Brilliant Toy Marketing in Australia

Toy retailers around the world really should catch onto this great idea from Australian toy sellers...

Being new to the country - at just the right time for this little treasure - the concept of Christmas lay-bys was a revelation. Here's how it works:

You can do your Christmas toy buying in July during the summer sale, pay a deposit and the store will hold it for you until Christmas. You can then drop in and pay any amount you like off the bill until it is settled. Brilliant!

You can do it on-line too.

This is an amazing service for customers and also a brilliant way of planning and managing inventory and stock investment for retailers and reducing post Christmas mark-downs.

One of those rare win-win situations.

Can't imagine why retailers internationally haven't cottoned onto this one - or have they?

Would love to hear some other examples - and why stop at toys?

In the current economic climate, spreading the cost for customers and risk for retailers would surely make good sense.

From what I've seen, Target do it best in Australia, but I'm sure there are more variations on the idea that I've yet to come across.

I wouldn't say I've done all my Christmas shopping for the kids already, but I certainly have all the big stuff - now I can relax and enjoy the rest of the buying without battling the frantic crowds in the run up to the big day...

Well done Aussies for leading the way :)

Sydney shopping - the gems so far...

We've been in Aus for 2 months now, so I've managed to get around a little.

So far, it's fair to say that I've been somewhat underwhelmed with Australian retailing. That is, of course a little unfair as I'm probably yet to discover its true brilliance - but to date, the experience in general has left me a little cold.

There are, however some notable exceptions, which I'll summarise here and expand upon in future posts...

Witchery http://www.witchery.com.au/- womens, mens and kids clothing, Smiggle http://www.smiggle.com/ and Typo http://typoshop.com.au/- both stationery, Gumboots ww.gumboots.com.au and Cotton On Kids http://shop.cottonon.com/kids/ - both kids clothing, Supacentre at Moore Park http://www.supacentamoorepark.com.au/ - a whole shopping centre dedicated to home and furnishing stores, plus a selection of nice indies in Mosman and Paddington. Also, the markets at Paddington feature up & coming designers.

I've been particularly impressed with the quality of traders at local fetes and festivals and will feature a couple of my favourites later.

Food shopping is fun, as it always is when it's new and I'm loving the variety of Asian supermarkets on offer too - even if I'm not entirely sure what I'm buying. Also the supermarkets in our area tend to be located in shopping centres and often surrounded by small bakers, butchers, fishmongers and delis [some independents, some chains], so it's nice to be able to select from those first, then top up in the big shop.

Woolworths so far is my supermarket of choice but they're all pretty good [so long as you don't have a passion for proper vintage cheddar - obviously, I do]. Still, I do find myself pining a little for Waitrose from time to time.

Can't get used to not being able to buy my wine and beer at the supermarket though - still, it's helping me cut down on the vino consumption.

Wine shopping is not so much fun - my favourite Aussie wines are about half the price back home - really!

G'day Sydney shops!

Well, imagine my excitement arriving in such a beautiful city with all those new and wonderful shops to explore!

Then imagine my shock and horror when I see how unfathomably expensive EVERYTHING is!

Don't get me wrong, I'm no stranger to expensive shopping trips and have become positively intimate with Selfridges, Liberty and the host of gorgeous independents in and around London - and I've unfortunately never been blessed with the economic shopper gene.

What I mean is, that aside from Sydney's high-end equivalents of the above, everything else seems to be expensive too! Even the 'low' budget, every-day stuff seems to be staggeringly over priced.

I guess us Brits have become pretty demanding shoppers of late - we want great quality, we want style - but we want to pay a fair price. Competition has certainly been tough in recent years and many old favourites have fallen by the wayside. Every retailer in the UK has had to change and consider their position and proposition very carefully - and the competition has become fierce. Being just good has become not good enough - and as shoppers [I now realise] we really take that for granted.

I don't think that kind of revolution has happened here yet. I wonder if it will...

Now, I don't mind paying whatever I can afford for something really special, but I certainly do object to paying too much routinely for cheap-looking product.

I've never been a great fan of Tesco or Asda for clothing [Sainsbury's quality is far superior, but that's a digression for another day] - it looks cheap, but guess what? IT IS!

Shopping for the children is the most frustrating.

Let's take a basic cheap kid's long sleeved top. You know it will only last a few washes, but hey, it'll probably cost you a fiver [£]. Over here [or is it under here?] in places like Big W or Target, the same top [though in some cases, not such good quality] will cost you $30 ! [around £20].

Now here's a conundrum. I've often bought kid's clothes from Pumpkin Patch and was pleased to see them in Aus. I actually didn't realise it was a New Zealand brand. But get this - the same products are substantially cheaper in the UK. How does that work?

I can understand that imported brands and products would be more expensive, but I'd really love to know why, when so many products, where ever they are sold, are sourced from the far east, and Australia is closer to the far east, and they must be paying the same cost prices, where these rediculous retail price points are coming from? I know wage costs are much higher here, but rents and rates seem to be comparable.

I guess I could go on all day about this, but I'll leave it for now and pray to the god who inspired Next to deliver to Australia.

My first post!

Well hi there, and thanks for stopping by...

I've been meaning to get around to this blog for sooooo long, I can't believe it has taken a move to the other side of the world to finally spur me into action.

I've worked for years in retail, from concept development, to designing store interiors, windows and graphics, to product layouts & space planning, to retail marketing and branding, but let's get one thing straight from the start.

I do not profess to be a retail 'thought leader', 'opinion former', 'guru' or any other such trumped up, self important and self appointed title - that would be rude! I just love shops - pure & simple.

The posts in my blog will be about things I've found and loved or hated, great ideas, bad ideas, things of beauty, things that are new and clever or old and outmoded. BUT - it's just my opinion. There's no right or wrong. If you happen to be a retailer and I write something about your store you don't like, I apologise in advance. If you think I might have a point you can always get in touch for a chat.