Category: new retail
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VivoBarefoot – Walking back to happiness
in assortment structure planning, branding & visual communication, circular retailing, customer experience, customer-engagement, disruptive retail, ethical retailing, footwear, health & beauty, leisure & sport, meaning in the retail madness, new retail, re-sell, repair, retail, retail brand heritage, retail businesses, retail strategy, shop of the future, sustainability, telling product storiesThe lessons for us all: “Sometimes the biggest opportunities to innovate can be found with the products right under our nose.” Ironic coincidence, or the result of decades of involvement in one of the most famous footwear dynasties in the world, VivoBarefoot is a revolution in footwear, and the brainchild of 2 members of the…
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A healthier & fairer society will be built through grassroots innovations, led by a younger generation with a heightened moral & cultural responsibility for the world around them.
I was fortunate enough to attend the recent RSA Patron’s Lecture “Why Social Capital matters” presented by political scientist, Robert D. Putnam. Social Capital is defined as “the networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling that society to run effectively,’ and the foundation of the discussion was a…
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Vans West End: Owning & creating a customer destination
in branding & visual communication, customer experience, customer-engagement, disruptive retail, footwear, in-store services, internationalisation, leisure & sport, location strategy, new retail, product development, retail, retail brand heritage, retail businesses, retail strategy, shop of the future, space management, space planning, store experience, store layout, store theatre, visual merchandisingThe brave & extraordinary Vans West End is a shop, a skate-park, an exhibition and a concert venue. Within this complexity it has a simple message for retail brands. “Customer community & loyalty must come through more than just selling product. It must come through ‘owning’ something which is central and essential to your customer…
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To achieve the ‘Healthier Planet’ we crave, will we all need to suffer an ‘Unhealthier Economy?’
in disruptive retail, ethical retailing, fast fashion, high street planning, ladies fashion, meaning in the retail madness, new retail, pre-loved, product suppliers, re-sell, recycling, retail, retail businesses, retail organisations, retail strategy, secondhand, supply-chains, sustainability, town centre planningSustainability must mean less consumption. But should we be very careful about what we wish for? The results from Primark for the recent period, including the ‘golden quarter of Christmas, show a 6% slump in like-for-like sales in the UK. Primark has explained that this has been caused by fragile customer confidence and the wider…
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2025: A year to safeguard your trust and keep your customers safe.
in assortment structure planning, branding & visual communication, brave-words, customer experience, customer service, customer-engagement, ethical retailing, food & drink, health & beauty, high street planning, in-store services, leisure & sport, location strategy, meaning in the retail madness, new retail, personalisation, retail, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, shop of the future, store experienceJanuary is not many people’s favourite month of the year, unless you work for a credit card business, I guess. But the start to 2025 has been a particularly bad one, with horrendous fires in Los Angeles and Ghana, and our own problems with flooding and storms closer to home. Of course, there are always…
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Søstrene Grene: Sisters delightfully doing it for themselves!
in accessories, assortment structure planning, branding & visual communication, customer experience, customer-engagement, fashion accessories, health & beauty, home, impulse retailing, internationalisation, jewellery, multi-category, new retail, packaging, Pinterest Gallery, retail, retail brand heritage, retail businesses, retail strategy, sales promotions & events, space management, space planning, store experience, store layout, store operations, store theatre, sustainability, telling product stories, value retailing, visual merchandising, visual merchandising operationsSøstrene Grene simply means the Grene sisters, in Danish. However, when it comes to this wonderful retailer of everything from spices to pencils, candles to cardigans, that is the only thing which is simple or ordinary. As they say, this is a delightfully different store! The brand paints a picture of two sisters, Anna &…
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How can a truly sustainable brand embrace the concept of growth?
As with all things sustainable the answer is often complex and multi-layered. This question is no exception. Just like many consumers I’ve sifted through all the general data and detailed product specifications to try to work out how sustainable a brand, or a individual item actually is. How much damage am I doing to the…
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Swimming with the current: Gymshark’s coffee conversations
As you may already be aware I am a huge fan of Gymshark, the gym wear producer and retailer. There are so many things to learn from the rags to riches business that began in a garage 10 years ago and is now valued at over $1 billion. I’ve been following their press during their…
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Is Responsibility more Natural to Customers than Sustainability?
Getting the message across to customers about sustainability is a challenge. Not only is it one of those words that can mean many things to many people, but it often involves technical data and scientific concepts, and is a nightmare to assess with its veils of spurious marketing claims and dubious transparency. So whilst many…
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How and where to invest in the circular supply chain
in assortment structure planning, branding & visual communication, customer-engagement, disruptive retail, ethical retailing, fast fashion, meaning in the retail madness, new retail, pre-loved, preorder, product suppliers, pureplay, re-sell, recycling, renting, retail, retail businesses, retail management, retail organisations, retail strategy, secondhand, sustainabilityGreater than the disruptive markets we operate in, is the disrupted world that we live in. Time has long passed, from when a sustainable initiative was not much more than a smart marketing strategy. Sustainability has now irreversibly developed into something essential to establish commercial traction with many customers. Responsibility for sustainability has also shifted,…
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