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…)

A recent article in Retail World was promoted on Debra Templar’s blog recently.

It looked at the 8 trends of shop fitting, a subject that is not addressed that often.

I found this an excellent read. If you are interested in following these trends than check it out:

http://www.insideretailing.com.au/Latest/tabid/53/ID/8047/Eight-trends-of-shopfitting.aspx

No I am not being rude, I am being serious.

One of the trends that is occurring this year is marketing promotions being based around fairies. The reason for this is escapism, the consumer is looking for an escape from the doom and gloom they see around them. So why not play with the fairies?

In the USA the Literacy Foundation are promoting librarians to dress up as fairies and become hero story tellers.

Fairy tale books are on the increase as well as fairy art. According to the Trend Hunter (www.trendhunmter.com) fairies are one of the hot trends for 2010. Nostalgia and escapism are a trend we need to be aware of.

So it is time to play with the fairies.

Peter Brass of Evandale Nurseries, Invercargill, New Zealand was quoted in Commercial Horticulture magazine this week (April/May edition) as saying that supermarkets in New Zealand are recording a 10% drop in fruit and vegetable sales as consumers are now growing their own.

Peter is a seedling raiser and is finding that 70% of sales are vegetables and 30% are flowering seedlings, a complete turnaround from a few years ago.

Although I can understand the drop in sales, I believe it is a combination of things. Farmers markets, G.I.Y and boutique retailers such as Nosh in Auckland.

This trend will continue as more consumers see the value of local produce and we will also see a back lash from the supermarkets.