Category Archives: Terrific Retail Insights

Picture this situation, it’s being replayed in many shopping centres and shopping strip locations including some near you. It’s a ladies clothing store, part of a multi-store operation. In the interests of confidentiality I won’t discuss weekly sales or gross margins targets but I can safely share the expected average sale of $77 and 1.7…

Here is a story to get your creative juices flowing. Retail author and UK marketing specialist Martin Butler www.martin-butler.com in his terrific book ‘The Art of Being Chosen’ tells the story of a friend of his who made a fortune in the cut-flower retail business, eventually supplying London’s largest and chicest companies. He started selling…

Here are some of the main findings from Herb Sorensen’s book ‘Inside the Mind of the Shopper’. 1. Focus on the short trip For supermarkets around the world, half of all shopping trips result in the purchase of five or fewer items, with one being the most common. These short trips typically account for one-third…

Having done more to assist Coles and Woolworths to break into pharmacy in Australia than any PR campaign the big two could ever have mounted, the Pharmacy Guild’s botched deal with Blackmores in late 2011 is having more immediate repercussions. These are likely to cause further pain well beyond pharmacy to other areas of the…

Particularly if you hail from or have spent time in the UK you will be familiar with these two iconic retail brands. You will also be aware that through complacency and arrogance at senior management level (remember for many year M&S wouldn’t accept any credit card but their own) in the late 1990s Marks and…

Check out this virtual fitting room set up in a Topshop store. Click on Virtual fitting room to view a brief video clip as customers stand in front of a screen with the entire store’s merchandise at their disposal. Is this coming to a store near you? Jurek Leon is a storyteller, trainer and coach…

Remember denim jackets, excess flannel, and when smoking while strolling through the shopping centre was the norm? For a flashback, check out this project exploring hundreds of photos of malls across America from 1989. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rumur/malls-across-america Jurek Leon is a storyteller, trainer and coach who presents courses and addresses seminars on word of mouth marketing, motivation,…

A LUSH store can break even in as little as three months. Why? Because their customers grow their business for them. Wouldn't that be great? Read this fascinating article about the continued success of Lush in tough times then answer the questions posed by Jeanne Bliss at her blog on the Lessons from Lush. Jurek…

I have four young grandchildren who are the light of my life. Aged from 3 to 9 they all love coming to Granny and Grandad’s house, playing games, baking in the kitchen, spending hours exhausting us in the swimming pool – “Look at me Grandad” – and being read stores. Yes, I am thrilled that…

How often do you hear retailers saying, ‘Christmas is starting later for us every year’? It happened again last year, didn’t it? “No wonder. It’s because there has been a breakdown in trust”, says retail observer Martin Butler author of, ‘The Art of Being Chosen – Secrets of success from the giants of retail’. He…