nickshanagher

Last weekend I spent some time discussing business with 10 local retailers from all parts of the UK. Their message was that sales are tough.  Probing further, they were saying that they were trading 10 per cent down year-on-year, on average. What were they doing about this? They were out in the market looking for new ideas, things that would work for their shops. However, many accept that progress will take some time. One shopkeeper told me how she could see her customers counting out how much money they had to spend before coming into her shop. While this was depressing, she is looking for ways to get them spending more. Yesterday, talking to wholesalers I heard them saying that sales were flat. While everyone in public wants to talk up how well they are going, they admit that many of their customers, the retailers are struggling. At the same time, across London, Tesco's new UK head was busy talking up how his company is performing. Christmas sales will be the best ever, he ...

At some time in the 1990s retail marketing decided that the experience shoppers had in-store helped determine how satisfied they were with the goods that they bought. Put simply, this means that they distiniguish between the bottle of Coke they buy in Asda and the bottle of Coke they buy from you. While the product is identical, it is likely shoppers will value one more. The response to this was to invest in in-store theatre, where the products could be included in a sympathetic environment. Quite quickly shoppers reacted to this and negatively. The reason that shoppers no longer rationally evaluated value was because there were simply too many products to compare. Adding theatre made the shopping experience even more difficult. However, you have to know which market you are in. Here are policy statements from two stores at the polar opposites of the in-store theatre debate. Target: "We design our stores to be easy and intuitive to shop, with related departments placed next ...

As the Liberal Democrats are meeting in Bournemouth, it is worth looking at the thoughts the party has put into its Are We Being Served? policy paper, which covers services from local shops as well as from government, supermarkets and utilities. The party's thinkers outline five visions: a fair marketplace; responsiveness; informed choices; consumer protection; and effective redress. Change, the party says, has hit hardest people who are old, who are in poverty or who live on benefits. People without education are being excluded from markets. The policy paper is about ensuring that most people are able to buy what they want easily, efficiently and on fair terms. It looks at food labelling in particular, saying the party wants it to state the country of origin and not of manufacture, that it wants on system of labelling for nuitrition advice and so on. And the paper also suggests that there should be a compulsory "local competition" test for all planning applications for n...