Teen usage of 'social media' just in...

New research published in The Atlantic may cause you to challenge assumptions on what defines social media and its usage...

Worth drilling down for specific insights, but thoughts to ponder:
-  For young people, Facebook is the newspaper, and websites are the authors
-  Mobile attention is flowing to apps and away from homepages
-  Key challenge for digital publishers is making their content sharable in competition with other sites' content
-  Content is king, but distribution is the kingdom.....
Derek Thompson, The Atlantic

GSCOP in practice - Inaugural Groceries Code Adjudicator Conference

A view from the third row, for those who may have missed a trick by not attending…

Given the relatively low media profile and perceived supplier-retailer apathy re. matters GSCOP since its inauguration in 2009, it was good to participate in a revelatory catch-up at the GCA conference yesterday.

The first surprise was the fact that with upwards of 200 delegates, this inaugural conference occupied the main ‘IGD’ hall at the QE11 Conference Centre, Westminster.

The audience comprised a unique mix of supplier and retailer Code Compliance Officers, trade associations, legal practices, governmental and senior sales, not only from the UK, but equivalent groupings from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Ireland, Czech Republic and Norway.

In other words, a high level of interest in these first steps in optimising supplier-retailer relationships in one of the world’s most competitive markets, possibly serving as a template for adaptation abroad.

People came prepared to talk and share experiences and concerns, as evidenced by audience reaction to presentations from a combination of the GCA, British Brands Group, Code Compliance Officers from Tesco and Morrisons, emphasising the scope and opportunities of applying GSCOP in practice followed by an active Q&A session from an increasingly participative audience.

YouGov then presented the findings from the GCA-commissioned research to explore the views, experiences, attitudes, and expectations of suppliers in relation to the Code.

..and therein lay the second surprise... In an industry known for its low key, non-participative response to matters GSCOP, there were 574 responses to the survey – of which 528 were from a mix of direct and indirect suppliers, a ‘robust sample for this type of population’, to quote YouGov. Full details are available here
Christine Tacon presented the GCA Annual report summarising progress to date especially the agreement by major retailers to limit post–audit-recovery to three years, instead of the statutory six years allowed in UK law. This single step should reduce significantly the time, frustration and friction of trying to ‘re-negotiate’ promotional agreements six years in arrears.

The afternoon was devoted to a mix of four very interactive workshops dealing with Enforcement, Genesis of the Code, Success evaluation - survey follow-up  and Trade Associations discussions of supplier issues under the Code.

Details of most sessions are available here

On balance, a good-faith and successful series of initial steps aimed at building a productive basis for improved supplier-retailer relationships, evidenced by the animated discussions with new contacts during the breaks.

It could be now said that we have arrived at the end of the beginning for GSCOP, roll on next year’s conference…

Nice one, Christine….  

Costco for book-signings?

According to the BBC, Hillary Clinton signed copies of her new memoir at Costco last weekend, one of the many high-profile authors who now stop at the warehouse on their book tour.

The visits underscore the role of Costco as tastemaker in the book world (!). Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (i.e. "Ideas and products and messages and behaviours spread like viruses do") has been featured in Costco Connection.

Moreover, Gladwell and other authors like Tom Wolfe are also regular customers, for whom Costco is a place to hang out….

A small but influential market share?
Publishers Weekly say about 4% of books sales in the US are from Costco, Target and Kmart. The biggest share of the market, about 28%, is from Amazon.

Whilst their book-share is minimal, our normal perception of Costco as a place ‘to shift tons’ may cause us to miss their potential in terms of influencing behaviour, especially when their store traffic could contain a high proportion of deal-sensitive shoppers that are prepared to tell others about good deal availability on popular products.

In other words, this Costco book-signing ‘little thing’ could be part of a tipping-point process that accelerates consumer acceptance of discounters..

Time for Costco NAMs to consider Costco as a market-influencer of the mass market rather than simply a quick-fix for sales budget short-falls?

NAM’s power-loss elimination at vital moments?

                                                                                              pic: Daily Star
The world’s first pair of wireless mobile-charging trousers will be unveiled on Tuesday as part of a new collaboration between British fashion designer Adrien Sauvage and Microsoft.

The trousers, described as a “wearable chino” by Mr Sauvage, have been fitted with a wireless charging plate from the Nokia DC-50, dismantled and reassembled within one of the front pockets of the trousers.

As you know, wireless-charging technology utilises induction charging via an electromagnetic field to transfer electricity between two objects. The charging pocket uses energy, sent through an inductive coupling to the phone, which then uses the energy to charge the phone battery.

Priced at over £200 a pair, the trousers will obviously appeal to NAMs that need to be switched on at all times.

However, the combination of an induction-charge (rather than a hard-wire connection) in such close proximity to even more vital equipment, may cause risk-averse NAMs to settle for more traditional methods of maintaining their mobility…

Optimising your holiday change?

Thai 1 Baht

Iranian 250 Real

Because of checkout inability to distinguish between a 250 Iranian Real coin, a Thai 10 Baht one, or a £2 coin, Morrisons - and possibly the Co-op, have now banned the use of the £2 coin until checkouts have been upgraded.

Given that the Iranian 250 rial is worth just one pence, and the Thai ten baht is worth about 18p, it can be seen why people are tempted in these unprecedented times....

The key issue is that shoppers - and others (!) - have now been alerted to the limitations of retail payment monitoring systems, leading to more of the same, or hopefully a move towards 100% epayment...

More checkout scams here

Lidl in it for brands as Schwarz Group heads to No.1 grocery retailer in western Europe by 2018?

With 2013 sales of €48.9bn compared with Carrefour at €76.7bn and Tesco at €73.1bn,  Lidl's faster rate of growth combined with Aldi means discount channel sales are expected to have raced up to €211bn against the giant stores’ €385bn on a CAGR of 4% by 2018, according to a new report on the grocery channel by Planet Retail.

Schwarz Group, which also owns the store chains Handelshof and hypermarket Kaufland, has operated since the 1930's. The first Lidl* discount store was opened in 1973, copying the Aldi concept. Schwarz rigorously removed merchandise that did not sell from the shelves, and cut costs by keeping the size of the retail outlets as small as possible. By the year 1977, the Lidl chain comprised 33 discount stores and latest figures show that it currently has 9,800 outlets...

The threat for branded suppliers
Whilst Lidl carry more brands than Aldi, the issue still remains that in a flatline market with any growth coming at the expense of competition, Lidl's growth rate represents a threat to branded products.

However, given its high use of surrogate labels, and with most branded suppliers focused on branded competition, Lidl and Aldi have thus managed to stay beneath traditional radar, in most cases.

NAMs now need to catch up by factoring Lidl & Aldi into their trade strategies, as per our earlier KamBlog

(Alternatively, why not await their discovery that national brands under pressure represent an even greater opportunity than surrogate labels...?)

*More Lidl details here

Never mind the Euro/£ exchange rate, Northern Ireland's Sainsbury's Index says it all...

The Sainsbury’s index is the most telling indicator of over or undervaluation of any exchange rate in the island of Ireland.

When the euro is too strong against sterling, the best indicator of this overvaluation isn’t some fancy chart, but is the eight-mile tailback at the roundabout in Newry of people from the Republic stocking up with cheap British booze for the Christmas. In contrast, when sterling is strong, you’ll see no slabs of cut-price Tennent's stacked in the boots of Toyota Corollas in the Sainsbury’s car park.

Worth the trouble and fuel? 
Perhaps not, but added to the 'normal' price differences north and south of the border, then enough people can be prepared to vote with their wheels when a price becomes a bargain...

The trick for NAMs everywhere is to be able to determine the consumer-shopper tipping-point, and promote accordingly...

A store visit to Sainsbury's Newry might help...

(Today the Euro = £0.80, with an expectation of The Bank of England becoming the first major central bank to announce rate hikes since the financial crisis of 2007-2008). 

Counterfeit Street, Manchester – a High Street underworld revival?

                                                                                                                             Pic: The Sunday Mirror
Investigators from The Sunday Mirror have discovered that, behind the locked doors of Bury New Road, in a maze of back alleys and basements, a new trade is flourishing – fake designer goods worth millions of pounds change hands here every year.

See details and pics here.

It’s a hidden shopping mall and cash-and-carry all rolled into one, a secret outlet village where rogue traders buy fake supplies in bulk and sell them on across the country. Young men - the spotters - lurk on street corners outside the locked shutters of closed-down shops. These men are the spotters. They bring customers in and keep police out.

The process raises big issues:
Apart from illegality, if someone can buy designer-fake for £20, take a gross margin of 43% by selling it on for £35, a retail price still far below that of the genuine article, what is the impact on consumer perception of brand-value?

In other words, if fake and genuine products are almost functionally similar, or at least close enough to satisfy consumer need, there will be a limit to the premium that consumers will be prepared to pay for a branded product that is certified as genuine…

This means that the only effective way to reduce the appeal of designer-fakes will be to reduce retail prices to levels that equate more closely with functional realities, especially in flat-line markets…