Category Archives: Fresh Worldwide Press

What is going on in the Franchisig, Ho.Re.Ca, Hospitality and Retail business worldwide? A selection of my favorite news, with sustainability on top!

The state of retail online shopping in UK: January 2011 report

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Shoppers in the United Kingdom spent 5.1 billion pounds ($8.3 billion) online in January, up 21% from one year prior, according to the latest figures from consultant Capgemini and Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG), a web retailing industry association.The travel sector generated some of the largest growth, as more shoppers took advantage of seasonal discounts on vacation packages. “Travel is one of the sectors of the U.K. economy that saw the earliest adoption of the Internet as an initial point of purchase and this trend shows no sign of abating,” says Phillip Rinn, director of advertising partnerships at eBay Advertising.

January travel sales were up 31% compared with the same month in 2009, and the average value of trips purchased was 886 British pounds ($1,439), the highest recorded in over two years. Many of those winter-weary travellers also bought luggage online, says Russ Carroll, U.K. managing director of comparing shopping site Shopping.com. “Shopping.com saw sales of luggage rise by over 20%,” Carroll says, “as many consumers decided they needed to get away from the miserable British weather.”

Hefty discounts offered by furniture chains also contributed to strong results for online home and garden retailers, as shoppers spent 56% more at these e-commerce sites in January than the year prior, according to IMRG results. “Home, on the back of our Clearance offer, had a very strong month with sales up over 30% on 2010,” says Jonathon Brown, head of online selling at general merchandise retailer John Lewis.

Alcohol sales dropped 67%, which IMRG attributed to shoppers’ desire to cut back after holiday excesses in December (Source: Stefany Moore for Internetretailer.com)

M’Illumino di meno: awakening Italy to sustainability

Fresh Worldwide Press, Hospitality, sustainability, , , , , , , , , ,

Today is the M’Illumino di Meno 2011 day organized by Italian Rai2 Caterpillar radio program. The campaign aims to the awaken public attention toward the energy issues by inviting people, companies and public structures (schools and municipalities) to reduce the waste of energy during this day. Many companies and municipalities have adhered to the campaign – the whole list is available here.
NH Hoteles Italia sustains this event by turning off all the facade lights of its Italian Hotels, and switching off unused energy appliances  for the whole day (Source: NH Hoteles and Caterpillar)

NH Eco Conscious

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Last January 10th, NH Hoteles, the leading Spanish chain of cool design hotels, has presented to the Italian market its Ecomeeting product, which is perfectly in line with the Company’s 2008 to 2012 Strategic Environmental Plan to reduce CO2 emission, water and energy consumption, waste generation by 20% within 2012.
The plan, principally a gathering of people for information exchange purposes, but also characterized by four distinguishing parameters:
•Efficiency in the usage of energy and water
•Low impact materials
•Fair-trade products
•carbon offsetting on client demand. Offsetting carbon strives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Companies’ offsets are typically achieved through financial support of projects that reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in the short or long term. For this purpose NH Hotels preferred choice and what they consider the best way is through renewable energy projects.

This is why NH hotels financially support a hydropower plant located in the Rôndonia, Brazil. This renewable energy river hydropower project reduces greenhouse gas emissions by displacing power from higher emission fossil fuel sources on the national electric grid.

NH Hotels clients can now choose to offset the emissions created as a result of their meeting, by including carbon offsetting in the Ecomeeting purchase agreement. The fixed extra cost is 1€ per person for low or medium travelling impacts, 2€ for meeting where attendees are coming from long distances and 3€ for transoceanic.

The client can also opt for a more detailed analysis of their meeting and the offsetting needed, NH Hoteles can calculate the offset required for the specific client. NH provides all this information for the client: client origin, destination and transportation used. Clients under this special purchase agreement will receive an official certificate issued by Carbon Clear, stating the specific amount of CO2 equivalent, compensated by the hydropower plant project (Source: NH hoteles)

A CONSCIOUS COLLECTION – SUSTAINABLE STYLE AT H&M

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Sustainability is a long term trend at H&M and this April as part of the focus on sustainability H&M will introduce the Conscious Collection – The collection which is for women, men and children is made from enviromentally – adapted and greener materials such as organic cotton, Tencel® and recycled polyester. H&M’s designers have been inspired by different shades of white, one of the most important colours this Spring. A minimalist, tailored look is combined with romantic lace, Broderie Anglaise, frills and draping. The Conscious Collection will be on sale in all H&M stores from 14th April. “It’s not just about organic cotton any more, the possibilities for creating a complete fashion statement with eco smarter materials are huge now. By designing recurring Conscious Collections we have the opportunity to show in a variety of ways what’s possible using more sustainable fabrics,” says Ann-Sofie Johansson, H&M Head of design. “Shades of white are the season’s biggest fashion trend and it feels right for this collection. White creates a romantic feeling with lace and Broderie Anglaise, but is also the basic colour in a sporty, relaxed style and in a preppy tailored look for men.” Womenswear is inspired by an updated romantic style in which blouses, tunics and T-shirts with Broderie Anglaise are a key trend. Tiered dresses are perfect for day or more dramatic Grecian gowns for night. Long floaty skirts are key as are cut-off shorts. The collection also includes the perfect white blazer and pleated trousers for a more minimalist look as well as Broderie Anglaise and lace lingerie. Menswear takes on a preppy mood with a white two-button blazer, collarless shirts and T-shirts with Henley detailing at the neck. There are printed and striped T-shirts, as well as a tank top for layering and trousers are either five-pocket jeans or tailored. Meanwhile the Children’s collection is full of white pieces for both girls and boys. It’s all about tiered dresses, tops, skirts for girls, and for boys t-shirts and jeans. (Source: H&M press release, Photos: H&M)

Is this the future of retail shops?

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At the last National Retail Federation Convention, Intel showed an interactive, 7-foot-6-inch Intel® Intelligent Digital Signage Concept with an LCD display and holographic glass called adiVerse to demonstrate how technology can enhance the retail customer experience with a multi-touch, multi-user interface.

Intel partnered with Adidas to show off what the wall might look like, and the results are pretty sweet. Designed by U.K. shop Start Creative, the wall renders products in 3-D, and allows a shopper to spin and zoom in on the shoes, and call up specs from a touch-screen display. Particularly hot models, like the company’s F50 soccer shoe, have accompanying video and relevant information (like the fact that F50-clad feet scored 44 goals in last year’s World Cup).

Supplemented by a supply of actual shoes that can serve as fit models, the display wall allows retailers to deliver massive inventory in a relatively small space. “We’ve leveled the playing field for small retailers,” says Chris Aubrey, VP, Global Retail Marketing for Germany-based Adidas. “They can now act like a big flagship store in a town like New York.” Not to mention the fact that the installation turns flat walls into prime selling space.

Concept demonstrates how digital signage technology can provide retailers with a competitive advantage, and how it can impact customer loyalty by providing targeted, interactive content to consumers. (Source:Fastcompany)

Multichannel customers, profits and mobile technologies

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This post is about a kind of customers that my clients know very well: multichannel customers. Since I started DESITA‘s business, I’ve always believed in multichannel marketing, and now I always advise my clients to use web and mobile as much as they can to keep customers informed and “tied up” to the brand.

It seems that this strategy will be the winning one in the future too, reading what Urban Outfitter’s CEO Glen Senk revealed during his keynot at last fall Shop.org. Urban Outfitter’s multichannel customers spend in fact two to three times more than single-channel shoppers. Additionally, consumers who engage with the company across three or more channels spend six times more than the average consumer. “Mobile may ultimately impact the in-store experience more than it impacts the online experience,” Senk said during his keynote. “We believe mobile technology will boost e-commerce, but I believe it will absolutely revolutionize the brick-and-mortar retail business.”

Josh Herman, multichannel marketing innovation leader at Acxiom, says that mobile needs to become an integral part of the in-store experience, for example offering customers personalized deals and tailored suggestions. “I think what we’ll see this year is a focus on getting the mobile marketing infrastructure more closely tied to the rest of the marketing intelligence assets. This will help fortify spending in mobile marketing,” Herman says.

Carsten Thoma, president of Hybris U.S. and COO of Hybris Group, believes that mobile is the glue that bonds online and brick-and-mortar operations, but he still sees confusion from retailers on where to start. In addition, many companies riddled with legacy systems that prevent the integration of mobile, he says. “That complete fusion of offline and online in a seamless environment is the most important thing in 2012. I’m 100 percent sure that customers are expecting this experience,” Thoma says, and I do agree with him

Green labels: are EU consumers confused about them?

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It all started with an article about green packaging, where there was a sentence regarding the the Green Guides (US Federal Trade Commission): "65 percent of Americans would prefer just one seal for green products over the hundreds that are now causing confusion. They note that it is increasingly hard to determine if a product is "truly green" or not based on available information. They are presently overwhelmed with the 350 product certifications that currently exist".

In Europe, consumers for sure know about Ecolabel and EnergyStar and…what else? I have made a very quick search on the web about the online resources available to consumers willing to understand a little bit more about "green labels". I did not find anything that is both comprehensive and easy to understand – the best resource being this PDF which is only related to UK. I think that as long as there is so much confusion about labelling, product and process certification, together with a lack of communication, consumers will have a hard time in understanding the real value of sustainable/green products and greenwashing will still be consumers first word associated to sustainability. 

I think that it would be of great interest for retail companies too to contribute to a sort of global database of green seals /certifications/labels in order to better communicate with consumers. Would you, as a product manufacturer, contribute?

Last Inditex step towards sustainability

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We are following what Inditex – whose brands are Zara and PullandBear among the many – is doing about sustainability, and we always really like it! The last news is about their Tempe subsidiary (footwear), locate in Elche (ES), where they have installed a vertical garden, a growing trend in the cutting edge cities and capitals worldwide.

The project was designed by Urbanarbolismo, which made an impressive installation of 16 meters in height, with a total area of 80 m2 and an irrigation system controlled by computer. The vertical garden can be seen from all the company's plants, offices, meeting rooms, etc., making the whole building filled with an amazing natural light. (Source: www.jardiland.es)

The 2011 trends in the Middle East Hospitality Business

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With my company DESITA I have always payed great attention to what is happening in the Middle East countries, whose retail and hospitality business are becoming very interesting because of their many nuances and the possibility they offer.  Karafirin project by DESITA

Accordingly to what recently published by the HotelierMiddleEast website, the 2011 hospitality scenario in Middle East is going to experience three different trends: back to the origins and to healthy food, casual F&B concepts and the raise of social media marketing.

Many of the expert interviewed stressed that the economic crisis has hit those country too and that consumers have become more cost and health conscious. This automatically translates to a return to the traditional, local food and beverages which are less expensive, healthier and – last but not least – more sustainable.

Green packaging: here’s some news

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In our ECOFFEE experience, Green Packaging and waste management are two of the most difficult to handle issues for a retailer who wants to approach a greener and more sustainable business. Just a couple of years ago, it was very difficult to find packaging that could be both resistant, green and easy to recycle or compost. Now life has been made easier by smart companies which are offering to retailers plenty of products to satisfy the most demanding client: from corn cups to sugar-beet takeout containers, degradable packaging is forecast to expand an impressive 13.6 percent annually to $685 million in 2014.

Now let's talk about two very different kind of packaging, coffee cups and pizza cardboard. Coffee cups are not that common in Italy, where coffee is still serverd in the traditional ceramic "tazzina", but everywhere else in the world, it is a must for those who want to sip the hot drink while driving to office. The Repurpose One Cup  is a new insulated hot cup that is 100 percent certified compostable. The design requires no sleeve, uses 65 percent less CO2 than a disposable coffee cup to produce, and can be composted in 90 days in an industrial facility. If the cups are thrown away with regular trash, they will degrade in the landfill just like food waste. Traditional insulated cups are made by adding additional layers of paper; however, the One Cup keeps coffee (and other beverages) hot by applying patented insulation material to a single wall cup made of FSC-Certified paper.

Talking about pizza, here's the "Salvapizza", a prototype developed in Italy by a pool of experts. Salvapizza is made of white cardboard printed with food ink and this prototype allows consumers to heat the pizza in the microwave. Thanks to the side slots, the pizza "breathes", ensuring the right kind of ventilation during the heating process, hence preserving the pizza fragrance. In the prototyping of Salvapizza, special attention was paid to the possibility of recycling the used container. The cardboard can be in fact easily divided in two parts: the upper part can be detached and easily recycled in the paper waste container. A simple idea, but that can help recycling a lot of waste material, thinking that each year, the Italian production of cardboards for pizza sums up to almost 620 million units. (Source: Crispgreen and Marrai A Fura)