Luxury brands are doing very well – witness the recent success of Burberry – while the pound shops and cheap card outlets flourish but, with the notable exception of the John Lewis partnership, many middle market retailers are struggling and may disappear.

There was a time when being in the middle was considered a good thing but now the market seems to have polarised with consumers opting for the so-called Primark/Prada route – bargains or treats.

According to the futurologist James Harkin, as quoted in the London Evening Standard,  what we are seeing is no less than the death thoes of the mainsteam, a process which he believes started in the Sixties.

“The mainstream is no longer seen as quality, it is discredited. The idea that it was good enough for everyone has gone.”

While this may be seen as a good thing and that selling rubbish at an inflated price is no longer possible, it may sound the death knell for middle-market retailers such as Marks & Spencer. The strapline of ‘affordable luxury for everyone’  may no longer work in a market that is happy to mix couture and bargain basement.

Where Catherine Middleton has led others may not follow. The next few months in retailing will prove interesting.

Steve Jobs (Pic: AP)

The recent sad death of Steve Jobs robbed the world of an amazing man, regardless of whether one loves the iPhone, the iPad or the Mac.

The question now is how Apple will survive his loss.

Obviously, the company has been run – and run well – during his absences but it will be interesting to see how it performs in five, ten years time without its visionary leader.

During that time the current ‘news kids on the block’ will have matured and one may be the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates.

At the moment Apple products are flavour of the month but the test will come with the next new product launch.

But maybe customers will be kind as many seem to have a personal bond with the Apple brand. As one of the tributes on the RememberingSteve page on the Apple website said: 

“I fell in love with my first MAC in 1987, and have been in love with Apple ever since. Steve, your vision of what these products could do enabled me and millions of others to express our creativity in ways we once thought unimaginable. I can think of no greater gift to humanity than helping us all tap into our limitless potential to make art. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Sandy”

Few technology products have inspired so much love so maybe Steve’s real legacy will be that the Apple dream will live on into the future.

Time will tell!

However, there is  a new kid on the block – the Refashionista, those who buy exclusively vintage or secondhand clothes and adapt them to current looks.

In recycling terms this is to be admired.

However, is buying this way what the economy needs right now to get us out of recession?

While the average High Street has a plethora of appealing charity shops we also need people to buy new clothes and accessories.

Retailers of all types are struggling – particularly those in fashion.

If being a Refashionista goes mainsteam then retailers will have a problem!

So shop for new clothes now!

Ignore your local charity shop or vintage store – Bond Street needs you!

It was very noticeable that during the riots in August, the retailers that suffered the most – such as JD Sports – were those that had positioned themselves as a desirable, aspirational brand for the under 25s. Other  retailers who suffered included Foot Locker, Debenhams, Boots and Carphone Warehouse.

These riots are clearly a wake-up call for brands that actively cultivated a “gangster chic” image as they found themselves targeted by looters across the country.

The issue of good brands attracting bad customers is one that must be exercising the minds of many Marketing Directors right now in the wake of the riots. We may well see a radical ’repositioning’ of some brands in the near future.

Meanwhile Abercrombie & Fitch has taken a different route and recently offered money to ‘Jersey Shore’ star Mike Sorrentino to stop wearing their clothes. 

The 29-year-old ‘Jersey Shore’ star – who is regularly seen in the brand – has been asked by the retailer to stop because it could be ‘distressing’ to its customers.

The company was quoted as saying ‘We are deeply concerned that Mr Sorrentino’s association with our brand could cause significant damage to our image.’

Time will tell if other brands follow suit. Whatever happens it is going to be a costly exercise.

The news that supermarket giant Tesco has launched a range of premium own label products with branding that is not immediately recognisable – such as ChokaBlok ice cream and Lathams dry dog food – has caused a great stir in the media.

Speaking at a recent retail industry conference Tesco chief executive Phil Clarke was quoted as saying:

‘With F&F clothing, Technika electricals, Go Cook kitchenware, Lighter Choices foods – we’ve shown that we can build brands that consumers trust. Now we are going to do more,’ he said.

‘When customers buy Tesco products, I want them to feel good about it. Getting value for money should not mean sacrificing the sense that you are treating yourself. You should not feel that you’re buying a product that you want to hide at the back of the fridge or the bathroom cupboard.’

‘Once customers have an understanding of our retail, product and pillar brands, we should be looking more actively to extend into new areas.’

These so-called venture brands are different from the usual supermarket own label products in that they are priced at a premium level and will compete for shelf-space on their own merit with products from other suppliers, although they are being made for Tesco by large manufacturers of supermarket own brand lines.

However, the fact that Tesco has registered a wide range of brand names means that they will control distribution, can move supplier at will and, perhaps more intriguingly, in due course could supply their venture brands to other retailers.

Could this be actually be a major shift in strategy in which Tesco plans to compete directly with companies  such as Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Mars and Nestle?

If one of their venture brands becomes a major seller the temptation may prove too great and we could see Tesco venture brands being sold elsewhere.

Earlier this year Marks & Spencer announced they were going to develop their range names (e.g. Per Una) into real brands and were recruiting brand managers for each one.

Maybe we are seeing the beginning of a trend in retailing – perhaps as a response to the difficult trading conditions.

But in the week that Habitat went into administration, Jane Norman went down and Thorntons announced they were closing 120 shops, it  does beg the question whether Tesco should not be concentrating on their core activities, rather than flirting with becoming suppliers.

Time will tell.

The current Co-operative television advert features a husband appealing to his wife for relaxing Saturdays rather than the usual trip to the supermarket that involves waiting in queues etc. He ends with the exhortation to shop less and to shop for what you need, when you need it.

This system is, of course, how our continental cousins have shopped for centuries – shopping daily for fresh food to be cooked and eaten that day.

While even the gourmet French now shop at giant hypermarkets and their small specialist retailers may be struggling, they still buy their baguettes fresh every day and manage to enjoy ‘le weekend’.

The Co-op’s new multi-million pound advertising campaign was launched on January 3^rd 2011 and highlights all those activities that are more exciting the weekly shop.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/mzjhtb3TgBo

Created by advertising consultancy TBWA Manchester, the adverts encourage customers to spend more time with their loved ones at the weekend having fun.

Sean Toal, Commercial Director at The Co-operative Food, is quoted in the Retail Gazette as saying “We know that people don’t want to waste precious personal time, and the new advertising campaign gives us a unique opportunity to encourage people to think about how they prioritise things and the way they shop.”

Clearly, these adverts play to the Co-op’s strengths – 4,000+ local stores – but may well have a resonance far beyond their original remit.

If consumer concerns over higher food and fuel costs – allied with environmental concerns over waste and carbon emissions – become more important than possible savings at Tesco, then we will see more consumers changing their purchasing habits – buying locally from shops and markets as the need arises.

So could we see the end of the dominance of the mighty out-of-town supermarket in the near future? Let’s hope so!

While Churchill’s nodding dog has been on tour and has even ’starred’ in Christmas pantomime last year and at Pontin’s this summer, a whole film of ‘oh yes’  would probably be too much!

Where agency VCCP have been so clever with the Meerkat marketing is that they have created a complete ‘back story’ for Aleksandr and his family so harnessing our sympathy  for the struggles of his ancestors and further engaging with us.

In the ‘Battle of Fearlessness’ advert (part two of the triology) there are great lines such as ‘its only a fur wound’ which make everyone laugh.

Like Wallace & Gromit , a film ‘(The Adventures of Aleksandr Orlov’? ) would be popular with all ages regardless of background.

Could Aleksandr be that rare being – a brand concept that started as an advert but becomes an entity independent of Comparethe market.com?

Now that would be subliminal advertising! Simples!

Amazon's Kindle

Occasionally a product arrives that changes the marketplace for ever.

Arguably Apple’s iPhone has changed the mobile phone market while their iPad has ended the dominance of the netbook and laptop for working on the move. Certainly their iPod changed the music industry for ever.

Yet it is Amazon’s Kindle (ebook reader) that may prove to have the most far-reaching affects. It may herald the end of the printed book and traditional publishing.

 On 20 July 2010 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced that Kindle format sales were now greater than sales of hardback books.

He explained: ” While our hardcover sales continue to grow, the Kindle format has now overtaken the hardcover format. Amazon.com customers now purchase more Kindle books than hardcover books– astonishing when you consider that we’ve been selling hardcover books for 15 years, and Kindle books for 33 months.”

The online bookseller put out a release full of intriguing facts. Nevertheless, the company still has not released straightforward figures about total Kindle sales or total eBooks sold. Among the other details, the company revealed they have sold three times as many Kindle books in the first half of 2010 compared to the first half of 2009.

Amazon also shared this statistic for paid books: “Over the past three months, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, it has sold 143 Kindle books. Over the past month, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, it has sold 180 Kindle books.”

Already the dominance of Amazon has contributed to the disappearance of the traditional High Street bookshop, which is being driven out by a lethal combination of cheaper online prices, guaranteed next day delivery and endless choice. Not to mention ever-increasing shop rents and parking charges.

However, the final nail in the coffin of the small, friendly bookshop may prove to be the Kindle – the iPod of the book world? Now the UK version of the Kindle launches in August.

Even The Sun newspaper featured the news as a lead story yesterday - see http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/fun/gizmo/3075557/Amazon-launch-new-UK-Kindle-e-book-reader.html

Watch this space. Soon your favourite author’s new book may not be available at WH Smith – only as an ebook.

Amazon’s dominance continues.

The street was very crowded with shoppers, many of them tourists from France and Italy or from Eastern Europe, enjoying the reduction in sterling’s value.

Yet many of the lunchtime shoppers were clely locals who had ‘escaped’ from nearby offices to enjoy the early spring sunshine and to browse the rails.

What was interesting from a marketer’s perspective was what the shoppers were buying.

A quick review of the carrier bags that shoppers were carrying yesterday showed that the clear winners were Primark and Selfridges. Certainly both stores were very busy with queues at tills, particularly at the former.

The carriers that were glaringly absent were from the ‘middle market’ – Next, M&S, Bhs etc.

This was a physical demonstration of market positioning with consumers shopping at the top of the market and the bottom.

While these observations spring from two hours one lunchtime, it does show that is being reflected in market share and share prices – the middle market is finding the going tough.

Retailers in the middle ground need to create a reason why we should shop there. Differentiation is the key! Give us a reason to spend money with you!

Oxford St image courtesy of The Guardian