How good would that be? Actually you have one of those already…  Meet the silent salesman that works (maybe) at every newsagent for free: Mr Merchandise. In some retailers, Mr Merchandise sits around all day – but not intentio...

If sales are slow, how do you respond? The favoured ‘marketing’ tactic of all retailers is discounting; and that includes top-end brands. I can say this without fear of contradiction. Consultants often suggest that this is a short-t...

When we all sing the happy birthday song ‘for he is a jolly good fellow’ – we all…well, sing along. If that sounds like I’m stating the bleeding obvious, then it is because I am. There is tremendous peer pressure t...

Business is simple. The process is clear and hasn’t changed for a long time – if ever. But business is hard too. Or maybe we are just stupid - it seems that we have to keep learning the same lessons over and over.     ...

I have this mental image that people who have been brainwashed have these pristine, unblemished and lily-white brains. And the contrarians and thinkers and entrepreneurs out there have dirty minds; brain-UNwashed, so to speak. Since my job involve...

Here is a list of 15 more-or-less useful retail facts: 1. People spend 2.3 seconds on in-store brand decisions. 2. Just over 90% of shoppers make unplanned purchases. 3. Shopping list use is up substantially (65% say they use one). 4. Gen...

A contrarian observation this week: Tom Peters posted a short video on the Problem with Perfection (1min, worth watching.) (Now we have long taught service personnel who do our Customer Service training that it is impossible to exceed expectati...

Not sure if you noticed that there was no RetailSmart post last week. My guess is not. Nobody called to enquire simply because the ideas, insights, opinions expressed in this blog, whilst hopefully informative and maybe even entertaining, do not f...

The title is a quote by Etienne Hajdu, and it reflects his view on sculpting. Retail too, is an art, and we are inclined to forget that sometimes. Sometimes it is what is NOT there that makes a retail experience memorable. In fact maybe, as allude...

On a consulting assignment recently, I was introduced to Kikki. This is just a little list of life lessons that one of the part-timers at a jewellery store stuck on to the wall in the office – and updated with little lessons learned; or R...

A female begins fascinating a male by smiling at him, raising her eyebrows to make her eyes appear more child-like, quickly lowering her eyelids while tucking her chin down in an effort to bring him closer. After averting her gaze, she will almost in...

Marketing consultants will tell you that meeting your customers’ needs is the most important thing. HR consultants will tell you your people (employees) are the most important resource, and you should figure out what they want. In my view...

Are there hidden messages in advertising? Did the movie patrons really buy more popcorn when the cinema operator slipped a secret message into every 16th frame? Consumers are paranoid about being manipulated and no evidence exists to suggest that su...

Do you get it? It spells CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. The difference is that in the headline it is Customer Experience by Accident – and the right way, the way we expect it, is Customer Experience by Design. · Do you understand the differ...

Some things just happen. Pockets for instance. Let’s take the kind I am most familiar with: men’s pants pockets. Are your pockets too short? If you do stick your hand in your pocket, chances are that you will find that it is just right...