Category: retail management
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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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Is the continuing ‘cost of living’ crisis educating us on the ‘price of owning?’
The ‘cost of living’ crisis affecting all of us, is an opportunity to educate everyone on the wider sustainable issues around the things we buy and own. There are of course so many powerful and compelling reasons why we should think more deeply about the repercussions of what we buy. The environment, climate change and…
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My exciting collaboration with the London College of Fashion for 2023
in accessories, assortment structure planning, branding & visual communication, customer experience, disruptive retail, fashion accessories, fast fashion, footwear, jewellery, kids fashion, ladies fashion, leisure & sport, luxury, menswear, new retail, product suppliers, re-sell, recycling, renting, retail, retail brand heritage, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, shop of the future, store experience, store theatre, supply-chains, sustainability, telling product stories, visual merchandisingPleased to announce that I’m working with the London College of Fashion again this Autumn, as part of their Collaborative Challenge Industry Partner Programme. The fashion industry is more exciting and dynamic than ever. Students entering this world, across a wide range of disciplines, now need to be fully prepared and be able to collaborate…
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How do retailers get better? The art and science of ‘looking inside’ and of ‘looking outside!’
in analytics, assortment structure planning, customer-engagement, in-store services, meaning in the retail madness, omni-channel retailing, packaging, retail, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, sales promotions & events, store layout, store operations, supply-chains, VManalyticsWhen we look at what we do, as commercially viable and successful retailers, there is no great mystery. The functions that we must address largely span developing a product assortment, building a supply chain, developing shops, e-commerce, and routes to market, manning everything from head office to stores with competent and loyal employees, and then…
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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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A Soliloquy to Visual Merchandisers and the beauty they bring to today’s ‘Shops of the Future!’
in accessories, assortment structure planning, branding & visual communication, customer experience, fast fashion, ladies fashion, luxury, menswear, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, shop of the future, space planning, store experience, store layout, store theatre, telling product stories, visual merchandising, visual merchandising operations, windowsVisual Merchandising, like any other function within a retail business is having to adapt in response to the paradigm shifts that are occurring in the retail industry. Those changes are becoming a revolution, not an evolution. What began with globalised supply chains, fast fashion, the advent of ecommerce, pureplay retail, has accelerated into social and…
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It is simply ‘Common Sense’ to balance ‘Artificial intelligence’ with Retail People.
in analytics, assortment structure planning, branding & visual communication, brave-words, customer experience, customer-engagement, disruptive retail, meaning in the retail madness, new retail, personalisation, retail, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, shop of the future, technology & electricalAnother day, and another AI (Artificial Intelligence) story. It would seen that necessity is overtaking novelty if the volume of copy is anything to go by, even if the specific needs are still often very much in the cloud. Undoubtedly recent history will repeat itself, with investment and popular hysteria chasing the latest billion dollar…
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Marks & Spencer looking good, by making ‘Less look commercially attractive!’
in assortment structure planning, customer experience, fashion accessories, food & drink, high street planning, home, kids fashion, ladies fashion, location strategy, meaning in the retail madness, multi-category, omni-channel retailing, retail, retail brand heritage, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, shop of the future, space management, space planning, store experience, store layout, store theatre, town centre planningMarks & Spencer continues to impress with its sales figures and market share across fashion and home, as well as the more predictable food category. And whilst few would argue that they have the most exciting shops on the high street, the ambitious and highly successful store regeneration program is already reaping rewards, and putting…
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How dull must the future of fashion seem to Generation Z!?
in customer experience, disruptive retail, ethical retailing, fashion accessories, fast fashion, ladies fashion, meaning in the retail madness, new retail, re-sell, recycling, renting, retail, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, secondhand, shop of the future, store experience, sustainabilityI wouldn’t imagine that too many GenZ’s have seen the latest ‘Top 30 Fashion Retailers by 2026’ report from Retail Week, or indeed read Retail Week at all. If these 18-24 year olds did read it, then I’m sure their hearts would plummet at a top 10 filled with the old bastions of retail, topped…
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Recycled products only add to the fashion volume problem, unless they help reduce the amount of new products produced.
A very interesting post from Brett Mathews on new legislation being brought in by the Netherlands to make fashion businesses more sustainable and accountable for the lifecycles of their products. – At least 50 per cent of the textiles sold “must prepared for reuse or recycling”– At least 20% of the textiles sold are prepared for reuse…
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