New Retail Blog | Insights and inspiration for the New Retail world

Great Expectations: the Customer Service Conundrum

Posted on 26. Feb, 2013 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet Cosmetics king Napoleon Perdis voiced the frustration of many shoppers last week when he warned Australian department stores to increase their staffing levels and training “so that customers feel there is a reason to go into them”. Quoted in the Fairfax press, Perdis urged DJ’s and Myer to “bite the bullet” or pay the [...]

“Software eats retail.” Or does it?

Posted on 19. Feb, 2013 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet A fascinating argument has played out over the web in the last few days*. In the red corner, predicting the “absolute death of traditional retail”, Marc Andreessen, Silicon Valley investor and founder of Netscape. In the blue corner, contending that bricks-and-mortar still has its place, Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and regarded by many [...]

Lessons in “Real-tail” from Warby Parker

Posted on 11. Feb, 2013 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet Who or what is a Warby Parker? Those two words were all the buzz at January’s National Retail Federation “Big Show” in New York, attended by over 27,000 retail passionates from all over the globe. While the name sounds like a rare breed of goose, or an effete English art college major*, Warby Parker [...]

An “Only in America” Retail Experience

Posted on 05. Feb, 2013 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet More than just a “Wow” factor, Cabela’s has what Bob Thorn* once memorably termed the “O.F.F.” – the Oh F*** Factor. Walk into one of the “world’s foremost outfitter’s” 40 megastores across the US and Canada and your reaction is likely to be just that – “Oh F***” – for a number of reasons. [...]

8 Ways to Charm the Snake in 2013

Posted on 07. Jan, 2013 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet The Chinese have got it right. 2013 is the Year of the Snake, and strangely enough, the characteristics of the Snake are close to the customer type that retailers are facing now and in the near future. According to chinesezodiac.com, “Snakes are extremely analytical…they are effective at getting the things they want, even if [...]

The Globalisation of Black Friday

Posted on 07. Dec, 2012 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet This is the year when the tipping point in the globalisation of retail has been reached. This is the year when a uniquely American shopping event has caught the imagination of the world. I’m referring to Black Friday and its online counterpart Cyber Monday. On the fourth Thursday in November, Americans stuff themselves with [...]

The Digital Divide

Posted on 04. Dec, 2012 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet A pair of giggling Japanese twenty-somethings pose in front of a virtual mirror in the strangely but aptly named “Humor Shop” in a Tokyo mall. They try on clothes and instantly upload the looks to social media sites, seeking comments from friends and family before purchasing. To my eyes, the scene couldn’t be more [...]

How FOMO fed the Frenzy

Posted on 27. Nov, 2012 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet For all the detractors of the Click Frenzy online shopping event (the Twitter hashtag #clickfail pretty much sums it up), I thought the sale provided some fascinating insights into how to motivate customers. In a world where we all have too much stuff, why did so many shoppers race to be part of the [...]

Christmas With a Warm Heart & a Conscience

Posted on 20. Nov, 2012 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet Perhaps it’s a natural response to the cold Northern Hemisphere winter, but once again this year, UK retailers have created campaigns to melt hearts. Department store John Lewis has just released its annual Christmas blockbuster TV commercial, reputed to have cost A$9 million. Everything about this 90-second spot says “big event”, and it’s really [...]

It’s a Price Match Christmas

Posted on 13. Nov, 2012 by Jon Bird.

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Tweet It’s shaping up as the mother of all battles for the Father Christmas dollar in the US this year between offline and online retailers. As pure-play e-commerce businesses like Amazon steal both share and shoppers, bricks-and-mortar stores are giving their all in return (literally). And in a globalised retail environment, it will be fascinating [...]