Justin Timberlake & Target Team Up

Posted on 13. Aug, 2010 by Matt Newell.

Target US continues to roll out its successful celebrity designer collaborations with the announcement that Justin Timberlake will be launching an exclusive range for Target via his fashion label ‘William Rast’. This is key to Taget’s Christmas 2010 strategy and will be available for the month of December only.

The Man In The Desert Story

Posted on 27. May, 2010 by Jon Bird.

A man walks in to an oasis after being lost for days in the desert. He’s desperate for a drink, so what do you do? You give him a glass of water, of course. But if that’s all you provide, you may be doing both the parched soul and yourself a disservice. Perhaps what he [...]

Merci Indeed

Posted on 17. Feb, 2010 by Jon Bird.

Think “charity store” and you conjure up a small, overstocked, slightly dusty shop full of clothes and knick knacks of sometimes questionable taste, staffed by well-meaning volunteers with blue-rinse hairdos. Yes, sometimes you can pick up something really special, but you’ve got to search through a lot of haystacks to find that bright, shiny needle.
So [...]

Conversations with Customers

Posted on 15. Feb, 2010 by Jon Bird.

“The future”, as William Gibson once said, “is already here. It’s just not evenly distributed.” So when I say that the future belongs to retailers who can successfully engage in one-on-one “conversations with customers”, you can already see the trend happening, but it’s not as widespread as it could be.
One retailer who is ahead of [...]

Licking the Windows

Posted on 27. Jan, 2010 by Jon Bird.

They call it “leche-vitrine”, or literally “licking the windows”. The phrase is highly appropriate for the huge number of exquisite and tantalising patisseries, confiseries and chocolatiers in Paris. While on a recent trip to the French capital, one shop in particular had my tongue hanging out – La Cure Gourmande (translates roughly as the “cure” [...]

“Retail is for Suckers”

Posted on 26. Jan, 2010 by Jon Bird.

Fans of the legendary US sitcom Seinfeld might remember the episode called “The Glasses”, where Kramer encourages George to visit a particular optometrist and mention his name in order to get 30% off. “Retail is for suckers”, says Kramer. Unfortunately for merchants wanting to protect their margins, there aren’t that many “suckers” left.
Yes, consumers have [...]

The Hermès Brand Experience

Posted on 08. Jan, 2010 by Martin Osborne.

The Hermès brand, with its equestrian origin has greatly evolved since 1837 to become a statement of luxury. This prompted me to research the evolution of this iconic brand, from bridle to Pop-up Bar, in search of the essence of this unique brand experience.
Hermès first excited me in the early 1990’s when I had the [...]

Retail Aroma Therapy

Posted on 07. Jan, 2010 by Martin Osborne.

There has been an awareness around using “scent” or “aroma” for marketing purposes since the 1960’s, interest in this market sector has rapidly increased in the new millennium. Brand futurist Martin Lindstrom says as little as 50 years ago buying groceries was an experience that thoroughly stimulated all of the senses. Householders traipsed through the [...]

“New” Retail for a New Decade

Posted on 13. Dec, 2009 by Jon Bird.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve discussed some of the influences that will affect retail in the coming decade:

Considered Consumption – consumers thinking more carefully about every shopping trip and considering not only whether they actually need a particular item, but also the social and environmental consequences of that purchase (and the purchase process itself).
Brand [...]

Battle of the Heavyweights

Posted on 06. Dec, 2009 by Jon Bird.

Last week, three-time world champion Australian boxer Danny Green destroyed icon Roy Jones Jr. in just one round to take the IBO cruiserweight title. Meanwhile, in the US, a fascinating fight of a different kind is taking place between the undisputed discount department store champion Walmart, and the upstart web powerhouse Amazon. The tussle is [...]