In-Store articles from December 2005

In-Store archives from December 2005

Supermarkets slated for sugary promotions.(sugar and fatty food marketing)(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Supermarkets are under fire after a report from the National Consumer Council (NCC) revealed that twice as many in-store promotions are for sugary and fatty foods than for healthy alternatives. The NCC's criterion was that 33 per cent of...

Thomson touch-screen.(sales promotions)(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Travel retailer Thomson is trialling an interactive touch-screen search tool in the window of its Leicester store, allowing people to research holidays and overseas properties 24 hours a day. Sensors installed onto the window detect acoustic...

Harveys brushes up its P-O-P.(sales promotions)(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Furniture retailer Harveys has unveiled new P-O-P across its 165-store network. Concepts and artwork developed by Clockworx aim to increase clarity, enhance communication and provide a more memorable experience. The slogan 'Make yourself...

Foot Locker wheels out experiential campaign.
December 7, 2005... Sports retailer Foot Locker is using experiential activity to drive in- store traffic. The group hired design company Sledge for guerrilla marketing, street theatre and stunts last month. Display pedestals outside stores encouraged...

TescoTV effect proven.(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Each TescoTV screen is viewed by 40 per cent of shoppers, and 85 per cent of people see at least one screen on each visit to a screen- equipped store, according to research by JCDecaux and RMS. Using technology that tracks eye movements,...

Fussy UK consumers.(shoppers preferences)(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Consumers are more likely to go to a different store than buy an alternative brand if their favourite health and beauty products are out of stock, according to ECR's most recent Blue Book Availability 2005 - Closer to the Shelf. The...

Fortnum & Mason gears up for birthday redesign.(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Fortnum & Mason, grocer to the Queen, has revealed plans for a #24m refurbishment to take place ahead of its 300th birthday in 2007. Architect firm Jestico & Whiles is behind the overall design for a concept that emphasises food, drink,...

Garden Gift Vouchers given a Christmas theme.(Horticultural Trade Association sales promotions)(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... National Garden Gift Vouchers, sold by members of the Horticultural Trade Association, have been given a Christmas theme by marketing communications agency Triangle. As part of the Plant a Smile campaign the agency has created seasonal designs...

Levi's riveted by music tour.(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Levi's has delivered a campaign linking the iconic denim brand with up- and-coming UK bands through sponsorship of a music tour supported by in- store activity. The Levi's Onestowatch live tour takes place between 5 and 10 December in...

Vodafone retail redesign.(Green Room Retail contract)(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Vodafone has appointed Birmingham-based retail environment consultancy Green Room Retail to redesign a number of areas in its stores, including the quick service desk, business lounge, and help and advice desk. The brief was to enhance the...

Plumbase plugs gap.(sales promotions)(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Plumbers merchant Plumbase has launched its Vista branch concept in Sheffield. The new look, designed in-house, features an open layout to display a wider choice of products, and allow customers to browse the entire stock. The first...

Belfast mall tries InfoPods.(CastleCourt installs InfoPads)(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... CastleCourt, a Westfield Group shopping centre in Belfast, has had four InfoPods, multi-screened advertising and promotional units, installed by developer ScreenFX. The InfoPods consist of two 63in plasma screens showing local and...

Crussh restyle spearheads juice bar expansion plans.(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Juice bar brand Crussh is rolling out a redesign across its 12 London stores. Design by The ID Department uses natural materials including bamboo. Walls are painted in yellow and champagne tones, and wall graphics draw attention to the...

Waitrose party food.(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Waitrose has relaunched its party food category with a 30-item product range including meat, fish, vegetarian and sweet options created for the Christmas party season. The design, by Pearlfisher, uses a minimal and simplistic approach, using...

Research looks forward to the 'generous brands' generation.
December 7, 2005... Research by brand consultancy Fitch predicts the rise of a new breed of 'generous brands', to counter the disillusionment consumers feel with existing brand relationships. Consumers are most interested in brands with a personal approach,...

NEWS: Harrods launches digital signage.
December 7, 2005... Harrods has begun rolling out a 100-screen digital signage network, with content created in-house and hardware and software provided by Remote Media. Twenty-eight 50x60in high-definition plasma displays have been installed across five floors....

NEWS: Stores apply for 24-hour booze licence.
December 7, 2005... Supermarkets across the UK are capitalising on the 24-hour licensing laws that came into effect last month. Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda have all applied for round-the-clock licences. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

NEWS: Blockbuster offers DVD players.
December 7, 2005... Blockbuster's latest Entertainment Pass promotion is offering a free DVD player to customers who make 10 DVD rentals in advance over a 10- week period. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

NEWS: Marmite spreads a little love.
December 7, 2005... Unilever UK Foods has introduced Marmite Love Portions, a share-sized version of the savoury spread. Supported by a #3m investment, Love Portions are packaged as six mini heart-shaped pots in a net. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd....

NEWS: Harvey Nichols moves in on Bristol.
December 7, 2005... Harvey Nichols has announced plans to open a Bristol store in autumn 2008. The 3,000 sq m store, in the city's upmarket Merchants Quarter development, will be the company's fifth in the UK. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and...

NEWS: Mamas & Papas extends its family.
December 7, 2005... Baby and nursery retailer Mamas & Papas is expanding its network with four new stores in the London area, with design by Four IV, including a Regent Street flagship planned for spring 2006. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and...

NEWS: Tesco reports self-checkout success.
December 7, 2005... More than one million Tesco customers are using self-checkouts each week, according to supplier NCR. In some smaller format stores, 50 per cent of transactions are going through self-checkout units. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd....

NEWS: Now we've seen it all.(New Look fashion retailer sales promotions)(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Fashion retailer New Look is offering a gift packaging service with a difference in three stores: Oxford Street, Metro Centre in Gateshead, and Bluewater. 'Give Yourself for Christmas' wraps the customer in an adult-size box and delivers her...

NEWS ANALYSIS: The plight before Christmas.(christmas business)
December 7, 2005... A fiendishly slow start to Christmas suggests shoppers are holding out for a repeat of last year's sales. How do stores really plan to cope in this bleak midwinter? Will Cooper finds out It's Christmas time, and there are plenty of...

LETTER: The transition to P-O-P.(Letter to the Editor)
December 7, 2005... I wondered when the issue of 'P-O-P or P-O-S' would be raised on your Letters page (In-Store, November). After 20 years in P-O-S, I suddenly found, in the early 90s, that I was producing P-O-P. It is true that some retailers stick by...

LETTER: The secret is the timing.(Letter to the Editor)
December 7, 2005... I was somewhat bemused by the rather naive letter last month ('When did we go P-O-P?', In-Store, November). I hope you will allow me to correct Mark Dickens' misunderstandings. The term P-O-P was created in 1936 when Point Of Purchase...

LETTER: To the point.(Letter to the Editor)
December 7, 2005... I agree that P-O-P, with its POPAI association and seemingly unclear distinction from P-O-S, is confusing. OK, it's all semantics. But surely P-O-S and P-O-P have been missing the point and undermining themselves. The point of sale or...

LEADER: How to avoid the cold turkey effect.(christmas business)
December 7, 2005... Shoppers and local radio DJs always seem to moan that Christmas starts earlier every year, as retailers deck the stores with boughs of holly and start flogging their seasonal wares in mid-October. In a sense, it is refreshing to hear the...

SCREEN TALK: A concept that gelled.(plasma screens at HOB Salons)
December 7, 2005... Clive Collins, director of HOB Salons, doesn't split any hairs when it comes to his enthusiasm for the hairdressing chain's network of plasma screens The first thing we thought when we saw our i-vu salon screen network demonstrated was...

INTERNATIONAL NEWS: Pink is pretty in Bangkok.
December 7, 2005... UK high-end shirt-maker Thomas Pink has launched its second Asian store in Bangkok. The LVMH-owned brand plans to enter Hong Kong and other Chinese and Southeast Asian markets in the next two years. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd....

INTERNATIONAL NEWS: Blue Square reshapes stores in Israel.(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Israeli supermarket chain Blue Square has used UK design group Astound to give a radical new look to its Mega branded stores. The first store to use the new design has become the second highest-grossing outlet in the chain since the new...

INTERNATIONAL NEWS: New Look goes for a Gallic style.
December 7, 2005... Fashion retailer New Look will spend about #6m on the launch of four trial stores in France and two in Belgium next spring. New Look already has a presence of 212 smaller fashion boutiques trading under the brand Mim in France. ...

INTERNATIONAL NEWS: Plans for a bigger Phuture.(Phuture London redesign plans)(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Singapore fashion retailer Phuture London has invested in a redesign by UK consultancy Niche in preparation for expansion next year. "The fresh look gives a modern Asian twist to the idea of an English country garden," says a Niche...

INTERNATIONAL NEWS: Silver City has the Project-X factor.(shopping centers redesign)(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... The Silver City shopping centre site in Ivanovo, Russia has announced a redesign working with UK design group Project-X. The work includes a graphic identity, a full signage programme and architectural masterplanning. Project-X will design...

INTERNATIONAL NEWS: US sales soar after Thanksgiving.(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Post-Thanksgiving discounts of electrical goods and clothing saw US consumers spend $27.8bn (#16.2bn), an average of $302.81 (#176.59) per person, in the weekend following the holiday, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). The...

INTERNATIONAL NEWS: A passage to India.
December 7, 2005... More than 400 companies from 33 countries met at the World Economic Forum in Delhi last month to discuss business opportunities including retailing in India, one of the world's fastest-growing economies. Copyright: Centaur Communications...

DISPLAY OF THE MONTH: The house of fun.(Ted Baker fashion clothing)
December 7, 2005... The wacky humour of Ted Baker stores keeps Thomas Cook's Jonathan Smith entertained "Not so long ago Ted Baker would not have been a store on your fashion shopping list," remarks Jonathan Smith, Thomas Cook head of marketing for stores....

CITY TALK: Green and bear it.
December 7, 2005... The Phillip Green-fingered approach has paid enormous dividends at Arcadia, but don't forget we are still waiting for shoots of recovery at Bhs, says Lauren Mills, business writer at the Daily Mail It is hard to be full of festive cheer...

CITY NEWS: DSG sees like-for-like sales drop.(DSG International financial results)(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... The Philip Green-fingered approach has paid enormous dividends at Arcadia, but don't forget we are still waiting for shoots of recovery at Bhs, says Lauren Mills, business writer at the Daily Mail DSG International, which includes the...

CITY NEWS: Halfords reports sales acceleration.(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Halfords, the auto and cycling specialist, has posted positive results for the six weeks to 30 September. The retailer, which has 402 stores, saw like-for-like sales rise by 2.6 per cent and pre-tax profit rise by 20.6 per cent to #40.4m....

CITY NEWS: Tesco expands at home and overseas.(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Tesco has announced group and UK sales rises of 13.9 per cent and 11.6 per cent respectively for the 14 weeks to 19 November. UK like-for-like sales excluding petrol were up by 5.5 per cent. The supermarket group is on track to meet its...

CITY NEWS: Nintendo scores badly in US.(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Japanese video game giant Nintendo has seen net profits fall by 21 per cent to Yen36.6bn (#179m) in the six months to 30 September. Sales fell by 6.2 per cent to Yen176.4bn (#856m) over the same period. Nintendo has seen weaker North...

CITY NEWS: Selfridges looks forward to Christmas.(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Department store group Selfridges has announced a sales rise of 7 per cent in the 12 months to January 2005, despite a poor performance from its Birmingham store. Chief executive Paul Kelly was confident of a good Christmas, saying: "We are...

CITY NEWS: Suits You parent company sold.(Speciality Retail Group )(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Speciality Retail Group (SRG), owner of Suits You and Racing Green, has been sold for an estimated #30m. Former Moss Bros chief executive Adrian Wright has taken control of SRG, facilitated through funds from private equity group Gresham. SRG...

PROFILE - MARK BERNARD CASIO: Calculated decisions.
December 7, 2005... Casio is shaking off its school calculator image with a wider product range, a funky store design and even an 'ology', as UK marketing director Mark Bernard explains to Maeve Hosea With its 50th birthday approaching in 2007, Casio is...

MARKET REPORT: Street life.(online retail shopping)
December 7, 2005... Amid a spate of high street horror stories, an increasing number of internet-based retailers are finding that a physical presence not only attracts a wider customer base but has a direct benefit on their online sales operations too. Maeve Hosea...

The p-o-p league table.(Point of Purchase )
December 7, 2005... The In-Store P-O-P surveys are complete and the annual League Table has been compiled. Matthew Valentine reveals who gets this year's votes Pointer has continued its gradual ascent in the In-Store P-O-P League Table, knocking Coutts from...

SPECIAL REPORT: Cardboard city.
December 7, 2005... The low cost of cardboard continues to make it the top choice for temporary P-O-P clients. However, some inherent drawbacks have led suppliers and designers to experiment with some new directions, writes Will Cooper From the producer's...

PRODUCT NEWS: Gondola has a heart of glass.(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Retail display product designer Unibox has unveiled a range of seven gondola units. Each is made from 8mm tempered safety glass with polished curved edges and an 18mm-thick brushed aluminium laminate base. The units are priced from #429....

PRODUCT NEWS: A resolution for new year.(Mitsubishi Electric Liquid crystal displays)(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Mitsubishi Electric has rolled out two LCD screens, the 40in MDT402S and the 46in MDT461S. Each has a 13,366 x 768 WXGA resolution, with contrast ratios of 1000:1 for the MDT402S and 600:1 for the MDT461S. The screens have a black...

Wheels on wire for trolley display kits.(UK Point of Sale basket display)(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... UK Point of Sale has introduced an A4-sized trolley basket display designed to be compatible with almost every type of shopping trolley on the market. Displays come in pairs and can be fixed to trolleys easily using screws or clips. ...

Radio frequency application can make sense of marketing.
December 7, 2005... Digital View has incorporated an RFID marketing application into its RemotePlayer video player. An RFID module attached to the player senses products that come within range, automatically playing relevant information, such as for cross-...

Kodak photo kiosks.(Eastman Kodak Company )(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... Eastman Kodak Company has launched its latest range of digital photo kiosks, called the Kodak Picture Kiosk G4 family. The units boast a 30 per cent reduction in footprint and weight compared with the previous range of kiosks, and...

POPAI: Europe comes up in the world.(point of sale systems)(Brief Article)
December 7, 2005... The recent display of entries in the POPAI Europe Awards, at the Louvre in Paris, was revealing for several reasons. While the cosmetics and HBA displays were up to their usual high standard, displays in other categories have improved in...

Eye on design.
December 7, 2005... Mark Dickens, director of design group Astound, carries on camping after a trek around London's specialist outdoor equipment retailers in search of more than Kendal Mint Cake THE NORTH FACE For the 'it' outdoor brand in puffed-up...