UK retail marketing | Kevin Harrington

Category: UK retail marketing

The Next giveaway sale (but you have to ask questions)

Posted on 3 January 2018 by Kevin Harrington Posted in UK retail marketing — No Comments ↓

Next announce better than expected results. Based on my experience, I wonder how, but they do make me smile. I was given a jumper, from Next, as a Christmas present. Yesterday I went into Next in Reading to change it…

Tagged with: Christmas presents, gift card, gift receipt, Next, Next Reading, Next retail, Reading, retail sales, sale

Is Black Friday good for UK retailers?

Posted on 13 December 2017 by Kevin Harrington Posted in UK retail marketing — No Comments ↓

We seem all too happy to follow US fads; Halloween and “have a nice day” continue to grate on me. One of our latest adoptions is Black Friday. I set out to look at the impact on retail profits and…

Tagged with: bad for the brand, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, department stores, discount, discounting, Eden Dwek, Halloween, have a nice day, impulse purchases, KPMG, love the brand, net profit, profit, reputational damage, retail, retail arbitrage, retail profits, retailer, short-term revenue loss, Social media, unresponsive pages, US fads, website continuity

Annoying verbal platitudes

Posted on 12 December 2017 by Kevin Harrington Posted in Consumer marketing, UK retail marketing — No Comments ↓

The umpteenth person this year just said, “Enjoy,” as they delivered my order to me. Is that a request or an instruction? Whatever it was, was she thinking about what she was saying? I doubt it. I suspect it was…

Tagged with: annoying verbal platitude, enjoy, have a nice day, Peter Ustinov, platitude, umpteenth

Poundworld claims take a pounding

Posted on 13 October 2014 by Kevin Harrington Posted in UK retail marketing — No Comments ↓

What an interesting concept, the manager’s special being 3 to 9 times the price of the rest of the stock in store. When is a pound shop not a pound shop? When it sells items for £8.99, according to the…

Tagged with: advertising, Advertising Standards Authority, ASA, manager's special, Media Monkey, pound shop, Poundworld, Poundworld Retail, Wakefield, £1on

TM Lewin get it right

Posted on 7 October 2014 by Kevin Harrington Posted in UK retail marketing — No Comments ↓

I’ve recently become a bit of a fan of TM Lewin. This all started when I went to their store at Cheshire Oaks. The store manager successfully got me to try a shirt on for fit. Previously I had, rather…

Tagged with: bricks and mortar, Cheshire Oaks, Feefo, shirt, shopping, TM Lewin

Cash remains king in UK shops

Posted on 30 May 2013 by Kevin Harrington Posted in Marketing, Payments, UK retail marketing — No Comments ↓

Alternative/emerging means of payment, such as online payments and money-off coupons, grew last year seemingly by 150%, although these remained a fraction of the total. But cash remains the dominant payment mechanism. Cash is still the most popular form of…

Tagged with: alternative payments, BBC News, BRC, British Retail Consortium, cash, cash is king, coupons, emerging payments, money-off coupons, online payments, payment mechanism, research, retail payments, retail sales, UK, vouchers

McPrepaid: Luncheon Vouchers grind beefburgers to a halt

Posted on 27 January 2013 by Kevin Harrington Posted in Marketing, UK retail marketing — 1 Comment ↓

Which retailer has done one of the best jobs of supporting and promoting contactless payments in the UK? I would say McDonald’s. All their restaurants proudly display payments terminals that accept contactless payments and they have made a considerable investement.…

Tagged with: Accor, Berkshire, British government, cash, contactless payments, food rationing, income tax, John Hack, Luncheon Vouchers, Luncheon Vouchers Company, LV, McDonald's, national insurance, Office of Tax Simplification, paper ticket, payment mechanisms, payments terminals, Reading, restaurants, speed of service, subsidise meals, tax concession, UK