Category Archives: Experiential

Strange Things in Self-Service

My twitter timeline has been populated recently by photos of retailers doing, for me, some strange things with self-service tills.  These tills have popped up everywhere over the last decade and not always to universal acclaim.  B&Q and WH Smith … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go, Clothing, Consumers, Customer Service, Employment practices, Experiential, Functional Retailing, Marks and Spencer, Retail Change, Sainsbury, Self-checkout, Self-Scanning, Self-Service, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Singapore’s Scary Monsters

Back in the warmth of Singapore for our graduation and alumni events and associated student and other meetings, and there seemed to be only one question people had for me; what could be done about Singapore’s ailing retail sector?  On … Continue reading

Posted in Adjacencies, Art, Brands, Corporate branding, Customer engagement, Design, Experiential, Flagship, Food and Beverage, Gentle Monster, Korea, Malls, Online Retailing, Retailers, Retailing, Shopping Centres, Singapore, Space, Vacancies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Lost Broch of Stirling

I am not sure what it says about me, but I have been seduced into some small crowdfunding projects over the last few years.  The subjects have been food, drink, rugby and history, so maybe I do know how and … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Brochs, Buildings, Crowdfunding, Experiential, Heritage, History, Incredible Edible, Retail Change, Sexism, Social media, Stirling, University of Stirling, Urban, Urban History | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Singapore Swing

My current dose of warm weather in Singapore and soon in Hong Kong is mainly about meeting and talking to partners of the University of Stirling in my capacity as Deputy Principal for Internationalisation and Graduate Studies. It is good … Continue reading

Posted in Academics, Consumer Change, Consumer Lifestyle, Consumers, Convenience stores, Experiential, Multichannel, Retail brands, Retailers, Singapore | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

And now for some good news: Dixons Carphone and Dyson Openings

As promised, after my rather pessimistic review of some recent retail stories in the last blog, I want to turn to something a little more positive.  The stories below that caught my attention are in one way the other side … Continue reading

Posted in BrickMeetsClick, Consumer Lifestyle, Design, Dixons Carphone, Dyson, Electronics, Engineering, Experiential, Flagship, London, Multichannel, Oxford Street, Pop-Up Shops, Space, Tesco | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Market Time

I suspect that my interest in markets was sparked at a young age when my father would take me to the livestock market and my mother would take me to the open-air market (Cheapside) and to the covered food market, … Continue reading

Posted in Christmas, Experiential, Farmers Markets, Festivals, Food, Krakow, London, Markets, Places, Spaces, Streetscapes, Urban History | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Japanese Eataly? In Singapore?

Regular readers of this blog will recall that I have a bit of a thing for Eataly, the destination food retail and dining concept showcasing the best in Italian local, slow and seasonal products and other gourmet food and cooking. … Continue reading

Posted in Eataly, Emporium Shokuhin, Experiential, Food, Food Quality, Food Retailing, Gastronomy, Japanese, Markets, Restaurants, Scotland Food and Drink, Seafood, Shopping Centres, Singapore, Slow Food | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Marks and Sparks

In the dim and distant past, when I first arrived at the University of Stirling, I was one of number of research follows and assistants involved in establishing the Institute for Retail Studies under the leadership of John Dawson. One … Continue reading

Posted in Experiential, Loyalty, Loyalty Schemes, Marks and Spencer, Membership, Relationships, Sparks, University of Stirling | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

We didn’t see that coming

              Celtic mysticism abounds in Stirling, mainly because a number of the retail staff here are Welsh – and those that aren’t, such as Steve Burt, wish they were –  and so strange languages … Continue reading

Posted in Consumer Change, Experiential, Fairies, Merchandising, New Age, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Spirituality | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

So …

… and the next phrase is NOT Moneysupermarket.com and their infuriating ads. Instead the answer is Peter Gabriel and his appearance (So …) in Glasgow last week. But unlike the last time I saw him in Glasgow, this time he … Continue reading

Posted in Experiential, Food, Internet shopping, Merchandising, Music, Online Retailing, Places | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments