John Lewis: ‘Out-of-sight, out-of-mind!’ Tunbridge Wells, or to be correct Royal Tunbridge Wells, is John Lewis heartland. If you were designing the perfect town for the values and qualities of the brand, the lifestyle, the demographic, the income levels, then you would create Tunbridge Wells. Tunbridge Wells had a John Lewis shop. We had a relatively new, but very well established ‘Home shop.’ The town regularly frequented it when it-
Black 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 clear the shelves for the next year’s refill. Dreaded by advocates of sustainable & circular-
In case this sounds far-fetched we should remember that eBay began life as the online equivalent of a glorified car-boot sale. We all spent time selecting our target products, planning our bid strategies, and we passed some enjoyable and exciting times counting down the auction clock and firing in our last-minute offers. Before sustainable retailing became a significant movement, and re-sell was still largely restricted to charity shops, eBay was at the-
Listen to myself, Tim Radley, on the Louise Lally podcast, discussing the much vaunted but little understood concept of ‘Experiential Retailing!’ Join the free podcast now through this link…Retailing with Meaning Ep1 Store Concepts (podbean.com) The podcast features a discussion on Next, a highly successful mid-market clothing & home brand, but not one you would usually associate with the expression ‘Experiential Retailing.’ The fact is that a great customer experience-
“An excellent read *****” “Valuable reference for anyone in retail *****” “This book is more relevant now than ever! *****” ‘Meaning in the Retail Madness’ explains how touchpoints have replaced channels, how linear supply chains will become circular, why assortments are increasingly virtual, how physical is turning to local, and why products and shops are not necessarily made for each other anymore. It supplies a blueprint for retail’s new ‘agile-
‘Pulling the purse strings not the heart strings!’ M&S shop strategy is on the money It is always sad to hear about store closures, but the plans for the M&S estate restructuring are based on ensuring its future as a vibrant retail leader, not as a desperate attempt to regain profitability. You would have to say that M&S’s latest strategy announcement is absolutely on the money. The store churn programme-
‘The Good Store’ – A product of the sustainable community For those wishing to buy sustainably the problem of finding genuine brands takes time and commitment. The Good Store is a department store in central London that has curated 600sqm of space dedicated entirely to products made from recycled materials and upcycled into attractive things to buy. The store carries a selection of sustainable products and brands across clothing, accessories,-
TK Maxx, making every customer’s visit into their luckiest day! The 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’ve been involved recently in the research for the Channel 5 documentary about TK Maxx. The interview with one of the producers made me distill why the shopping experience-
Is ‘Rental’ becoming the new ‘Must-have proposition’ for retailers struggling with customer loyalty, falling sales volumes and profits? What has been until recently a niche offering, largely restricted to luxury goods, and offered by specialist rental businesses, is now being adopted across different categories. It is certainly a growing trend, and what is most interesting is that traditional retailers are now looking more to offer rental in parallel to selling.-
IKEA: ‘A lively happening’ coming soon to a place nearby There are many interesting learnings from the opening of the new IKEA shops across the globe, not least the fact that the roll-out is happening at a pace against a back-drop of shop closures, particularly amongst established chains. There is much to digest in the location of the shops, the retail and social environments that IKEA is creating around them,-
