Apple are acknowledged as the
retail trend setters of this century which is why their retail strategy guru,
Ron Johnson, has been snapped up by famed department store, J.C.Penney.
According to an article in Retail
Trends - One of Johnson’s first observations was to recall his own youthful
memories of department stores. Looking back on the golden age of America’s
department stores, he observed that families came into the stores to do more
than just shop. He recognised that they wanted to be entertained while being
offered a range of useful services. Just how he is going to introduce these
aspects into Penney's is not yet clear.
How does QVM rate on
entertainment? The night market probably gets that right. Our quirky heritage
setting probably adds some theatre but is it enough? And what about
"useful services"? We are going to translate that to customers
finding what they want and then being able to easily access them.
The above mentioned Retail Trends
article referred to the universal retail aim of "Great Brands......Great
Theatre". Do we have either? We certainly have great depth in some of our
ranges. There is no better place in Melbourne, or Australia, to buy things like
sheepskin footwear or silver jewellery. If "Great Brands" means
famous brand names then we probably fall short of the mark.
"Great
Theatre" is certainly achievable with focus and finance. Perhaps some of
that $6m surplus the QVM gives the MCC each year can be directed to creating "Theatre".