Title of Book: Shopping, Seduction & Mr Selfridge
Author Lindy Woodhead
Publisher Profile
books
ISBN 978 - 178125087
Rating 4 ****
A page turner,
easy on the mind and a fun read
Genre: The
history of 20th century
retailing - popular history/ biography
Style: Well written and detailed but easy to
read
Contents page: 14
Chapters
Index: Comprehensive 15 pages two columns per page
Flick through eye appeal: Easier
enough to dip into but really has to read in sequence on first reading
Time for a breather Stops : Take
a break at each end of chapter and reflect
Golden Nuggets: virtually every page – it’s a gold
rush
Topic Summary: Biography
of Harry Selfridge and the foundations of modern retailing.
Illustration: Visual
in the form of photos 17 pages black and white portraits , fascinating old ads etc.
Quotes: “The customer is right” and many many more
From Napoleon Bonaparte describing Britain as a ‘nation of
boutique owners’ to modern day popular historian Andrew Marr who described
in his “History of Modern Britain” as a
“ story of the defeat of politics by shopping” retail is important to what
Britain is about.
As you read this book have a pencil or highlighter to
hand, since it is stuffed full of great stories, and many ideas that are
just as pertinent today and back in the day.
Today’s Apple store has many of the principles of
browsing , playing and touching of the stock that Harry Selfridge would
have recognised.
The ITV 10 part
series "Mr Selfridge" was fine but the book is so much more.
As the UK high street takes a battering from both triple
dip recession and loss of trade to the Internet, big store retailing will need to go back
and reinvent itself to survive and differentiate itself from commodity
shopping to the pleasure and fun of the real
shopping experience.
|
Selfridges Quiet Room 2013
Keeping customers in Store longer
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