Augmented reality helps KAMs to scale new heights in ‘window-shopping’….

The latest issue of Tatler, which went on sale today, features a collaboration with augmented reality developer Holition that allows readers to see how jewellery worth millions, from a dozen brands including Boodles, Cartier, Chanel, De Beers and Fabergé would look on them.

In all cases, users can virtually ‘try on’ jewellery worth £10m, without the embarrassment of having to slink away ‘to think about it’  – and the only equipment they need is a pair of scissors and a computer with a webcam.

For context, it might be worth starting with the Boucheron Jwlrymachine (above), a snip starting at £200k.

Have a really augmented weekend, from the NamNews Team!

World's first pop-up mall coming to London

Sixty  shipping containers are to be transformed into the world's first pop-up shopping mall -- set to open its doors in Shoreditch, East London.

Boxpark is going to open in October -- two months later than planned -- in a 4.7 hectare site called The Goodsyard -- a former railway yard, which has been derelict for more than 40 years.

Founder and managing director  of the venture is Roger Wade -- creator of the fashion brand  Boxfresh. He says: "The container is the ultimate in industrial design but why not use it in a retail perspective."

Built next to the new  Shoreditch High Street train station, Boxpark will see 60 customised containers lifted onto the site. Forty will made up the ground floor of the mall, and upstairs will be a further 20 units housing cafes and art galleries. The retailers will not be limited to fashion with Wade stating that they contacting "any retailer who we think are doing something a little different".

With all the flexibility of 1 or 5 year leases, and based on the US pop-up shop idea*, the venture will provide a means of allowing more innovation in retail

* US pop-up shop: Most retail stores would consider staying in business for just a few days a total failure. But a growing number of merchants are opening overnight shops that appear and disappear within the blink of an eye.

These "pop-up shops" essentially are temporary boutiques that pop-up in random locations for a couple days to a week and offer exclusive items. The quickie format originated in New York City but is rapidly spreading across the US, filling in empty spaces abandoned by out-of-business retailers. Some pop-ups are run by large retailers but a new trend is towards pop-ups fronted by small boutiques with a strong online presence. Minimal storage costs and cut-rate rents allow retailers to offer high savings, although the selection is fairly limited. Shoppers like the bargains but also appreciate the unique products on offer.

If the trend continues, it could reshape the US retail landscape, diminishing the power of commercial landlords and making it easier for large merchants to test new locations and products with little commitment. It also allows smaller companies to quickly run through new stock without the expense of storage or hiring permanent employees.

A break-through lesson for UK landlords and Local Government?

Numbers, numbers everywhere, and not a prop to think...

In unprecedented times we have unprecedented access to numbers, and some NAMs even find themselves working to three places of decimals on the wrong numbers…

However, the answer is not to ignore the numbers and revert to gut-feeling, but to find and use the numbers that ultimately drive the business.

Ego-trips excepted, we are all in business to optimise reward for risk.

This means generating a Return on Capital Employed that is a little better than others using a similar business model. Take a minimum of 15% in current times.

ROCE is in turn driven by Net Margin and Capital Turn i.e. ROCE = Return /Sales x Sales/Cap Employed

If ROCE is Greek to you……?

However, if you know ROCE backwards, then you realise that all other numbers are merely supportive…

More 

The Gobstopper, sweet niche retailing

Full-time mum-of-two, Lisa Oakes, 37, opened a traditional sweet shop in Hale, Manchester on July 5^th and is already inundated with eager young customers

Sweets in the shop are displayed in traditional glass jars and weighed out on vintage scales on top of a refurbished antique haberdashery counter.

Retro sweets are on offer including rhubarb and custards, sherbet lemons, cola cubes, liquorice, locally sourced chocolate and fudge

Slight personal disappointment at the apparent absence of bulls eyes, but still worth a visit..

Shopper engagement is revealed by the fingerprints and nose prints on the window where children have been taking an eager look inside!

All the ingredients for successful niche retailing, especially given plans to supply online .

All it needs is the application of some basic guidelines to make the idea scalable

In fact in an article called Niche Retailing: Uncovering New Retail Opportunities 

Frank Lucer suggests the following rules:

-       Catering To Customer Preferences

-       Going Deep Instead Of Going Wide

-       Leveraging Your Small Size

-       Learn from Amazon about leveraging the Long Tail

Small retailers can use this same strategy to attract customers and encourage sales. It is the essence of niche retailing. It can help independent shop owners cater to their customers' preferences and "go deep" into their product categories while leveraging their size.

As the level of competition rises in every sector, uncovering these new opportunities can make the difference between success and failure in unprecedented times.

Tesco Book publishing: All You Want To Know About Fruit

News that Tesco hopes to boost sales and consumption of fruit via a ‘non-Tesco’ book promoted this week in Tesco Superstores and Extra stores raises some interesting ideas about the future of book publishing.  

The book is written by Mark Blaylock and based on an idea by Tesco category director Nick Tatum. But although Tatum and members of his technical team are credited, the book does not bear Tesco branding or identify contributors as Tesco staff.     

This ‘non-Tesco’ livery, combined with free distribution to shoppers spending £5 on fruit, and special fixture display in the fruit section is bound to qualify the book for best-seller status, with obvious benefits for suppliers, Tesco,  shoppers and authors alike.

Suppliers in other categories should anticipate, even encourage similar treatments in their categories.

However, the real payoff for shoppers could be the extension of the idea to the commissioning of fiction works targeted at specific segments within Tesco’s 15m Clubcard population…

Think of the pleasure of curling up with a bespoke Stephen King novel, populated with like-minded folk within our income bracket, sharing our interests, health profile, age and family demographics, shopping and eating habits….scarey!

Football Legend Ronaldo To Be Used As European Central Bank Collateral

News that Ronaldo (or his feet) has been submitted by Bankia Group of savings banks in response to the ECB’s demand for guarantees of its solvency, raises the possible consequences of the player being transferred to the ECB in the event of a default….

However, apart from providing additional evidence of the complete farce that the global ponzi scheme has now become, the move could provide a way of optimising the increasing value of a good NAM.

For instance, if a leading-edge Tesco NAM, representing what could be 40%+ of a supplier’s sales and profits, decides to move, then the current supplier, Tesco and the new employer can suffer from the resulting ‘gardening leave’.

Why not introduce the practice of paying a transfer fee to cover all feelings of resentment and possible breach of confidences, thereby allowing the NAM to hit the ground running, and giving all three parties a vested interest in reducing the job to essential KPIs and their achievement…?

Have an underwritten weekend, from the NamNews Team!

Spending a Penny in WHS?

A shop assistant at WH Smith caused a nationwide stampede when she leaked details of a special 1p-an-item sale of discontinued items.

The worker, username Hermione987uk, told the moneysavingexpert.com website that a list of 42 games, books, DVDs and stationery items costing as much as £39.99 were slashed to just a penny at 1,000 outlets.

Bargains included the Simpsons Ho Ho Homer 500-piece jigsaw, originally priced at £39.99, as well as £19.99 Adopt a Penguin and Adopt a Rhino gifts, £12.49 Lego brick lights, £12 Host Your Own Dog Race Night DVDs and £6 Snowman jigsaws.

Given the diminishing influence of fragmented TV media, falling circulations of print media and the rise of savvy consumerism, could the 1p sale become the final traffic-builder, or the final chain-pull…?

Big Opportunities to Buy-it-small, online?

With Nescafe at £0.12, and Lynx at £0.33, Piccola’ new online site offers just enough on key supermarket brands

New 'Buy it Small' website enables travellers to stock up on just enough portions of supermarket brands…

Bearing in mind that the pound stores had similar low-key beginnings there is an opportunity here for suppliers to anticipate the spread of use from the obvious travel packs..

Launched this month Piccola Online is the UK's very first online store to specialise in individual, miniature, and handy small-sized packs of practically everything from around the supermarket.

Over 6 months in the development the site is now live and boasts an impressive 530 different products across all departments. Sitting alongside the UK's favourite brands are some other unusual foodie products sourced from a range of the UK's finest independent producers.

Visitors to the site can purchase quantities from as little as just one unit of food and drink items, toiletries, fragrance and pharmaceutical products. The collection has been sourced from all over the world and prices start as low as just 2p.

Time to re-think all end-use behaviour in your product portfolio?