It is a stereotype, but it is useful.

Ronson's Rack store, Granville, Street, Vancouver

Ronson's Rack is an end-of-line outlet location for the Ronson's chain. The stores are not at all fancy, and stuff a huge amount of odds and ends into a small space. The stores sell both men's and women's shoes. And how are consumer to know which is which? Easy; pink for girls and blue for boys.

Sign for Women's shoes (Size 10)

Sign for Men's shoes (Size 10)

I know, a stereotype, but one that the consumers will all be able to quickly understand. and in these stores time is money and self-serve is the order of the day. So it may be a cliche, and not at all politically correct, but the consumer understands it and that is what matters most.

Exactly what's inside?

Lays' Truck, Bowen Island, BC

We are living in interesting times. Food seems to be moving in two directions at once. Either the ingredients are becoming more real and pronounceable, or else food is a chemical cocktail of heavily processed and altered ingredients.

And this Lay's truck is a welcome site. Although potato chips are often lumped in with "junk food", when you look at the list of ingredients they are one of the healthier options. Sure there is a bit of oil and salt, but apart from potatoes that is about all that you find in potato chips. (At least that what Lay's says on the website.)

Lay's potato chip instructions (Source: http://www.lays.ca/#/simplygood/field_to_potato_chip/)

Sure sounds like a tasty snack to me.

Don't cross that line!

Facebook advertisement for MEC (Mountain Equipment Coop)

As I've mentioned before, one of the cardinal rules of cycling is staying on the right side of the yellow dividing line on the road. And what do I see in a Facebook advertisement for the upcoming MEC Spring Century Ride? A bunch of riders over the yellow line.

I wonder if this is the behaviour that MEC will be encouraging on the day? And I wonder what will happen if the riders are hit by oncoming traffic?

So, why use examples of dangerous behaviour in your advertising?

Is Terabite Pizza coming soon?

Megabite.com Website

Gigabite Pizza + Doner flyer, Vancouver, British Columbia

No prizes for guessing which one came first. Megabite has been around in Vancouver for at least five years, while Gigabite has just opened its doors.

Do I expect a lawsuit? Yes, probably. Will Megabite win? Probably not.

The right advertisement in the right place

Interac transit advertisement, Granville Street, Vancouver (April 17, 2014)

Interac is rolling out a new contactless payment system in Canada. These contactless systems, often known as "tap-to-pay" or "tap-and-pay" do not require the consumer to scan their card and enter a PIN code. By eliminating the need to enter a PIN code, and thus speeding up the payment process, this system should improve service at the point-of-purchase.

But for me the most interesting part of this the advertisement. This advertisement was on the side of a bus on Granville Street in downtown Vancouver. This bus was stopped just outside the flagship London Drugs location.

They've moved on

Z95.3 FM, Bus Shelter Poster, Vancouver

Z95.3 has moved on. No longer part of the Virgin Radio network, the first ads, "You can't stay a virgin forever" took a bit of a poke at the Virgin Radio brand controlled in Canada by Bell Media.

But Z95.3 has moved on with a new campaign.

From a strategic perspective, this is a much stronger campaign. It will be interesting to see how the listeners react to the changes.

Another "Black Friday"?

Home Depot, Cambie Street, Vancouver (April 15, 2014)

In the United States "Black Friday" is the Friday after thanksgiving. The name comes from the belief that retailers operate in the "red" throughout most of the year, and then move into profitability (The "black") starting at the end of November.

Now retailers across North America have rolled out a second "Black Friday". Home Depot's "Spring Black Friday" event started on April 3rd with similar events at Lowes and Walmart.

Will this be a meaningful event or just another gimmick? I favour the latter and I don't see this having a durable impact on retail sales.

A bit cheeky, but clever

Z95.3 ad, Metro, Vancouver, British Columbia

Broadcasting in Canada is a complicated and confusing business. And mergers and regulations make it even more so.

In 2013, the Competition Bureau granted Bell Media permission to buy Astral Media, the former operator of the Virgin Radio stations in Canada. One of the conditions was that a few stations had to be sold off. CKZZ, the station formerly known as Virgin Radio in Vancouver, was one of the stations. As Bell Media has the rights to the Virgin Radio brand in Canada, the station had to be re-branded.

And if you are going to re-brand why not take a swing at your old name, especially since Bell will likely re-brand one of its stations in Vancouver with the Virgin Radio name. I think this is brilliant.

Milking this for all it's worth

Portion of email from Shoppers Drug Mart, April 18, 2014

Sign at the entrance to Shoppers Drug Mart, April 17, 2014

It is a good cookie, but at the end of the day, it's just a cookie.

As I predicted this cookie is just the start of influx of President's Choice (PC) products into the Shoppers Drug Mart stores. And not only are the PC products flowing into the Shoppers Drug Mart stores, Shoppers is using whatever means available to publicize their arrival.

Don't touch the touch screen!

Point of Sale terminal, The Home Depot, Cambie Street, Vancouver

The whole point of a touch screen is that you can touch it. But here is a poor implementation of the technology.

Who is to blame? The screen manufacturer, or The Home Depot for not testing the equipment thoroughly? I'd say both, but The Home Depot must bear the larger portion of the blame.

Before anything is rolled out to the retail stores it should be thoroughly tested, and a touch screen that actually works by touch would seem to be a pretty basic requirement.

Of course there may be another issue. Perhaps the screen is only meant to be used with the pen, in which case the term "touch screen" is confusingly inappropriate.

Great promotion! (Too bad it's over.)

Sign in Starbucks, Granville and Georgia, Vancouver, British Columbia (April 2, 2014)

Sign in Starbucks window, West Broadway, Vancouver, British Columbia

As part of my retail consulting practice, I have developed an extensive checklist for retail stores. In addition to basic items such as dead light bulbs and empty hangers, I also look for out-of-date signage.

One of the most important jobs for a store manager is to do a daily walk through. They should try to look at the store through the customer's eyes.

Outdated promotional signage, such as this, should come down immediately. On April 9th the signs were still up at the West Broadway location. I removed them and handed them to the counter staff. (The signs had come down on time at other Starbucks locations.)

If I had not pulled the signs down, I wonder how much longer they would have remained on the store window?

A lovely little store

wren, Artisan Square, Bowen Island, British Columbia

wren, Artisan Square, Bowen Island, British Columbia

I love to visit retail stores. Not always to shop, but often just to see small retailers who are doing a great job.

Last year was my first visit to this store on Bowen Island. A small, independent retailer, Wren offers a wonderfully curated selection of clothing and accessories. Predominantly women's wear, the store also sells a small selection of men's and children's wear.

Great product selection, eye-catching displays, and attentive personal service from the owner. What more could a shopper ask for?

Nice attitude!

Mannequin at The Hudson's Bay, Vancouver, BC

These mannequins at The Hudson's Bay store in downtown Vancouver have flexible wooden fingers. And human nature being what it is, someone decided that this mannequin needed an attitude adjustment.

When I saw this photo I immediately thought of the famous shot, by Jim Marshall,  taken at Johnny Cash's San Quentin State Prison concert.

Johnny Cash at San Quentin State Prison, 1969 Photography by Jim Marshall
(Source: http://www.nme.com/news/johnny-cash/55539)

According to a story in NME, the photographer, Jim Marshall, "told the San Francisco Art Exchange: "I said, 'John, let’s do a shot for the warden'," before Cash flipped the camera the bird."

I wonder who the "finger" on the mannequin is directed towards? Management or customers?

Oh yeah, I'd trust this valet

Sign for Meridian Valet at the Seymour Street entrance, The Hudson's Bay, Vancouver, BC

The valet parking industry depends on trust. The vast majority of people who use valet parking are driving rather nice, and frequently rather expensive cars. The valet firm needs to appear trustworthy from the start.

And what impression does this handwritten sign create? Not a very good one. How can Meridian Valet think that this sign creates a positive first impression?

What a load of marketing buzzwords!

An excerpt from the EASY-BAKE Oven FAQ (Source: http://www.hasbro.com)

My six-year old daughter just scored an EASY-BAKE Oven from the local thrift store. The instructions were missing, so I went on the Hasbro website to look for the instructions.

I looked at the FAQ and saw this Question and Answer.

What a pile of meaningless gobbledygook. Inside the company it might be fine to use terms such as "immersive brand experience" but will it mean anything to the customers?

Well, there goes your brand's reputation

Pepsi Sign at Mandy's Cafe, Kelowna, BC

Kelowna is known for its bright sun. Any outdoor signs are likely to have a much shorter lifespan than signs in rainier parts of the country.

So, if I'm the Pepsi sales representative I should be keeping an eye on the outdoor signs to make sure that the brand is represented appropriately.

Because, if the sales rep doesn't care, and the retailer doesn't care, why should the consumer? A little thing, but one of the thousands of little things that retailer must pay attention to.

Great Point of Purchase (POP)

"Just Add A Kid" Point of Purchase, Telus World of Science (Science World), Vancouver, BC

I saw a rack of "Just Add a Kid" products on a display at Science World in Vancouver. The hangers for these products are great. The heads suit the products and are probably a great aid to sales.

It is not very often that I see point-of-purchase (POP) material that are so good. I'm sure that the POP must help sales. Very clever.

Select? Selected by whom?

Toys R Us Flyer, March 21, 2014

According to this Toys R Us flyer, you can get 40% off on select LEGO sets. Well perhaps not. I'd have to say, given the prominence of the set from the recent Disney movie "The Lone Ranger", these are not select sets, but rather rejected sets.

The move, The Lone Ranger, had a total production and marketing budget approaching $400 million USD. The combined worldwide box office is under $300 million USD.

Given that audiences have rejected the film, I can see them embracing the spin-off toys. No wonder these sets are 40% off.

Well, that didn't take long.

President's Choice (PC) Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookies at Shoppers Drug Mart, April 5, 2014

The regulators have given the thumbs up to the acquisition of Shoppers Drug Mart by Loblaw. The fact that this $12.4 billion CDN acquisition went through relatively unscathed didn't' really surprise anyone. In addition to adding adding over 1,200 locations across the country, including many smaller, urban locations, Loblaw now has an another thousand-plus places to sell its private label foods.

While the LIFE brand has some credence for healthcare products, Shoppers Drug Mart has never done a great job with private label foods. Yes, there was variety on the shelves, but the quality has often been disappointing.

Will the inclusion of President's Choice (PC) foods on the shelves of Shoppers Drug Mart drive sales? Given that this is the number one selling cookie in Canada, I'd have to say yes. As the rest of the Shoppers Drug Mart food departments convert over to Loblaw's brands I'd expect to see a jump in sales.

Made me look twice

Mailbox mock-up outside The UPS Store, Kelowna, BC

The postal system in Canada is in a bit of a chaotic state. Door-to-door delivery is being phased out, the only thing that most people still get in their mail boxes are bills, and the security of the Canada Post "superboxes" is suspect at best.

So the UPS Store is trying to convince consumers to get their mail delivered to a box at one of the UPS Store locations. And why would you think that the UPS Store might be a good place to rent a mail box?

From the firm's founding in 1980 until its acquisition in 2001, these locations were known as Mail Boxes Etc. After the 2001 acquisition by UPS the Mail Boxes Etc. locations have been re-branded as UPS Stores.

I saw this cardboard mock-up of a stack of mail boxes from across the parking lot and did a double take. Of course the store is not putting mail boxes on the sidewalk in front of the store, but the very realistic mock-up sure caught my eye.

Who owns red?

Food Bank Donation Bag, Okanagan College, Kelowna, BC

Soup is one of the staples of food bank's list of suggested donations, along with pasts and tinned tuna. So it is not surprising that Campbell's is sponsoring this "Food Bank Donation Bag". And how do we know that is sponsored by Campbell's? Red!

In the automobile world red means Ferrari. For soft-drinks it is Cola Cola. And if I am looking down the soup aisle of my local grocery store, red means Campbell's.

So good on Campbell's for supporting food banks, and very smart of the company to use red.

Promoting to businesses that don't really need your service.

Sticker on door of empty retail store, Vancouver, BC

The first time I saw these types of stickers, on the doors of empty stores, they were for security companies such as ADT.

That actually makes sense to me. But how much office furniture does a retail store need? A desk, chair, and filing cabinet? A sticker from a store fixture company would make more sense.