Issue No 151 August 2005
Book Review
Smart retail: how to turn your store into a sales phenomenon by Richard Hammond
This is one of the few modern, inspiring books specifically about retail. Hammond has filled it from cover to cover with very practical ideas. The pages are full of examples of great and failed retailers. It is a unapologetically British, with a few North American stories thrown in, but the principles and ideas cross cultures and could easily be used or adapted for New Zealand.
This is a real 'how to' handbook. There are things here that you can do in your store. Subjects like customer service and staff management that have been written about in thousands of books are given new energy and potential for the retail environment. There are eleven chapters covering subjects like 'How to make more money', 'Where competitive advantage comes from' and 'Store environment'. These chapters are clumped into four attention-grabbing sections:
- You — making things happen.
- People — you and your team.
- Customers — those who pay our wages.
- Store — the Aladdins caves.
Hammond is full of passion for the subject and he communicates it very well. The only reason you might not read it straight through is that you have rushed off to put some of the ideas into practice. Your original enthusiasm for retail might have got lost in the day to day problems of real life, but this is a book that will inspire you. Anyone who can write a book that addresses all the normal problems of management, marketing, and team meetings, and can make the solutions sound exciting, has something to say that can help you improve your business.
Kate Ogden
Business and Computing Centre
