If you’ve ever wondered why kombucha has become popular, you may also wonder how healthy food trends get started. Not surprisingly, a new study has found that social media plays an increasingly big role in influencing consumer decisions about the foods they eat and the brands they buy. But other factors come into play as well. According to the consumer insights platform Suzy,…
CONTINUE READINGArchives for April 2019
Trends: Tracking the Generations
Independent retailers are always challenged to gauge what their customers want, and with the wide range of consumer age groups out there—all with different aspirations and needs—that challenge is always changing. Researchers and marketers, too, struggle to figure this out. A couple of recent studies from two research groups shed a bit of light on the differences between the…
CONTINUE READINGSculpting a Community
Above and beyond being a retailer, S-Kultur is a cooking school, a café/bar, an experience, a community and a homey place to indulge in some of the best things in life. by Michelle Hespe German gia winner and 2019 Global Honoree S-Kultur epitomizes the approach to retailing that stores across the world are working hard to achieve in order to retain loyal customers.…
CONTINUE READINGJumbled Joy
by Michelle Hespe The owner of Australian IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) Global Honoree JUMBLED has always focused on choosing the right products to create sparks of joy in an enchanting place that has a true sense of soul and community. When it came to setting up her now thriving business JUMBLED, Pip Brett listened to some sage advice from her mother, who is also a…
CONTINUE READINGRetailers Share More Than Products Online
As Facebook and other social media platforms increasingly become part of consumers’ daily lives, independent retailers are letting their store’s personalities shine beyond the sales pitch. More and more independent retailers are introducing customers to staff, highlighting employees’ favorite recipes and hidden talents. It is an extension of the marketing tool of cross…
CONTINUE READINGRetail Profile: The Common Housefly
Location: Black Mountain, N.C. Owners: Michael and Marcia Liss Founded: 2005 Square footage: 1,500 sq. ft. Rent or Own: Own Michael Liss likes to joke that his store, The Common Housefly, has 3,000 square feet of product “crammed” into 1,500-square feet of space. That sort of abundance lends well to the store’s tagline “A Toy Store for Foodies.” Or as Liss describes it a…
CONTINUE READINGPerfectly Porland
Porland of Turkey, one of the five gia Global Honorees this year, has a long, rich and colorful history. We look into what makes this manufacturer and retailer of porcelain stand out from the rest. by Michelle Hespe Porland’s logo features a ballerina executing a perfect pirouette. This elegant symbol conveys both beauty and strength, reflecting the grounding philosophy…
CONTINUE READINGApril Currency Outlook
In their April 2019 Currency Outlook report, Tempus, an exchange rate and global payments company, provides a detailed report including the following topics and sections: In Brief The Federal Reserve did not increase interest rates, however, the USD is up half of a percent The global economy is slower than the U.S. economy, hence the better performance of the USD…
CONTINUE READINGGlobal Retail Intelligence – April
To follow is a brief review of retail news from around the world: April 23 – Walmart China Has Competitive Advantage with JD.com Alliance in Highly Competitive Market With 433 retail outlets in China, including 412 Walmart supercenters, Walmart plans to add 23 Sam’s Clubs by 2020. In 2018, Walmart and JD.com jointly invested $500 million in online-to-offline grocery…
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