Be Mine

Love was definitely in the air yesterday, you could feel it in the meetings and see short messages of devotion on Facebook but it was best observed at 5.30 when a convoy of staff passed my desk ladened with flowers, chocolate and food that would provide the foundation to an evening of affection.

Valentines Day may have turned into another commercial moneyspinner in the retailers diary but at the heart of it, it's a good thing to share a bit of quality time with the ones we love. Long gone are the defining years at school where you would pray that the special internal Valentines postal system delivered at least one card to your desk and what a treat when an oversized S.W.A.L.K envelope would arrive from a mystery sender, containing not only a card but one of Swizzel Matlow's very own love hearts with the words to never be forgotten 'be mine'. Of course my desk was creaking under the volume of cards but I don't want to make you all feel bad.

Yesterday Photolink struck the headlines again with our new found friends at How Do. This time we took front page with the Hypercity Argos story http://www.how-do.co.uk/north-west-media-news/other-media/photolink-to-launch-india%92s-first-home-shopping-catalogue-for-argos-200802141907/ With Retail Week headlining today that John Lewis are also heading into India I am so glad that we have developed our own infrastructure out there to accomodate multi-channel retailing. It's only a matter of time before all leading European retailers are looking to exploit the Indian opportunity. We have made it our business to understand the Indian consumer and the marketplace so I think we have a lot to offer. Watch out John Lewis.

As a final thought for today I had two meetings yesterday with leading retailers, both of them hugely successful in their own right and both benefitting from an evolution to multi-channel retailing. What continues to amaze me though is the lack of brand consistency across channels. As retailers consolidate CRM platforms and technologies to know their customers, a silo production mentality continues to prevent many retailers from consistently communicating their brand proposition. With so much competition in the marketplace this has to be the key ingredient to build brand loyalty.