Stationery Mover Smiggle: Something to Write Home About

In a world once owned by big players, a movement towards personality and personalisation has swept like a new paint brush through the world of stationery, from Paperchase, to Blott and now to the up and coming from the land down under – Smiggle.

 

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Smiggle stores are density packed with colourful collections in bright bands of pink and green, encompassing everything from erasers to envelopes, from rucksacks and sticker packs.

Destination Scribble offers an eye-popping array of pens and pencils to fill the capacity of the most cavernous of pencil cases, whilst the Creative Wall features fabulous felt-tips and fibre-tips to bring colour into the life of even the most tepid teenage stationery traveller. Dynamic messages and promotions are strong and engaging with window displays to win, and internal activities and competitions galore.

After an initial foray into Stratford Westfield, Smiggle is set to roll-out to another dozen or so UK destinations. If the colourful combinations, fun atmosphere and tempting promotions take a firm foothold on the lined paper slopes of the UK market, then the writing may already be on the wall, both literally and figuratively, for some of the nation’s more complacent purveyors of pens, pencils and post-its.

Make a note of Smiggle.

 

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Are there new entrants in your sector? Are they introducing new ideas and inspiration from which you can learn and turn some of the same old proposition into something exciting and fresh?

VM-unleashed constantly monitors best practice such as Smiggle, to provide the most up to date and best practice guidance for its clients.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal: Tune in to Tiger

Tiger is not just another Rock ‘n’ Roll animal

 

Tiger is not just one of the coolest brands around, with an amazing assortment of quirky, original and beautifully designed products, but is embracing a holistic brand message through its involvement with world music.

 

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Always certain to surprise is a rich vein in the Tiger anatomy, now tapping into a selection of jazz, blues, world, classical and fusion music perfect for re-enforcing the uniqueness of this truly international brand. Roaming the world, collecting new admirers, opening stores, selling to customers of every culture, gathering inspiration, ideas and enthusiasm through colour, materials and now music.

Listen at leisure, download with pleasure , attend a Tiger concert – perfect ways to stay in tune with the most vibrant of brands.

 

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The brand played on.

Tiger Earns Its Stripes: The Cat In Search of the Cream of London

Natural survivors evolve and expand beyond their traditional habitats widening their historical distribution.

 

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Tiger, with its impulse offer and low prices, is thriving and turning up not only in secondary locations and low-rent backwaters but on some of the most expensive streets in London. After a trial in Tottenham Court Road, the Danish destination has opened its doors on Oxford Street, rubbing shoulders with value giants such as Primark and Sports Direct.

Rather than changing its spots, Tiger is earning its stripes converting the passing pedestrian in huge numbers, filling their baskets to overflowing with everything from drawing pins to rolling pins, toilet to paint brushes, dried spices to coconut ices.

But this stalker of the unsuspecting is no stranger to breaking convention, creating impulse assortment, creaming the easy sales, unburdened by the necessity to create unwieldy assortment widths, chasing choice that the modern shopper cannot cope with.

In common with cross-sector stars such as Lidl and Aldi buying narrow but buying smart is a formula that works both far and wide.

When it comes to choice there is currently only one winner in the urban jungle. Tiger takes its turn on the golden streets of London.

 

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Are you missing the easy sales, whilst chasing the hollow promise of choice?

“Gone Fishing!”: Satisfying Eddy’s Eclectic Taste!

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In one of the strongest  retail sectors in the world which has spawned such benchmark companies as Crate  & Barrel, West Elm, Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn with their precision space planning & slide rule  store presentation, there is another homeware retailer whose apparently chaotic store  environment masks an equally shrewd commercial strategy.

 

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Fish’s Eddy feeds the growing  appetite for vintage, individual cookware products as an antidote to modern mass  commercialism and product standardisation.

The company has grown from a raid on an  old china factory which offered a wonderland of sample plates, distressed and  odd pieces and unique seconds. The collection has grown with the addition of  cutlery, linens and an array of household jars, accessories and utensils.

Rather than dictate the  purchase to the customer – the number of pieces, the uniformity of the pack – Fish’s Eddy’s  store proposition is based around an eclectic “pic ‘n; mix”, an all pervasive ” mix ‘n’ match2 where the customer is free to  select across categories, styles, colours, periods, designs according to their  own whim and individual taste.

The freedom of expression is  mirrored beautifully in the vintage props and store fittings, the wonderfully  crafted messages painted lovingly on scraps of wood, or reclaimed tin signage,  and the distressed wooden store environment which provides the perfect shell for the wonders  that spill out over it, filling every surface with intrigue and  impulse.

 

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From Knightsbridge to Airbridge: Flying the Harrods Flag

Something has changed in the retail offer at Gatwick airport, South Terminal, as part of the enormous investment in the airport. Centre stage of the new development is Harrods.

 

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In the extensive store there are plenty of brands attracting the attention from Longchamps to Swarovski to DKNY but it’s the clever commercialisation of the Harrods brand that catches the eyes and opens the wallets.

Fabulous food creates the destination wall from traditional teas to tempting treats, personalised puddings to branded biscuits. The packaging steals the show building on the original green & gold into a ornate array of pastels and plums, monochrome magic to seasonal scarlets.

Centrepiece the iconic Harrods bag, blocked in the traditional hues, but also resplendent in pink for the feminine soul, and stylish in black for sophistication.

A veritable lesson in empowering an identity to travel to any destination.

 

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VM-Unleashed monitors, benchmarks and celebrates best practice to provide the most relevant and expert analysis & conclusions.

Cap in Hand: A New Era in Headwear

To be head and shoulders above a crowded category requires dominance of range and unparalleled choice.

 

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A New Era has dawned in the competitive market for souvenir and sporting caps inspired by the vast array of US sporting franchises whose merchandisers market everything from replica kits, memorabilia and the ubiquitous baseball cap.

The central London store has an urban feel with brick wall to brick wall cap displays expanding the experience from sporting team allegiance to blockbuster films, superhero insignia, city branding from across the globe to a spectrum of smartly styled caps, free from fraternity in a striking colour spectrum.

The design cleverly hides available sizes in pull-out drawers behind the displays, shaving centimetres from the store, adding category claustrophobia and an even higher intensity to an unsurpassed assortment.

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Hats off. Respect is Due.