Wrigley's new expensive chewing gum has hit the UK and as it is summer holiday time I was in the company of a big group of teenagers yesterday who were all raving about the gum and its 97p price point. "The flavour really lasts longer," one teenager assured me as his pals looked on in agreement. Who am I to argue? In store last week, my five-year-old was looking for batteries for his torch and picked up a packet of gum suggesting these could be batteries. I mentioned this and the teenagers said the packaging was really cool. If you had asked me last week, the UK chewing gum market seemed pretty crowded before this launch. If you asked me today, I would say the manufacturer has found a niche. My advice to local shopkeepers is to support everything launched by a major manufacturer (provided it fits your store profile) as you have nothing to lose.
True in part to my New Year resolution, I held a business meeting in an independent coffee shop today just next door to a Starbucks. The cafe was presented well and four staff were busy preparing for the lunchtime rush, at 11am. As my guests were late, I had a half hour overview of footfall on the street outside and in the restaurant. Six customers. Barely enough to form the queue in Starbucks or Pret-a-Manger just down the road. Plus one Italian girl who dropped off her CV. Some people stopped to look at the posters in the window and moved on. The owners seemed quite happy. When I left just after 1215, they were doing brisk trade. However, I have the impression that the business is not working hard enough. It could easily have managed 120 customers between 11 and 12, instead of 12. This is lost profit as the fixed overheads and staff costs are already in place. The owners are clearly busy - perhaps too busy to take time to look at the potential that their cafe has. What shou...
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