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

What’s Your Reputation Worth?

Posted on 12. May, 2010 by Jon Bird.

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em>“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it”. So said Benjamin Franklin and he was right, up to a point (refer Tiger Woods!) For retailers, it certainly takes a long time, and consistent performance, to build a good reputation for your brand, but once constructed, [...]

Blurring the Lines Between Online and Offline

Posted on 04. May, 2010 by Jon Bird.

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There used to be a clear dividing line between the offline and online worlds. Bricks and mortar retail and virtual technologies respectfully kept their distances, operating in their own discrete spaces. But just as the gap between “above-the-line” and “below-the-line” marketing communications has dissolved, the divide between reality and its digital equivalent is disappearing at [...]

What’s Next? The iCat?

Posted on 28. Apr, 2010 by Jon Bird.

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The traditional paper-based catalogue is not destined for the dustbin of history just yet, but it just might be about to be recycled into some fascinating new forms.
This week Lasoo.com.au, Salmat’s online “pre-shopping” catalogue service, became the first Australian site to launch an application for Apple’s new iPad. The iPad, of course, is Apple’s next [...]

A Convenient Truth

Posted on 20. Apr, 2010 by Jon Bird.

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In an age where you can purchase just about anything at any time with a mouse click and have it delivered to your door, how are physical retailers retaliating? Some US merchants think they may have found the answer with the drive-through store. Wal-Mart, Kmart and Meijer are all testing the new format in the [...]

Plain English Strategy

Posted on 14. Apr, 2010 by Jon Bird.

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In 19th Century England, lawyers were paid not by the hour, but by the written word. This must be the reason for the impenetrable verbosity of the legal agreements we have today. You can’t blame the legal eagles of old though - I’m sure that if you got remunerated for every word you write, you’d [...]

Skin in the Game

Posted on 31. Mar, 2010 by Jon Bird.

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The first rule of retail marketing is “focus on the customer”, right? Well, John Lewis, Britain’s favourite department store, begs to differ. As an article in The Guardian newspaper reported recently, John Lewis’ philosophy runs contrary to conventional marketing wisdom: “look after the partners and the partners look after the customers, who look after the [...]

The Ten Foot Rule

Posted on 17. Mar, 2010 by Jon Bird.

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Sam Walton, eponymous founder of the world’s biggest retailer, Walmart, spent his life practicing what he called “the ten-foot rule”. The rule is simple: if you come within 10 feet (about 3 metres) of a customer, look him or her in the eye, smile and ask if you can help. On store visits, Walton would [...]

Christmas in March

Posted on 15. Mar, 2010 by Jon Bird.

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Phew! We’ve just survived holiday trading, slogged through that horrible month of February when consumers are strapped for cash and their Chrissie credit card bills arrive, and finally we’re into the “regular” months of retail for the year. So please, can we just forget about Christmas for a minute? Well, no you can’t. Not if [...]

Fighting for Shelf Space in the Customer’s Mind

Posted on 28. Feb, 2010 by Jon Bird.

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Imagine the customer’s mind as a crowded supermarket shelf. Where does your retail brand sit? Are you front and centre? Do you take pride of place at eye level? Are you next to the market-leading brand? Or are you an also-ran, relegated to a dusty spot near the floor?
This is one way to think about [...]

Merci Indeed

Posted on 17. Feb, 2010 by Jon Bird.

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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 [...]