A lot has been written of late about the power of the social network and how it can be used by retailers to grow sales. I am a believer that this will be the marketing tool of the future, but we should not forget that how the merchandise story is to put together in store is still the most important way of convincing the consumer to purchase.

The way you merchandise and display has a large impact on the return on floor space in your store. The challenge is what can you do to make your displays stand out from the crowd?

Take a walk down any main street shopping area and you will walk passed some displays and not even notice what they have on offer and then you will stop at others and go WOW. Your job is to build those WOW displays that make the consumer stop and stare and then feel they must purchase the product on offer. (more…)

One of the lessons I learned a long time ago is that to be successful we need to monitor what is happening in other retail sectors before we can understand what is happening in our own retail sector. We can then implement new ideas in our own business.

A recent report on the book retail industry in the USA illustrated this to me yet again.

The book industry was traditionally a sector that was dominated by independent retailers, but that has now changed. The chain sector has around 21% of the market in the USA and independent retailers have about the same percentage. Big Box stores have approximately 10%, Book Clubs 10% and on-line retailers 20%.

This is a market sector that has moved to a situation where there is no dominant retail outlet, but has seen a major change in the distribution channels over recent years. The independent retailers now have to try harder to get a slice of the action. (more…)

Consumers come to the markets for the experience, not just the product. We often forget that the consumer is looking for an experience as well as fresh produce.

There are various ways a market can build on the experience. It can come via introducing celebrity chefs, street entertainment or personalities on the stalls.

One way to create theatre that is often forgotten is via signage. Over recent weeks I’ve had the opportunity to visit markets in Australia, Canada, USA and Malaysia. The produce may differ, but the use of signage is still the same.

Some stallholders take a piece of cardboard and scribble the price on the board. This is probably better than no sing at all. But, it is not creating value. It also assumes the consumer knows the difference between a durian and a jackfruit, or a lychee and a langosteen.

Other growers realize they can build value, by creating theatre via their signage. There are some basic rules that need to be adhered to. (more…)