By Posted on Posted in 2012, Books, Inspiration, Retail No Comments

I finished reading Smart Retail: Practical Winning Ideas and Strategies from the Most Successful Retailers in the World, a book by Richard Hammond.

From the moment you start the 1st page till you finish, of course if you ever have worked for retail or have passion for it, you will keep saying, I know this, I did that, I have been through this, I always thought of that and so on … Every single detail in the book will take you to a place in the back of your mind. So the good thing about this book is the centralization of the retail information, tricks, tactics and strategies and can be easily used as a general guideline.

Because retail and no matter what kind of retailer you are (food, fashion, electronics, books, etc…), is a huge universe, so no matter how many years you spent in retail, you will always remain a student, discovering every day something new, so thank you Richard Hammond for writing this book and putting all the common points together as a reference to come back and pick any idea and make it work in our retail world.

Book Description

The world’s #1 guide to retail success, complete with crucial, up-to-date insights–including new case studies, ideas, strategies, and tactics from today’s best retailers, like TopShop, IKEA, and Best Buy. Smart Retail incorporates several valuable chapters, including:

  • Opportunities to learn from past retail pioneers: simple yet effective strategies your competitors have forgotten.
  • How to use data to drive profit and growth.
  • How to do more with less, and maximize the value each team member brings to the table.
  • How to use new technology to develop highly productive, innovative “Remote Teams”.

Covering everything from creating the ultimate retail experience to understanding the customer and the importance of motivated workers, this is the book that will equip managers, team-workers, retail entrepreneurs and indeed anybody who sells direct to customers, with practical winning ideas and strategies.

About the Author

Richard Hammond is proud to call himself a retailer: He has more than 25 years of experience and still gets a buzz from it every day.

He has developed a practical problem-solving approach to creating great retail experiences. His consultancy business put this into practice for clients ranging from convenience stores in Kazakhstan, fashion brands in Sweden, to big stores and brands in the UK.

By Posted on Posted in Business, Dreams, Dubai No Comments

The first in a series of three films exploring trade and business in Dubai today. Business leaders talk about physical infrastructure and its impact on economic geography as well as the intangibles that enable ease of business in the emirate.

The second in a series of three films exploring trade and business in Dubai today. Business leaders talk about Dubai’s position as an international trade hub and a gateway to the wider region and emerging economies such as Africa, Brazil, China and India.

The third in a series of films exploring trade and business in Dubai today. For entrepreneurs, Dubai is a place of fast growth, innovation and a ‘can do’ attitude that can be seen across creative spaces such as Shelter and the Pavilion where opportunities for creativity and collaboration flow.

By Posted on Posted in Fund Raising, Funny, Startups No Comments

OSTRICH PILLOW is a revolutionary new product to enable easy power naps anytime, everywhere, OSTRICH PILLOW ‘s unique design offers a micro environment in which to take a cosy and comfortable power nap at ease. OSTRICH PILLOW has been designed to allow you to create a little private space within a public one, to relax and unwind. Its soothing soft interior shelters and isolates your head and hands (mind and body) for a short break, without needing to leave your desk, chair, bench or wherever you may be.

By Posted on Posted in Networking, Social, Supermarkets, Web 2.0, Websites No Comments

Online sites are launched every day by hundreds, new ideas of online products are being seen everywhere and the latest is called Supermanket.

The name looks funny but when you take a closer look you realize what it is about, a website where women of the world are the clients and the products are simply men, in another term, a dating site.

The service started in Chile two months ago, and has so far acquired 5,000 users. There have been 2,116 purchases by women, with 45% rate of acceptance — where the “product” wrote back. A U.S. version of the service launched last week.

This does not mean you are buying a man to become your slave, as the FAQ of the site is saying, they just want to open of line of communication between men and women

In my opinion, the idea has lots of traction and it should move on smoothly among single women as they are launching the initial communication/contact with the product/man they buy and are not harassed by unwanted people unlike other dating sites, in the meantime, most men will be thinking twice before sharing themselves as a product on a shelf, sorry this is not me typing, excuse my ego!

By Posted on Posted in Cars, Funny, Lebanon No Comments

2 weeks ago, I posted on my Facebook page the below photo saying that the Lebanese Porsche 911 owners have the so-called “plate number complex”, they cannot drive the car unless the number 911 appears somewhere on the car plate number.

Yesterday I spotted another car with the same syndrome. There are plenty of them around, if you catch any of them on your camera, feel free to send them over to be posted on this blog entry.

By Posted on Posted in Design, Logos No Comments

EBay Inc executive Devin Wenig unveiled a new logo on Thursday. The new logo keeps eBay’s famous colors, red, blue, yellow and green, but the letters are thinner and arranged inline, rather than the previous, slightly jumbled approach.

A lot like the old logo, but with a cleaner font.