And then it hit me - BANG! ...the ever changing Retail Landscape

I found myself in a guitar shop this week (my one weakness), and got talking to the owner. I let it slip that I had just bought a lead and strings online. Naturally he was disappointed I didn't buy from him. The usual discussion followed, you know ...how you'd prefer to buy in a shop, but the prices...

I said that that was the new reality and he needs to create other ways of adding value and making revenue, and then it hit me BANG! I've been there before, 25 years a go. I was a manager of an independent camera shop, before the internet was a twinkle in Tim Berners-Lee's eyes. We found we could not compete on price with mail-order camera shops, because they bought their goods as 'grey imports'. i.e. circumnavigating the official distributor by buying where the pound was strong. So a £125 camera was sold at cost price in order to compete, yet our way round that was to use our greatest asset ...our physical presence. Our caring, advisory and patient stance meant that few walked away without buying a case, filters, film, flash gun, batteries and so on. These supplementary products came with at least a 50% mark-up, so we were able to make a handsome return on what the customer was going to have to buy anyway.

There's no doubt that the retail landscape is changing because of the rise of e-commerce. But it always has been changing and we shouldn't feel bad about it. Remember the days when you went in to an insurance broker's shop to buy insurance? Customers vote with their money and it's up to the commercial world to adapt and change accordingly. There will always be demand and supply, and all that is required is finding that mutual win-win space.

Bring back Speak-Mails

Colleagues of mine occasionally get a visit by me to their desk. I look at them and pause meaningfully, once I have their attention.

"I'm delivering a Speak-Mail" *?* "I could have sent you an email but thought I'd use an old fashioned thing called talking" Once the look of puzzlement has gone, we talk.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting fed up with the misuse of emails. I've been using emails since 1990 and three things bug me most. 1) getting Cc'd on stuff, just for the sender to cover their back, or worse to make it look like they are busy. 2) messages sent to colleagues WITHIN TALKING DISTANCE and 3) Using emails to convey a criticism, instead of voicing feelings directly.

My experience, as a people manager, is that one should use written communications primarily for factual information exchange. Use verbal language for expressing opinions and for debate.

Storms in tea cups have their epicentres in two-dimensional messages.

How to find out stuff, free and fast

You have probably delved in to You Tube, but have you realised that it can be a way of finding out about products you might be researching to buy? Company's are realising this and are putting up short videos of product demonstrations. Best of all, for gadgets and things that have a personal and desirable dimension, the customers themselves are demo'ing them themselves.

I've found useful clips on mobile phones, audio equipment, cameras and such. I'm not in the pay of You Tube, but thought you might use this tip.

Televised football games should be free to attend

I reckon the TV money in football, should be used to make it free for (non-corporate) fans to attend. Of course it's not totally free as far as the fans are concerned ...the cost of getting to the match is not to be sniffed at.

After all, we are increasingly becoming 'extras' that help a TV program be made. Attendees to non-televised games could be rewarded with free tickets to broadcasted matches. For the clubs, many will benefit by better attendance figures, and, if you take the low-cost airline model, there are still revenue opportunities at the grounds ...catering, programmes, merchandise, corporate entertaining, betting, etc.

Gorilla Tactics

Great stuff. This is what Viral Marketing is all about. Generate brand-linked content, that is so hot, it gets forwarded on, friend to friend. I'm talking now of the parody of the Cadbury Gorilla/Phil Collins commercial, by Wonderbra. It apparently contravenes Mr Collins' copyright, so has been removed from You Tube.

Even better then; it has been banned! This was a recipe for success since records such as Je t'aime, High, High, High, and Judge Dread, became off-air hits. Now I'm not wishing to break the law, or condone doing so, but it is a fact of life that the tabloids have long exploited: break a rule, and the compensation/fine paid, is less than the revenue from that gained by being naughty.

What? You want to see the spoof? Well don't tell anyone, but try this ... http://www.heggle.com/item/4994365/Wonderbra_Gorilla_Parody

PS. Now what about this for an idea ...Phil Collins doing the drum intro, to the King Kong movie soundtrack, whilst eating a chocolate bar? No? Oh, THAT'S why I'm not a Creative Director.

Praising the enemy

In the news this week is footballer, Dave Kitson, who is effusing about the sheer skill of the Arsenal players and the team now playing in the English Premier league. Nothing unusual in that, but Kitson is a striker for Reading FC as well a life-long Tottenham fan. The thing is, that dropping prejudices in favour of identifying competitor’s qualities, is a healthy thing.

I once worked for a company that supplied direct marketing services to a well known luxury car brand. How refreshing it was to attend a new launch briefing session at UK HQ, where product managers would compare their new car with the competition. Not only would it be good analytical stuff, but they would be critical of their own model’s weaknesses and praising of the competition if they had anything that was better. Such objectivity can only help one learn and improve I know that might sound obvious, but try looking at a competitive entity and see how many good things that you admire and can list. It might surprise you!

"'In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death taxes and...

Should fireworks be allowed to be used by amateurs, and should there be restrictions on how many days a year that they can be let off? Like with smoking restrictions, there are strong views on either side.

Actually, I'm not going to get in to this debate. But if I did, I'm sure I would hear pro-pyrotechnics folk cite the Nanny State and 'infringement of freedom' and so forth. My point is that, unless you live on an island - with a population of one, you already live with rules, mores and restrictions. It's just that some are there to protect people ...at the cost of perhaps your own indulgence.

So, if i could tread on Benjamin Franklins's* toes a bit, I would add a third certainty ...
"'In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes, and regulations."



*Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 1789.