nickshanagher

This is from a book store chain in London. This is to a mall next to a tube station. This is high end food store looking through the entrance. And this is multiple grocer marketing. Takes your pick for inspiration.

Where do independent retail stores shine? Wholesalers know that their customers do well in troubled, lower income neighbourhoods but they don't tend to share this knowledge widely. Evidence of this is rarely published but some interesting numbers emerge in an FT article on up-market US grocer Whole Foods plans for a store in Englewood, a poor Chicago suburb. City analysts agonise at whether Whole Foods can go down market. But consultant Mari Gallagher shows the potential gap. Of the 87 stores in Englewood that accept food stamps, 85 are "liquor, dollar or convenience stores that specialise in candy and soda." A spokesman for Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel says it is investing $10m in subsidies for this Whole Foods store because some communities "have been ignored by companies that want to expand." There is plenty going on in this story for independent operators in poorer areas to think about: Are you close enough ...

Walter Robb, co-CEO of Whole Foods, provides good insight into its success secrets in an interview with Fortune, just published, that retailers should read. In a company with 78,000 staff members, it says voluntary staff turnover is 9 per cent compared to an industry average of 100 per cent plus. At departmental manager level it is 3 per cent. What makes this possible? "Everyone belongs to a team. Labour is a fixed cost not a variable cost. If a team can generate revenue that exceeds a budgeted margin between the revenue and the labour cost, they share in the gain. Every 30 days it is in their paycheck. If they build sales or save costs, the productivity they create is shared with them. On average in the last year it was over $1 an hour in their paychecks from gain sharing, which they created through their own efforts," Robb told Fortune's Geoff Colvin. There is an important principle in here that you can use in your business. You need to operate with discipline ...