Various reports have been produced on retailing in recent years that focus on why people go shopping. Some of these reports identify that consumers are driven by convenience and price. I agree that these are key drivers and the multitude of “box” stores and TV commercials will verify that this is the case for many retailers.

Having said that, there is a fundamental change going on in some retail sectors that we need to be aware of. The consumer is re looking at their most precious commodity, TIME, and asking themselves how can they use it more effectively ,but also how can they develop quality time within the community.

The community is still an important factor for consumers and they still want to gather and connect as a community. Historically the village and town square became the focal point for the local population and the weekly market was a must be place to be seen, catch up on the latest local gossip and to connect as a community. The town square remained the centre of the community until the emergence of the supermarket. This resulted in consumers changing their shopping habits and as a result they would often go shopping and not engage with anyone else in the community whilst on that shopping trip. (more…)

On the last Sunday evening of July, 2010 one in four Australians were tuned into their TV, not to watch a sports program, but to watch a cooking program. It was the finals of Masterchef, a series to find the best amateur chef that has generated more profit than any other lifestyle program Australia. At the same time across the water in the USA two of the top ten retailers announced that they were expanding their food offer to the consumer. In fact Target announced it was removing the garden category from their range and replacing it with a food category.

Food is the trend sector to be in. The consumer is looking for new fresh food offers and the industry is providing it. As a result every town seems to want it s own farmers market and restaurants are looking for new ways to provide the offer. This trend has become a concern for many supermarkets who are now promoting locally grown produce as a combat strategy.

Hence new trends keep popping up. (more…)

One of the things that hits me us as we travel up the west coast of the USA is how much more organised the marketing of markets is compared to most parts of the world. There seems to be a lot more cooperation between markets to build the pie for everyone.

Oregon could be classed as one of the homes of the farmers market movement in the USA. The first market was at Salem and that started in the 1940’s.

Oregon, the hazlenut capital of the USA which supplies 100% of Americas hazelnuts, blackberries, raspberries and loganberries, plus 43,100,000 pounds of blueberries, $55,184,000 worth of cherries, $29,175,000 worth of crabs and 30% of the nations peppermint. The State fruit is the pear and 197,000 tonnes are sold to Americans from this State, but the  State also boasts over 800 vineyards. (more…)