During
a discussion with traders on Saturday, one said how he hated the term “General
Merchandise” and he felt we should come up with a new name that didn’t belong in
the 19th Century and better reflected modern interpretations. It turns out that
this is a common view amongst traders and maybe it is time for change.
General
Merchandise conjures up visions of dust coated shop assistants wearing light
shades and shuffling around in dark storerooms. None of those visions are
appropriate for a modern retail market, certainly not a bright, vibrant, open
air market like The Queen Victoria Market.
“General
Merchandise might be a convenient way of differentiating variety goods from
food but it is just so boring and old world.”
A
few years ago this website started using the term “Specialty Merchandise” for
non-food traders. The justification was that each trader at QVM specialised in
a particular range, category, or concept of retailing. Our CEO at the time, Jan
Cochrane-Harry, embraced the term and it started to filter through official
communication. Unfortunately, over a period of time, both QVM and CoM reverted
to the old terminology.
A
couple of name suggestions over the weekend include New Age Purveyors Of
Cool Stuff and Amazonians. The first one was definitely from an older trader
although the second one is quite catchy. But seriously, here are some ideas
about what might better describe the variety of offers in the top end of QVM
and we would like yours -
Retail
Sector.
Pop-Up
Precinct.
Specialty
Merchandise.
Small
Business Domain.
Specialist
Traders.
Living
and Entertainment Precinct
Value
Retailing
Discovery
Retailing.
Sensory
Market - sight, sound, smell, engage.
Trader
Centre.
Variety
Market.
Market
World.
Modern
retailing is filled with some bizarre buzzwords, and we don’t want to force
trendy terminology just for the sake of if, but there appears to be nothing
endearing about “General Merchandise”, and there must be better ways of
describing what we do. We would like your views on an alternative name. How
would you want us described to modern consumers? What best reflects what we do?
Please respond anonymously or otherwise through the “Have Your Say” link below.
COMMENTS:
04/12/2017 08:51:34 New Name "I like Specialty Merchandise."
Thanks for your input - Ed
04/12/2017 09:24:34 Ditching GM "General merchandise is boring. Can we say Exciting merchandise?"
I like where you are heading - Ed
05/12/2017 15:54:07 Upper market "Without doubt should be specialty merchandise don’t know why we are having this debate it should have been changed long ago most upper end businesses are Special."
Thank you for your contribution - Ed.
04/12/2017 08:51:34 New Name "I like Specialty Merchandise."
Thanks for your input - Ed
04/12/2017 09:24:34 Ditching GM "General merchandise is boring. Can we say Exciting merchandise?"
I like where you are heading - Ed
05/12/2017 15:54:07 Upper market "Without doubt should be specialty merchandise don’t know why we are having this debate it should have been changed long ago most upper end businesses are Special."
Thank you for your contribution - Ed.