Blog Entries for Retail Trends

How cost shortcuts can damage brand reputations

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:49:31 +0100

There is always the temptation by brand owners to improve profit by lowering quality whilst maintaining price.

Moving to a lower cost factory or country of production, decreasing the pack size or lowering packaging or product quality all consume much meeting time and generate much angst as brand owners are put under pressure by the [...]

Be bodacious with your mistakes

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Sun, 26 May 2013 22:24:04 +0100

Massive visual repetition is a boon when you need to sell a lot of discounted stock fast, but it should also be part of your everyday merchandising DNA.

There’s an old adage in retail that you ‘sell your mistakes’. What it means is that the first time you place a 20 ‘outer’ order, but put the 20 in the ‘case’ box on the order fo [...]

Borders disappear, opportunities appear

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:00:00 +0100

This sometimes throws up similar issues and opportunities, but in very different geographies.

I spent some time with my CEO counterpart from CROSSMARK Canada, Chris Terio last week. We were talking about the similarities in the mining boom driving the strength of the Australian and Canadian economies, the fact that both [...]

Why lower prices are ultimately in our hands

eschmidl@hotmail.com — Sun, 05 May 2013 23:28:06 +0100

This week, the long-running debate about why Australia has some of the highest retail prices in the world surfaced again. And in a much more prominent and mainstream manner, with The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and AFR all leading with front-page comparisons of prices for international brands here and around the world.

Thes [...]

At what cost? Why IT pricing differentials can make sense

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 22:47:27 +0100

There is a lot written about the difference in the price of software, hardware and online services between here and the US. IT companies, Apple and Microsoft included, come in for a pretty hard time from many IT journalists, rightly or wrongly.

Compared to the price differentials of Harley Davidson and Mercedes-Benz between here and t [...]

Why JB Hi-Fi keeps defying analysts' predictions

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:22:07 +0100

I was in Melbourne on business last week so took the time to catch up with my stockbroker, Charlie. Good bloke Charlie, known him for more than a decade.

We always talk about retail shares and what's happening in retail here and in the rest of the world.

I presented at a retail conference in the middle of 2012, when JB [...]

Gear changes in the road race of retailing

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 23:38:28 +0100

Retailing is a fast-paced, day-to-day business; a very different environment to the longer time frames enjoyed in manufacturing and distribution.

Grocery retailing can be considered to be the F1 or Indy of retailing because it combines the sales of all of its suppliers' products. Rain, snow, a catalogue drop or an offer-driven televi [...]

The new wave of retailers leaving the GFC blues behind

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 23:21:05 +0100

The latest buoyant ABS retail sales stats support the reported lift in Westfield's top line mall sales.

Stronger half-year results from most of our publicly-listed retailers, positive announcements from the unlisted multinational retailers like Costco and ALDI, as well as anecdotes from small, independently owned retailers acr [...]

Why retail home brands aren’t the devil

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 23:23:25 +0100

The issue of retail own brands came to the fore again over the past week across a number of retail sectors and geographies with the release of half year results.

Myer reported a great result in tough conditions, based in no small part on investment in the retailer’s own brands.

In Myer’s case, by providing high-value fashion-forward brands that the regular Myer shoppers love.

David Jones on the other hand fell over the finish line with correspondingly less of an inv [...]

Farmers' markets and winemakers: New ways of creating profitability in today's market

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 21:40:58 +0100

I've previously written about the rise of farmers' markets in the US, and the urbanisation and corporatisation of them in stores like US Whole Foods and Australia's Thomas Dux. These farmers' market-style stores are places where shoppers want to go to be as close to the produce, and sometimes the producers, as possible.

I'm talking about stores where shoppers are willing to pay more for better or smaller runs of high-quality items. Organic beans and handcrafted beer, individually g [...]

After four years of change we need new ways to reward store associates

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 22:36:10 +0100

I spent part of last week with senior buyers and CEOs of retailers in the mass merchant and specialty retail sectors. It was interesting seeing the guarded optimism the group had for the year ahead.

After four years of challenging change, retailers' internal costs are under control. External supplier negotiations and direct sourcing has lowered shelf prices so that they are globally competitive without eroding margins to unsustainable levels. Store volumes and footfall is pretty he [...]

Google's move into retail

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 22:23:01 +0100

Last week's blog was the final instalment in my three-part series on the Retail Trifecta. It talked about investing in store associates to create a great experience for shoppers, so that they increase their dwell time and the amount they spend in store.

I made the important point that store associates, and the service they provide to shoppers, are the key point of difference between the traditional retailer and pure online retailers. So why on earth, if the rumours are true, is Goo [...]

The retail trifecta, part 3: People make the difference

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 22:28:41 +0100

The third winning ticket in the Retail Trifecta is people: the passionate, knowledgeable and service-centric professionals who work in retail stores.

I know we all have stories of retail associates who aren't all, or any, of those three things, but store associates' performance is a direct result of the training, reward and recognition given to them by the retailer and owners of the brands that associates sell in store. Good service and high sales aren't a function of good luck or [...]

The retail trifecta, Part 2: Great store layouts

eschmidl@hotmail.com — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 22:38:41 +0100

The second part in my three part series on the Retail Trifecta is the creation of great store layouts: destinations that shoppers want to go to, dwell too long in and return to. Environments that are so good, shoppers tell their friends about them.

This is the part of the mix that has created some of the most amazing, and enduring, shopping environments in the history of retail. If you've ever walked parts of Paris, London, The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul or just really interesting fa [...]

Creating the perfect store: Getting the back-end right

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 22:12:42 +0100

This week we look at the first of the three elements that create the Retail Trifecta: Point of sale and back office systems. What I discuss below is collected from the successful retail trends we are seeing around the world right now. They are each contributing to the creation of the "Perfect Store," whether it be a high street or mall store that shoppers loves to shop day or night.

Point of sale and back office systems, whilst not seen as exciting by the buying office or marketing [...]

The perfect store: Harnessing the winds of shopper change, Part 1

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 22:12:13 +0100

Some of SmartCompany's readers, and attendees at conferences I have spoken at, will be familiar with my 'Retail Trifecta', a concept I published here at SmartCompany back in August 2010.

The three aligned areas, done well, create a multiplying effect which delivers a great shopping experience, and leads to happier shoppers who spend money and want to return, as well as generating positive word of mouth.

Over the past several weeks, we've seen reports of new US and European [...]

2013: The year Australia's independent regional retailers embrace online

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 14:00:00 +0100

Whilst our major Australian retailers have moved swiftly from Christmas, through New Year's sales and now into Back to School marketing mode, it's the independent discretionary retailers spread out across regional and rural Australia that benefit too from our long break.

From the Riverina in NSW, Margaret River in WA, the rivers and lakes of Victoria, and in every coastal town along Highway 1 right around our big brown land, small independent retailers thrive at this time of the ye [...]

What's in store for retail in 2013?

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 23:14:43 +0100

At the end of each year I write to the top 20 CEOs and leaders in the CROSSMARK client base. I've been doing it for almost a decade.

In my message, I recap on the prediction I made for the year just finishing and predict a key area that will absorb the minds of retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers in the year ahead. Importantly, the people who receive the note – retailers, manufacturers and distributors of goods sold via retail – lead the largest sector of workers in A [...]

A six-month update on the refurbishment of US retail icon JC Penney

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 00:36:18 +0100

It's six months since I was last in a JC Penney, or "jcp", store in the US. When I was there last week I wanted to see if there was any discernible change at store level another six months into the calm transition that Ron Johnson, former architect of Apple's retail store strategy, and his top team at jcp are driving.

One of the great things about flying into and out of the same city on a six or 12 monthly basis is the ability to see step change. You can tell if a city's economy is [...]

Retail-friendly local government policy

kmoore@startupsmart.com.au — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 14:00:00 +0100

One of the key issues facing bricks and mortar retailers is the question of how to get you in-store when products are often sold online at better prices and can be delivered straight to your door.

Some store owners are applying the “retail trifecta”, which includes creating great store environments, having well-trained store staff and using effective point of sale systems (POS)/back office systems (BOS) to personalise a customers’ shopping trip, giving them a unique experience.

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