Businesses urged to build a ‘brand personality’

Katrina Stokes The Advertiser May 29, 2012 SHE has lolly pink hair, multiple piercings and a sleeve of tattoos, but that’s exactly what makes her so appealing to her coffee customers. Ashleigh Humphreys’ individuality is actually what some companies are looking for. It’s all part of a business’s brand personality, branding expert Cath Sutherland says. “It’s understanding what your unique brand personality is as a business and expressing that in everything that you do,” she says. Ms Sutherland recently worked with a range of businesses, including popular juice company Boost Juice, on how their unique brand energy set them apart from other businesses. “Anyone can make a juice … it’s a competitive market on the product side of things. “It’s the brand energy in how you deliver your product that’s how you get your point of difference,” she says. Ms Sutherland said more and more people wanted to connect with…

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Coles stores to grow bigger

May 30, 2012 AAP Coles plans to increase the size of its supermarkets as it continues its battle with Woolworths. Managing director Ian McLeod told investors on Wednesday the supermarket giant wants to increase its floor space by two per cent each year. Coles expects to open 19 new stores, close 11 stores, and extend 10 stores in the 2011/12 financial year. Up to 400 stores are also set to be refurbished. “For us, the optimum store size is 3,000 square metres,” Mr McLeod told investors in Wesfarmers, which owns Coles. City Index analyst Peter Esho said the comments indicate Coles will continue to work on gaining market share. “This sends a signal to Woolworths that the recent price war is unlikely to bed down anytime soon,” he said. Wesfarmers also owns Bunnings, which Woolworths is trying to compete with by opening up the Masters hardware chain. Bunnings had 202…

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Retail roller coaster rocks on

May 30, 2012 The Age Another month, another headline generated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics retail sales figures as the seasonally adjusted numbers jump around, in the process masking a couple of bigger continuing stories about the retail trade. If market commentary used the ABS trend series measure, there would be no story – retail trade was up by 0.3 per cent in April, as it was in March, as it was in February, as it pretty much has been for more than a year now. Same old same old. Fortunately for the commentariat, the seasonally adjusted version can be relied on to provide something to talk about: retail sales down 0.2 per cent in April, retail sales up 1.1 per cent in March, retail sales always doing something. But if you really want a story about why so many shopkeepers are expressing pain, it pays to look further…

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Full metal jacket to fight plain cigarette packets

Mark Metherell Health Correspondent May 31, 2012 The Age AT LEAST one tobacco company has moved to frustrate the Gillard government’s plain packaging laws by distributing metal cigarette packets for sale. Peter Stuyvesant-branded metal packets are available for sale ahead of regulations which will outlaw the sale of packets bearing any brand or logo. Health Minister Tanya Plibersek warned retailers not to get burnt by stocking metal cigarette tins, claiming they would not comply with the plain packaging regulations, due to take effect in December, and would become illegal to sell.The government is also about to introduce draconian penalties against tobacco smugglers, following industry claims that plain packaging would cause an influx of black market tobacco. Attorney-General Nicola Roxon will today announce jail terms of up to 10 years for smuggling tobacco as part of tougher customs laws aimed at black market tobacco traders. Current penalties range from two to…

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Wesfarmers upbeat on retailing

Madeleine Heffernan and Eli Greenblat May 31, 2012 The Age WESFARMERS remains confident about the momentum of its key Coles, Kmart and Officeworks businesses and has defended the retailer’s promotion of private label foods, arguing the cheaper groceries are good for customers. In a strategy briefing yesterday, managing director Richard Goyder labelled the Coles supermarket chain as a ”bold turnaround” story. The division has boosted food and liquor sales from $21 billion to an estimated $26.5 billion this year. Coles also plans to increase its floor space by two per cent each year as it continues its battle with Woolworths. Coles expects to open 19 new stores, close eleven, and extend 10 stores in the 2011/12 financial year. Up to 400 stores are set to be refurbished. The investor briefing came as April retail sales fell 0.2 per cent, below market expectations, adding to the weak retail sales outlook particularly…

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Retail in reverse as resources power on

Adam Creighton and David Uren The Australian May 31, 2012 THE divide between the over-heated, resource-rich sectors of the economy and those stuck in the slow lane has been laid bare by the latest reports on construction and retail sales. Engineering construction is growing by unheard-of rates of almost 50 per cent a year in Western Australia and 20.7 per cent in Queensland as resource companies assemble their multi-billion-dollar projects. However, the retail sector, which had hoped that better sales results in March might herald a recovery in consumer spending, slumped again in April. Sales fell in all sectors except for supermarkets and restaurants. Shoppers deserted department stores and household goods retailers. HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham said of the latest data: “More evidence today of multi-speed growth, with mining strong and weaker conditions elsewhere.” The conflicting trends in the economy present the Reserve Bank with a dilemma as it…

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