Category: store operations
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Argos Accelerated: The Digital Dilemma of an Invisible Assortment
in assortment structure planning, customer service, disruptive retail, luxury, multi-category, omni-channel retailing, Pinterest Gallery, retail, retail businesses, retail management, retail strategy, sales promotions & events, store experience, store operations, technology & electrical, value retailing, website excellenceBetter late than never Argos, the seasoned survivor of the catalogue age, continues to catapult its perfect proposition for the omni-channel world from its pre-historic paper origins into the efficiencies of a digital dynamo The latest Argos incarnation discards not only the traditional catalogues encapsulated in plastic, its pens & pencils, its paper order forms,…
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Personally Speaking: Anthropology for the People
in branding & visual communication, customer experience, customer-engagement, fashion accessories, footwear, home, impulse retailing, in-store services, internationalisation, jewellery, menswear, multi-category, packaging, personalisation, Pinterest Gallery, product suppliers, retail, retail brand heritage, retail businesses, retail management, retail strategy, space planning, store experience, store layout, store operations, store theatre, visual merchandising, windowsBy name and now by nature, Anthropology is a retailer for the people. There may be more commercially obvious operators who adorn their assortment with monograms and a monotony of namesakes but Anthropology is carefully personalising its parchment, customising its cushions whilst maintaining its decidedly desirable approach to product design and display. See the image…
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Graphic Treatments: Whole Foods Complete Image
in branding & visual communication, customer experience, customer-engagement, food & drink, in-store services, packaging, Pinterest Gallery, retail, retail businesses, retail organisations, retail strategy, sales promotions & events, space management, space planning, store experience, store layout, store operations, store theatre, telling product stories, visual merchandisingDynamic graphic communication which is both in brand but constantly relevant and ostentatiously spontaneous is not an easy balance to achieve yet Whole Foods succeeds with style and taste, coordinating permanent navigational signage with service messages, product information with health advice, seasonal event communication and dynamic product promotions without reverting to the stale stereotypical use…
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Larger than Life: Simply Be a Physical Presence
in assortment structure planning, branding & visual communication, customer service, customer-engagement, fast fashion, footwear, health & beauty, high street planning, ladies fashion, menswear, multi-category, Pinterest Gallery, retail, retail businesses, retail organisations, retail strategy, store layout, store operations, value retailing, visual merchandisingWhilst the most successful physical brands continue to maximise online and mobile opportunities a noteworthy entrant in the opposite direction has recently opened on Oxford Street in London, announcing its serious intent to compete across all channels. Simple Be’s proposition is not just as a highly successful catalogue and online apparel operator but also as…
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Ale House Rocks: Hip-hopping impulse shopping
in accessories, assortment structure planning, branding & visual communication, customer experience, customer-engagement, fashion accessories, food & drink, health & beauty, home, impulse retailing, internationalisation, jewellery, kids fashion, multi-category, packaging, personalisation, Pinterest Gallery, retail, retail management, retail strategy, sales promotions & events, space management, space planning, store experience, store layout, store operations, store theatre, telling product stories, visual merchandisingFamous for its half-in half-out life-size plastic cows, catching by surprise the passer-by, herding them helplessly into the green pastures of impulse grazing, the power of Ale-Hop lays in its meticulously constructed category assortment. See the image board: Click below: RetailMeaning Pinterest: An inspirational showcase of brand new, retro, and vintage shop designs, visual displays &…
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How Much of your Retail Space should be Allocated to your Staff?
Retail professionals are under extreme pressure to deliver what they always have, but now in a retail landscape that is being transformed by changing customer behaviour and a migration of retail sales to e-commerce, questions that have never had to be faced before are now becoming uncomfortably relevant… I have witnessed some unseemly “scraps”…
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Does your store backroom space show you value your staff?
I’ve been visiting stores of a couple of similar retailers in terms of their sector and size of store. They have different market positions but have the commonality that customer service is very important to their proposition and ultimately their conversion and profit. Despite the market positioning differences, many elements in the store are similar…
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“The Story of the Old Shop, the New Shop & the Other Shop!”
Now the story I’m about to tell is a true story, and its a story about one of the UK’s biggest retailing businesses. They shall remain nameless as their identity is not the issue but to illustrate that improvements are always there even amongst the most seasoned operators. The retail business had in place…
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“What’s the Real Cost of Retail Store Disciplines?”
On a benchmarking tour of value retailers this week I found my initial curiosity and enthusiasm slowly but surely drained as I was repeatedly faced with dull store interiors, poor lighting, dirty shelves, torn graphics, display chaos and in some instances such a scarcity of staff that I could have used happily bedded down for a few hours…
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The 9th Joy of a Retail Spring: Delivering a VMToolkit to Control Stores
Every retailer is different, and in most cases every store is different, from the obvious variations of culture and taste in an international portfolio, the clear operational issues between directly owned stores and wholesale partners, to the more subtle challenges of different store manager personalities and store personnel attitudes. All this requires retailers to create…
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