learning process is definitely 2-way. Hopefully the students gain from my own experiences and advice, whilst I certainly always find it so refreshing to listen to, and understand the influences and opinions of our next generation of retail entrepreneurs. Tilly is a…
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Anyone can sell more by reducing the price, but only the wise make money from it!
There’s a lot more to price than reducing it, even when we are living in a ‘Cost of Living Crisis!’ And in fact the clever thing is not to reduce prices, but to avoid reducing them. It is a route that is more difficult and more longer-team to achieve but it offers a sustainable strategy…
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Lush cleaning up with festival-goers as it evolves ‘Customer location planning’
in accessories, branding & visual communication, customer experience, customer service, customer-engagement, disruptive retail, ethical retailing, health & beauty, high street planning, location strategy, meaning in the retail madness, new retail, omni-channel retailing, pop-up stores, retail, retail brand heritage, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, sales promotions & events, shop of the future, store experience, store theatreBeauty brand Lush has recently been in the news with its pop-up shops & shampoo parlours at some of the UK’s largest music festivals, notably WOMAD & Bluedot. Never a brand to stand still, this is an innovative move that is based around some very sensible strategies, and a realisation that being a successful retailer…
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TK Maxx. Using Visual Merchandising to make every customer’s visit into their luckiest day!
in accessories, assortment structure planning, customer experience, disruptive retail, fashion accessories, footwear, health & beauty, kids fashion, ladies fashion, meaning in the retail madness, menswear, multi-category, retail, retail businesses, retail management, retail strategy, space management, space planning, store experience, store layout, store operations, value retailing, visual merchandising, visual merchandising operations, vm compliance, vm operationsThe best brands make extraordinary things very simple. And the clever use of visual merchandising does not need to be complex or sophisticated to define a brand and create unique experiences. I was involved in the research for the Channel 5 documentary about TK Maxx. The interview with one of the producers made me distill…
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