Category: sales promotions & events
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Arming yourself with ‘Added-value’ propositions in the war on low price
in assortment structure planning, branding & visual communication, customer experience, customer service, customer-engagement, health & beauty, meaning in the retail madness, product suppliers, retail, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, sales promotions & events, store experience, supply-chains, value retailingIn these ‘cost-of-living’ times I am reminded of one of my first lessons in retail. The difference between price & value. They sound similar and considering how often the word ‘value’ is misused, as in ‘value retailers’ who are in fact ‘low price retailers,’ anyone would be excused for thinking they are the same. I’ve…
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Good customer experiences come in all shapes and sizes: Make sure they’re always in-stock!
in customer experience, customer service, customer-engagement, disruptive retail, impulse retailing, meaning in the retail madness, personalisation, retail, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, sales promotions & events, store experience, store operations, store theatre, visual merchandisingGood customer experiences come in all shapes and sizes: Make sure they’re always in-stock! Ask the customer, ask your colleagues, and ask yourself what is a ‘good customer experience?’ and you will automatically receive a myriad of answers…even from yourself. One of the popular answers will be a physical shop which has atmosphere, beautiful displays,…
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The Age of the Retail Creatives is upon us. “12 questions that will shape your visual merchandising career!”
in branding & visual communication, customer experience, customer service, customer-engagement, disruptive retail, fast fashion, ladies fashion, luxury, meaning in the retail madness, menswear, new retail, omni-channel retailing, personalisation, retail, retail brand heritage, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, sales promotions & events, space management, space planning, store experience, store layout, store operations, store theatre, telling product stories, visual merchandising, visual merchandising operations, vm compliance, vm operations, VM Selling Toolkit, windowsIt will be my great pleasure to speak at the International Display Conference this week. The 2-day event in Dublin, promises to bring together some of the brightest lights in the visual merchandising industry from all corners of the world. My subject?“12 questions that will shape your visual merchandising career!” I have been presenting on…
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We can not rely on lower inflation to bring our customers back.
Let us hope that the predictions of lower inflation and reduced interest rates have become a reality by the time you read this post. The omens are good. In the traditional cycle of things our customers regularly go through times of financial hardship and relative freedom to spend. It is just a matter of managing…
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“You Reap what you Sew!” – Do Boohoo’s woes signal the end of lazy fashion?
in accessories, branding & visual communication, ethical retailing, fast fashion, footwear, ladies fashion, meaning in the retail madness, menswear, product suppliers, pureplay, retail, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, sales promotions & events, supply-chains, sustainability“You Reap what you Sew!” – Do Boohoo’s woes signal the end of lazy fashion? Extraordinary revelations from the house of Boohoo, the extreme, low-priced, pureplay, fast-fashion retailer. Amidst falling revenues, it has decreed to its suppliers that they should accept a 10% reduction in their fees for orders that are still in production. As…
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Charity Super.Mkt: ‘Cometh the hour, cometh the people!’
in brave-words, customer experience, disruptive retail, high street planning, ladies fashion, location strategy, meaning in the retail madness, new retail, pop-up stores, recycling, renting, retail, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, retail-regeneration, sales promotions & events, supply-chains, sustainability, town centre planningFollowers of sustainable fashion cannot have avoided the opening of the first multi-charity department store, at the Brent Cross shopping centre, in North London. Ten charities are represented in the store, including Age UK, Cancer Research, Shelter and Traid. It has opened to much fanfare in a former TopShop unit and is not just remarkable…
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Keep your ‘Retail Feet’ firmly on the Ground. Physical is back with a vengeance!
in assortment structure planning, branding & visual communication, customer experience, customer service, customer-engagement, disruptive retail, high street planning, location strategy, meaning in the retail madness, new retail, omni-channel retailing, personalisation, retail, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, retail-regeneration, sales promotions & events, social savvy, store experience, store operations, store theatre, town centre planning, value retailing, website excellenceIt’s the time of year when the Christmas period sales results come in, and the assessment of winners and loses takes place. My own Top 5 conclusions… The top of Retail Week’s ‘Christmas trading 2022 league table’ has a strangely familiar feel to it, featuring the likes of JDSports, Greggs, Next, B&M, Sainsburys and Tesco.…
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Is 2024 the year when being a “Worthy Retailer” is no longer enough?
in assortment structure planning, customer experience, customer service, disruptive retail, in-store services, meaning in the retail madness, new retail, omni-channel retailing, product suppliers, recycling, renting, retail, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, sales promotions & events, space management, space planning, supply-chains, sustainabilityThere are many examples, from politics to business, where those who were at the forefront of driving change failed to benefit from the arrival of those changes. New retailers, born from the ambition to create a world of sustainable shoppers and ethical businesses, have stood out from the traditional crowd of retail alternatives. Namely the…
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Can we find hope for ethical retailing in the fallout from Black Friday?
in analytics, assortment structure planning, fashion accessories, ladies fashion, meaning in the retail madness, multi-category, omni-channel retailing, product suppliers, recycling, renting, retail, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, sales promotions & events, social savvy, supply-chains, sustainability, value retailingBlack Friday is generally recognised as the epitome of mass-market retailing, a customer celebration of huge price reductions, and the shifting of eye-watering volumes of merchandise. For retailers a big blow to margins, but the salvation before Christmas in terms of units sold, and this year an opportunity to offload unprecedented unsold, unwanted overstock to…
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Is eBay and its ‘Luxury Exchange’ the new face of sustainable ownership?
in accessories, branding & visual communication, brave-words, customer service, disruptive retail, fashion accessories, footwear, in-store services, jewellery, ladies fashion, leisure & sport, location strategy, luxury, meaning in the retail madness, new retail, omni-channel retailing, personalisation, pop-up stores, recycling, renting, retail, retail brand heritage, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, sales promotions & events, social savvy, supply-chains, sustainability, website excellence, windowsIs eBay and its ‘Luxury Exchange’ the new face of sustainable ownership? The recent initiative from eBay only to promote re-sell products for Black Friday has re-established the brand as a genuine and very significant player in the world of sustainable retailing. A market that is set to grow rapidly as a hybrid of reselling,…
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