Retailers look to Silicon Valley for inspiration

To juice their businesses retailers had traditionally looked for new strategic ideas from their favoured big-time consultants such as McKinsey, Bain and Boston Consulting Group. Looking at the future  To some extent they still do, but the more savvy merchants have realised they also need to look to where the real action is – with…

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Bad April for Wine Society website

Brought to you by Retail Insider and Cookie Reports The Wine Society was a major faller this month, whereas fellow wine retailer Laithwaites was a serious gainer in the table of the UK’s Top 25 leading drinks retailing websites for April. They highlight the serious amount of changes in this month’s table, compared with March,…

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Retail Insider Breakfast Event

Retail Insider held its first Breakfast Event this week with Angus Thirlwell, founder of Hotel Chocolat, providing some fascinating insights into his vertically-integrated multi-channel business. Angus Thirlwell: in full flow Held at the Gilbert Scott private dining room at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel Thirlwell ran through how he began selling corporate branded peppermints and…

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Ikea – time to cut store openings

When Ikea found horse meat in its famous meat balls it had to withdraw them from its stores but this is not the only thing the company is being asked to withdraw as there are questions being asked about its core strategy. Balls to its big store strategy? Doubts about its continued focus on growing…

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eBay long been moving away from auctions

Ebay has been moving away from its  original auction model for years as shown here in this archive piece from The Guardian. Sit back and enjoy this bit of nostalgia written by Retail Insider editor Glynn Davis in August 2004. It became known affectionately as the world’s online flea market after it formed in 1995…

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Innovative Retailer – Rocket Gardens

Brought to you by Retail Insider and PCMS The Name: Rocket Gardens The Place: The headquarters are in Cornwall and up to 25 staff grow plants there but the retailing is done online. The Story: The motto of this company could be ‘River Cottage – it looks good but do you really have the time,…

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Movers & Shakers Q&A with David Kohn

    Brought to you by Retail Insider and K3 Retail     David Kohn, head of multi-channel, Snow + Rock      1. What is the greatest opportunity for your business?  Snow+Rock is a business staffed almost entirely by people who are passionate about the outdoor activity (or more normally activities) that they participate…

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Smaller brewers open up attack on new font

Cask ales from smaller producers are enjoying an ongoing strong period of growth, which has led to a dramatic increase in the number of brewers. More brewers and more beers The Good Beer Guide for 2013 showed the number of brewers in the UK had surpassed 1,000 representing a significant increase on the lows the…

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Guest Slot – Analysis Insider – Sarah Wilson

Purchasing panels, catchment area analytics, focus groups, mystery shoppers, brand image tracking, accompanied shops, and eye tracking, we could go on listing more of the myriad ways that retailers seek to scrutinise their customers. Shoppers remain a mystery  But these are the traditional ways of assessing shopper behaviour and the problem with them is that…

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