Category: retailing | 零售 | 소매업 | 小売業

  • Ghost signs + more stuff

    Ghost signs I took this picture almost two decades ago on a visit to Hong Kong of ghost signs. I was reminded of this picture when I watched the below documentary on ghost signs. Specifically it reminded me of the former industrial units I saw in Fotan, which is in the New Territories of Hong…

  • October 2024 newsletter

    October 2024 newsletter introduction Welcome to my October 2024 newsletter, this newsletter marks my 15th issue. This is the second year that I have written about Hallowe’en sharing my Mam’s recipe for barmbrack – an Irish household standard. When I lived in Hong Kong, the locals enthusiastically adopted western Hallowe’en culture with local amusement parks…

  • The John Donahue post

    Who is John Donahue? John Donahue is the outgoing CEO at Nike. Full disclosure, I have Nike in my wardrobe and I own a share in the company at the time of writing. Anyway back to Donahue, according to his biography on the Nike website: John Donahoe is President & CEO of NIKE, Inc. He…

  • Mooncakes + more things

    Mooncakes Mooncakes were a big part of my time in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. This year, mid-September marked mid-autumn festival across Asia or known as Chuseok in Korea. It is similar to harvest festivals that happen elsewhere in the world. It is celebrated in Chinese communities with mooncakes. Mooncakes traditionally have been made of fat…

  • AI search + more things

    AI search This section on AI search is largely down to Rowan Kisby’s observations over at LinkedIn. I worked with Rowan when I was her client at Unilever, super-smart, can’t recommend her enough. Now on to AI search: Google has looked to augment its web search in a more obvious way with generative AI providing…

  • Southport + more things

    Southport At the time, when the stabbing of three little girls happened in Southport, I was in Merseyside. Even though I was just miles away from the town, it felt like another country. The locals I was with and I watched on with detached shock as riots unfolded on newsfeeds. The general sense was that…

  • Luxury beliefs + more things

    Luxury beliefs Luxury beliefs is a term that I came across from the writings of Rob Henderson. Henderson has a similar kind of story to JD Vance. Addiction in the family and escaping his home environment by enlisting in the US Air Force. After his service Henderson used funding via the GI Bill to go…

  • Zynternet + more things

    Zynternet is a portmanteau made up of Zyn and internet. If you’re reading this internet is self-explanatory, the Zyn in question is tabacco-free Skoal bandit type nicotine pouches. Zyn comes in a tin and has various flavours. According to journalist Max Read, the Zynternet is a kind of 90s to early 2000s sports obsessed ‘lad’…

  • IT director powers up + more stuff

    The IT director is seeing a return to power and its thanks to the power of hackers and AI. The smartphone, the resurgence of Apple and SaaS saw IT decisions become more organic thanks to increased access to online services that provided better features than traditional enterprise software companies and the rise of knowledge working.…