Found: An enterprising retailer
Last week, I wrote about the views of one supplier that few newsagents or convenience store retailers were prepared to put the effort into sourcing new products and promoting them to their shoppers….
Independent Achievement
My company runs an annual programme for independent retailers called the Independent Achievers Academy (IAA) that encourages them to do a better job for their customers. Last week, we launched the 2010 programme…
Two ideas from Sir Terry
Local shops need to benchmark their business on how they can do better than Tesco. Of Fortune Magazine’s top 500 companies the number one company was Wal-Mart which had just under 1 billion…
Independent shops must confront facts
If you are reading this blog, ask yourself if this kind of thinking could affect you. Ask yourself how good your shop is. Be honest. Earlier this month, I visited 10 newspaper sellers…
The difference between an also ran and a winner
This week the Independent Achievers Academy 2010 has been launched with the Guide to Better Sales & Profit being distributed with Retail Newsagent. As the front cover states there are ’46 great ideas…
Could you be a retail star?
Shopkeepers may learn good lessons from other shopkeepers who sell completely different ranges. A reason for this is that you are all competing for the attention of customers and today there is an…
McDonald’s reaps marketing rewards – so can you
Six out of 10 McDonald’s outlets in the UK are run by franchise owners, each of whom contributes 4.5% of sales to the group’s marketing budget. This may be a useful benchmark for…
Find your market position and stick to it
“Asda is very one-dimensional. They have only got price in their golf bag. They are a one-club golfer”, says Greg Lawless, a City consultant talking to the FT about Andy Bond’s decision to…
Cadbury’s café gives indies a new benchmark
The news that Cadbury is to open café style shops in the UK is further evidence of the strength of the food-to-go market. Reports suggest that the plans were already advanced before Kenco…
Advertising: We’re off to a flyer!
We discovered that getting our message out to our customers has really helped us build our turnover. In 1996 when I went to a seminar on marketing for independent retailers. Though I wouldn’t…
