The Maxoflask Leather Wrapped Hip Flask is a classy and stylish way to have a little drink

I love the chance to bring you beautiful and stylish products in my blog. It is great to be able to share with you when I find something that can show off your individual style.

Today I bring you the Maxoflask Leather Wrapped Hip Flask. They are lightweight and discrete, as any good hip flask should be. But as these are made with quality materials and wrapped in leather so they are also incredibly stylish. You maybe don't want to advertise that you are having a discrete drink but if people do spot your hip flask they can't be anything but impressed! These hip flasks are the real deal.

The Maxoflask Leather Wrapped Hip Flasks have many great features-

•          Wrapped in leather for that great look
•          Perfect 8 oz size
•          Stylish contrasted stitching
•          Stainless Steel that is food-grade safe
•          It looks stylish
•          It provides you with a convenient and discrete drink
•          It has been designed to be leak proof as it is laser-welded
•          Approved by the FDA and free from BPA's
•          Offered with a great 30-Day money-back guarantee

All in all this is a well-crafted flask that ticks all the boxes when it comes to safety, style and convenience. You don't want it to be any other way.

This is a great idea for a gift for anyone that you know. It gives the connoisseur of whiskey, vodka, scotch or bourbon a little taste of luxury in their life. It is fantastic to give or receive a gift where a lot of thought has been put into it. A hip flask is the ideal way for someone to enjoy a little drink. It is so much more convenient and classy than carrying around a bottle.

The Maxoflask Leather Wrapped Hip Flask is a real quality item and can be enjoyed by anything me who wants to carry around a strong drink with them but don’t want to advertise the fact that they are drinking. It is a personal item that really adds that touch of class when you want to grab a little drink every now and again.

Get on over to this link and get your Maxoflask Leather Wrapped Hip Flask today. It is a superb gift whether it is for someone else or a nice little gift for yourself. Whoever you buy it for it will be treasured and well-used.

Tesco sales drop is about more than price

I'm just reading about Tesco's figures and the fact that their sales dropped by 3.1% over the last quarter - the biggest drop since records began in 1984.

My wife and I were in Tesco yesterday and the problems became more obvious to me as we sat in the café overlooking the store.

The problem is that they get nothing right

Now this isn't an anti-Tesco rant. It's true. Look at the facts-

• They don't do quality as well as Waitrose
• They don't advertise as well as M&S
• They don't do cheap as well as Aldi
• They don't do mobiles as well as Carphone Warehouse
• They don't do cafés as well as Costa
• They don't do toys as well as Smyths
• They don't do tech as well as, well anyone really

This adds up to a poor showing overall. The growth of Tesco has come from the "all under one roof" philosophy but this has come at a price to consumers. The reality of the philosophy is "all in one place, but only 60% as good as if you bought it elsewhere."  The idea of training staff up to be as good as their competitors in each field wpuld take a huge investment. The model of the department store, with market leaders delivering each sector, stands up better than Tesco's current plan.

It is my belief that consumers in the UK tolerate standards that would be unacceptable elsewhere in the World.  For example, I conduct mystery shopping programmes for some major restaurant chains and the question regarding food quality is "was the food rancid or spoiled in flavour?"  Now is this a standard we find acceptable?  In most European countries poor restaurants close because people won't pay good money for something below par.

It's the same with Tesco - customers are starting to find them out. Why pay higher prices for less-informed service on technology? Why buy their Finest range when, for a comparable price, you can buy M&S?

There is a bottom ground for discounters and there are already a few in the market. Why are Morrisons rushing for the lowest price ground? Why are analysts urging Tesco to join them?

A company that ploughed some of their vast profits back into a living wage for their staff, more staff available for customers and a higher standard of service would win every time.

Not everything can be bought on the High Street - MP3 version of The Hunting Party by Linkin Park on pre-order

How to educate your customers

I often wonder how run of the mill, High Street retailers can educate their customers in their ways.  By this I mean how to interact with the company and what "buy in" the company needs from their customers to make a successful relationship/partnership.

Some newer entrants to the market are able to have this relationship/partnership and have complete customer but in, as the retailer and customer have grown together.  For me, a prime example is Ikea.  You select your own products, you get them home yourself, you clear your own tables in the cafe - in return they keep the prices to a minimum.

Another such example is Build A Bear - you pay a bit more for the bear, but you have the experience of choosing the design if your bear and being a large part of the production of the best.  It's not just a purchase - it's an experience.

How do you relate the things you need your customers to know?

In the examples above, Ikea has store notices and both retailers have a great "word of mouth" network of avid fans.  Social media has increased this many times over.

Social media is one way to to this, but you need to educate some valued, regular customers in the first place for word to spread.  So, the best way to initiate this is to get your team to have great conversations with your customers.  The effects of this may not happen overnight, but consistently great interactions with your customers will consistently lead to these values customers being your best advocates.

One message I'd like to see all retailers get over to their customers is that their mistreatment of stock, fixtures and fittings will always come back to them as higher prices.  A packaging that a customer splits and renders unsaleable will mean an extra cost to them and all other customers in future years.

BBC highlights 150 years of John Lewis

I know it's Easter weekend, but I found the fact that John Lewis celebrates 150 years of trading very interesting and wholly relevant.  Being able to thrive for that long is testament to bring able to adapt to changing trading conditions.

Their aura of quality and exemplary customer service (if you haven't experienced it, then give it a try) have fuelled a continued trail of loyal customers.

It's niche is quality.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-27033810

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Your enthusiasm infects your team - and your customers

The best managers have boundless enthusiasm (mixed in with some focus.). When you are enthusiastic about your job, your company and have a clear direction for this enthusiasm then your team will feed on this.  They will work better for you, share your goals and share their ideas.  Nourish these and you have a winning team and a great place to work.

I worked with a manager with great energy, enthusiasm for the job and a clear view of where they wanted their store to be - with a sense of what order things had to happen to achieve this.  It was a job that I jumped out of bed to work in.

And your customers feel it too!

Some things you can't buy on the High Street - Amazon Prime

Article on retail gazette website By Wayne Usie, Senior vice presidentof Retail, JDA Software

Just reading through retail gazette website when I came across this article-

http://www.retailgazette.co.uk/articles/41412-building-the-nextgeneration-retail-operating-model-five-things-every-retail-ceo-needs-to-know

This brought up 2 key areas for me-

1-You must know your customer

Through all your customers interactions with your brand, you need to know what your customer is doing. Your High Street presence is the face of your brand but your customers will interact with you via your website, mobile website, apps and social media amongst others.  The more of these you can track, then the more you can tailor the experience to your customer.  Having log-ins for your website, tracking in your apps and loyalty cards will enable your systems to follow your customers browsing history as well as purchase history.  Allowing reviews of products via your website sees how your customers use and recommend your products.  Interacting with your customers on social media allows you access to their profile and their friends.  This information can prove invaluable.  Use it wisely.

2-You must know your own proposition

These two areas go hand-in-hand.  You must know in exact detail what you offer your customers.  From this detail you must ensure that all your team know your proposition and can talk about it with confidence to every customer that walks through your door.  Some of the UK retailers that have disappeared over the last few years tried to be too many things all at once - Woolworths, Comet, JJB Sports to name some high-profile examples.

Your customers must know why they are walking through your door. Your team must know how to interact with them.

Not everything can be bought on the High Street - Amazon Prime with TV and film streaming

Comparisons of UK High Street to that of Italy

On a recent visit to Italy, I decided to look at the similarities and differences between the High Streets in Italy and those in the UK.  The High Streets I encountered in Italy were generally more vibrant, with a higher occupancy rate than those I have encountered recently in the UK.

There is more of a focus on the trades in Italy and no High Street is complete without a butcher, greengrocer, fishmonger, cobbler or baker.

Some or all of these have been rolled into one supermarket in many UK High Streets.

This isn't to say that supermarkets are necessarily a bad thing in a High Street shopping area, but that a competitor that provides some expert knowledge and a high level of customer service would be beneficial.

We have seen more of a café culture like our European cousins over recent years, but the difference is marked.  UK High Streets have mimicked the US with large chains tending to dominate, whereas in Europe the trend is for local, independent cafés.

Planning offices need to prioritise the types of business they want to occupy their town centres. When economic times are tough, it is easy to accept whatever business that comes along.

Perhaps a forward-thinking council would get together with local landlords and advertisers to request certain tenants or sectors that they would like to enhance their town centre. That would be a proactive move.

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Speed of service is key for most High Street shoppers

Although quality of service and spending as much time as possible with each and every customer, the dynamic can change for many of your customers on the High Street. There are time constraints, mostly in the week, from the ticking clock on their parking space, childcare, returning to work from a lunch break and generally trying to fit necessary shopping into an already busy lifestyle.

High Street customers have less time than those in edge if town stores.

As quality, successful retailers we react to the reduced amount of time our shoppers have.  We need to man the tills, with a back up available nearby, especially at lunch time. Staff lunch breaks need to be worked around this. Putting a positive spin on this with your team will help with morale.

Stock replenishment needs to be complete before and after the busy hours over lunch time.  This ensures availability for lunch time shoppers (especially important if you sell lunch food items) and keeps your replenishment staff ready to assist customers on the shop floor and tills.

Management need to be visible on the shop floor and available to motivate their team at this vital time of the day.

Let's gear our teams up for this important time of the day and ensure we make the best if our High Street location.

Some things you can't buy on the High Street - Kindle version of The Husband's Secret

BBC article on Justin King's time at Sainsburys

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25960491

Highlights 5 key areas of success in Justin King's time at Sainsburys.

I found the quality/value and the focus points the most interesting and the most relevant.

Quality/Value

This is interesting because the days of low price being mistaken for value seem to have all but disappeared.  Value means being appreciated as a customer, receiving truly excellent customer service and buying goods that exceed expectations.  Even value retailers can't get away with selling things that don't last.

Focus

This seems so basic, such a given, but it is still overlooked.  It determines staffing profile, marketing, social media presence, expansion plans. It must be at the forefront of your mind with every decision. It must be clearly defined and clearly communicated to your team.

Some things you can't buy on the High Street - MP3 download of Crying for No Reason

Introduction

Hello

This is a short introduction to an ongoing series of short blogs on retail.  I have worked in retail for over 20 years and in this blog I'll share my experiences and show how these can be fitted to a plan for a retailer to move forward.  I also mention in the blog name about saving the High Street in the UK.  There is much debate about whether it can be saved or should be saved.  It has been the centre of life for many towns for over a hundred years.  It has to change and adapt to survive, but yes - it is worth saving.

I won't reveal my name at any stage my name, the name of any of my colleagues or any of my employers, past or present, as I don't think that this is fair for anyone or any company involved.  I still work in retail, so I value my anonymity.

I will take specific examples from my working life and apply them to a strategy to ensure that retailers have a better time of things (this is specifically vague, as I don't necessarily mean more profit, as this may mean less money in the pocket of you or I) and the High Street is returned to a vibrant place to work, shop and spend time.

Hope this makes a little sense ans starts to get your interest.  All of my blogs will be fairly short and on a single topic, so would make good weekly reading for any retailer, shopper or entrepreneur out there.

Thanks for reading!