The Nation Newspaper

Tag: love

  • Shoppers love fun, too

    Yes, shoppers may be looking for bargains, but they also value a fun and entertaining shopping experience. If you provide that, the customers will keep coming.

    Since it costs five times as much to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one; and dissatisfied customers vote with their feet, smart retailers pay very close attention to customer relations.

    This means that every employee needs to treat every customer like the precious resource they are, since they are the future of your store. Be proactive about making changes to merchandise, prices and customer service programmes. Staying in-tune with your customer is the key to staying on top.

    Once you have set up your store based on the above, it’s time to get the customers in. The Los Angeles Times recently had an article listing some examples of in-store promotions being used by retailers. These will give you some ideas on how to create your own in-store promotions. These include holding parties, offering loyalty discounts, providing classes and career counseling to get catch the interest of customers.

    Some stores team up with local medical practitioners to offer free blood pressure and breast cancer screenings and conduct free nutrition workshops.

    Some even host a cocktail party and initiate a reward programme that gives customers a certain discount every time they spend up to a particular amount. This is the kind of thing MTN is doing with its five* bonus. It gives its customers a target of spending N200 air time and winning N1,000 airtime, which expires 12 midnight same day. Other networks have also taken to similar promos.

    Some give free gifts at the purchase of a particular item. For instance, Samsung is currently running a promo whereby if you buy its new refrigerator, you get a smart camera or galaxy pocket for free.

    Some shops offer sewing and craft workshops. This is common among sugar craft artists. While holding exhibitions, they also engage in workshops and training for interested shoppers.

    They enlist a career coach who offers guidance to customers on home making and do-it-yourself activities.

    Many shopping malls offer leisure and entertainment options. Many provide children’s court where the kids could catch fun while their parents shop. Even smaller stores which do not have so much space to spare also make provision of sort to enable shoppers catch fun. It could be in the provision of cable TV for shoppers who walk in to watch the Premiership and great movies.

    Keep in mind that once the customer is in the store, your focus should be on merchandising. Avoid filling racks with discounted products and minimal staff. Merchandisers should move appealing products to the front and promote by using eye-catching displays.

    Maintain the value of your retail brand with a clean and well-presented store front. Regardless of the economy, consumers want to enjoy their shopping experience. Make sure your store front is warm and inviting get-away from the daily economic downturn.

    Perhaps this was what inspired the revamp of Popular retail brand, Marks & Spencer. It is wheeling out an array of props including mopeds and pasta machines as part of a £600million revamp of its shop floors, which will see stores within stores created for its clothing ranges and the return of delicatessen counters. Its chief executive, Marc Bolland, ordered the believing that, despite £2bn spent by his predecessor Sir Stuart Rose on modernising the estate, the shops remain stubbornly difficult to navigate and less than inspiring. The new design is already being tried in 16 stores around the United Kingdom, including the new outlet at Westfield Stratford City in east London. Bolland chose to show off the new concept not in Stratford, but with a tour of the M&S branch in High Street Kensington. He believes that the revamp revamp will boost sales by £1billion to £1.5billion over three years. The same has also been done for the grocery section. Taking inspiration from organic farmers’ markets, the food hall shelves have been clad in wood and galvanised steel, and the bakery produces sourdough bread as well as the usual croissants. The flowers are in zinc rather than plastic buckets, mounted on wooden crates.

    This is what distinguishes famous brands all over the world. They have maintained their reputation over the years by bringing creativity and innovation into their acts and making changes where necessary.

    Keep in touch with your retail results. Use your store technology to know what promotions are effective and where consumer experiences are lacking.

    Use your POS system to assess customer purchase and return history that verifies customer satisfaction, allowing you to offer new items at preferential pricing that a valued customer might want.

    Using information on your customers, their demand and some market intelligence, leverage that knowledge to build a strategic, targeted approach to pricing, promotion, assortment and other crucial merchandising functions.

    Take a look at whether the category roles and image items you identify are really perceived that way by your customers. For example, do your traffic drivers actually yield profitable traffic or do they encourage cherry-pickers? The technology you have in your store can help you determine the answer.

  • Still on Nigeria@52: Where is the love? The rights of Women at work; Police palaver

    Still on Nigeria@52: Where is the love? The rights of Women at work; Police palaver

    Nigeria or at least the electorate is still searching for a truly great selfless Nigerian with the love of Nigeria and the love of Nigerians as the cornerstone of his or her presidential policy thrust. As we ‘celebrate’ 52 years let us ‘cerebrate’ on the huge lack of achievement during that time compared with God-given resources, mineral, manpower and mental. If Ghana had a 100th of what we had, imagine where Ghana and Ghanaians would be now. We are also constantly reminded to look at Indonesia where imaginative leadership motivated by a deep love of Indonesia and Indonesians resulted in that Asian tiger riding on palm oil plantations originating from Nigeria. So we may be one year older, but are we one year better or one year wiser?

    The idea that the federal budget is for stealing needs a change. An anniversary is a good time to swear renewed allegiance and oaths to the country and citizenry. Of course they have been sworn but did they mean anything beyond photo-op for the paparazzi and yawning time for local channel viewers?

    I join millions of fellow Nigerians to apologise to our female police, rank and file, for the law that forbade them to marry or have children for three years after joining up and needing more than automatic permission to marry. Perhaps such a law exists throughout many uniformed and civil service institutions and even some banks et cetera may have such secret policies. I hate to think how many of them were forced to compromise themselves with immoral senior officers in order to get that ‘Permission To Marry’ stamp. In Nigeria nothing is as it seems and exploitation of employees is seen to be a right for the ‘authority figures’. They see nothing wrong with such bestial behaviour as ‘that was what so-and-so did in the ‘glorious past’, so why should they be any better?’ Nigerians will exploit every loophole and this is why we need much more good high level monitored policing from a better equipped, better focused police service than is available at present. Our police service must join the 21st century police services in many areas including human rights and employees’ rights. Giving birth is a national service –hence maternity leave. Some of the police stations are unworthy of the name with no facilities or amenities for the police- male and especially, female.

    The old standard Nigeria Police station should be re-designed with a leaf taken from South African Police stations, though the South African Police let Africa down by creating Soweto Two by shooting 44 miners and then accusing the miners of murder under an old obnoxious apartheid law. Police equipment referred to above includes every police station utilising locally available IT know-how with computerising of the police station and digital cameras to record crime scene and detained suspects for criminal face recognition records and fingerprints to avoid the Ibori incident, intelligence and weapons.

    Every policeman should have a pre-paid cell phone. This ‘no marry’ is blatantly discriminatory as it did not forbid men from doing the same. In these days of men developing cold feet over marriage for financial and other reasons, such a law complicates an already difficult situation further. Let us remember that reproducing is a national responsibility which keeps the population steady or growing. This obnoxious rule should have been thrown out years ago by the Police Service Commission and must be thrown out by the NASS if it has not already done so. It is as bad as the old Maternity Leave Law which gave ‘Six weeks before and six weeks after delivery’ under which most Nigerian mothers in employment would lose days and weeks if she gave birth earlier than was predicted by her Last Menstrual Period (LMP) or did not start leave early enough. Most women have always desired to work longer to around 36 weeks so as to get about 8-10 weeks with the baby post-delivery before having to send them to creche or give them up to a nanny at home. It was an avenue for extortion from the helpless women by unscrupulous doctors who had to sign the maternity leave forms especially for civil servants. I personally fought for years, and successfully, to get the Maternity Leave Law to be a consolidated to read ‘12 weeks maternity leave, regardless of the date of delivery’. Unfortunately some retrogressive elements in the federal and state governments are still living in the past and insisting on cancelling any leave not used fully if the delivery comes before six weeks into the maternity leave. By using the ’12 weeks consolidated Maternity Leave’ we were able to eliminate frustration of the mothers, a mountain of paperwork as the date the mother wanted was when the leave started and fraud from medical personnel colluding for money to alter maternity dates. The women in NASS and state assemblies should fight to ensure that the ’A Pregnant Woman is Entitled To 12 weeks Consolidated Maternity Leave’ is what is being practiced in their areas. Enough of cheating women. Women must demand their rights to pregnancy and full three months maternity leave. For Police or the public, ‘Pregnancy is a National Service’ lasting much longer than nine months and still too many fellow Nigerian women die trying to complete this service. What will Nigeria@53 bring? Is there any ‘Love for Nigeria’ out there?

     

     

  • Behold, a festival of love!

    Behold, a festival of love!

    The annual Igogo festival which showcases the culture and tradition of the ancient town of Owo was held last week, Taiwo Abiodun was there

    It is like the carcass of an elephant. It means different things to different people. Some call it a festival of love, others the Queen’s festival, while a few others call it festival of unity. But whatever it is called one thing that is certain is that it is a festival. This is because it is the only unifying festival that brings men and women together irrespective of their differences and political affiliations. It is called Igogo Festival and it is over 500 years old.

    Welcome to Owo, Ondo State. In celebration of the festival last week, the town was ‘painted red’. It was agog as all the citizens, old and young, male and females, set aside their political differences to dance round the town exchanging greetings and showering gifts on one another. Children, youths and elders were all ‘armed’ with long sticks painted in different colours. The sticks were used to replace leather drums as they were hitting them on the ground to produce sound in replacement of drums (drumming is forbidden during this period) and singing all kinds of songs.

    The male chiefs who were also participants could erroneously be mistaken for women when seen from afar off, seeing their protruding buttocks and false breasts padded with foams and the earrings dangling from their ears. As part of the festival, they are compelled to dress like women, wearing blouses, skirts, earrings, necklaces and brassieres. Not only that, they either plait their hair or braid them or wear wigs on their bald heads!

    Irrespective of their age and gender, they all danced along, and wriggled their waists while the beads on their necks, legs and wrists dangled along producing melodious sounds. It is held every year and full of fun. “Imagine my look, am I not a woman?”, one of the celebrators asked as he ran forward, backward and sideways, then wriggled his waist while showing the spectators his earrings and other materials adorning his body in his woman apparel.

    This festival is held every year no matter the condition. It must not be missed except on a rare occasion such as if there is no monarch.

    Royal strides

    The Olowo of Owo, Oba David Victor Folagbade Olateru- Olagbegi, the chief celebrator stepped out, shielded by his chiefs as he walked regally under a beautiful large umbrella to protect him from the scorching sun. Dressed in his traditional ewu okun beads regalia, a traditional sword called uda omalore was dangling beneath his big ‘skirt’. The monarch’s head was decorated with a beautiful feather called urere okin. His two outstretched hands and ankles were wrapped with special coral beads specially meant for his status as a king. The golden ring on his finger shone as he danced toward the King’s market (Oja Oba). With the palace praise singers screaming at top of their voices saluting him in royal way saying ‘ Oologho, Baba O,!!!, Wa a rehin odi (Our monarch, may you conquer your enemies) while the deafening ‘Aaaaase’ followed, as they sang his praises. Men and women who are friends, supporters, well wishers and all accompanied by the monarch’s family members were not left behind coupled with the retinue of his chiefs who were all in white apparels as they too had their hair plaited as they clanged on their iron gongs, singing songs of love and joy. As the monarch rendered a soul searching philosophical and thought provoking traditional songs in Owo dialect singing “Gbaragada alagemo e me i seran obe, e fo un Ogho d’oluwa tu wa se o” (Chameleon is not edible, warn ‘them’ to behave), he the song others joined the chorus, rendered singings and dancing along with him. In all, he rendered seven songs in the market place as is the custom. Later, he prayed for the progress of the town while the people, both the old and the young, went into frenzy, hailing and praising him to high heavens. In response, he smiled and waved to them in appreciation of their presence.

    Those who could not see him climbed to the tree top to have a limpse of him! It was indeed the radiance of a king.

    The festival which started over 500 years ago during the reign of Oba Rengenjen, who unknowingly married a beautiful woman, Oronsen, who was not an ordinary woman; she possessed a supernatural power. According to history, the monarch fell in love with this strange woman and kept her in the palace. He was so much in love with her that other wives became jealous of their love. However, Oronsen was said to have made the monarch wealthy by using her supernatural power to defecate expensive coral beads, but this, was only to the knowledge of her husband!

    Due to this the town became highly prosperous and popular. Later, out of envy, other wives, however, became more jealous and were in search of how to cause disaffection between the two lovebirds. Her taboo was that okra should never be mixed in her in her presence, nor firewood be thrown, and above all no water should be splashed before her! All these taboos were kept under wraps by the monarch while he warned his household never to try any of these.

    The story went on that, until one day when one of the wives got the husband drunk and was made to divulge the secret. One day, the monarch went out on an for hunting expedition while the other wives conspired against the wife and broke the taboos: they splashed water on the ground, threw firewood and mixed okra in her presence. The woman, sensing danger, and having discovered their conspiracy, fled the palace and ran for cover in a thick forest!

    But when her husband, the monarch returned and was briefed about what had transpired in his absence, he was annoyed. He, however, made frantic effort to bring her back and therefore, instructed the palace guards known as the Iloros, ayoyos to trace her out. Alas, it was only her scarf that was discovered along the Ulaja groove. This material was brought back home with long canes to discipline the other wives who perpetrated this ignoble act.

    Several efforts were made to locate her but all to no avail. But her voice was always heard weeping for losing such a lovely husband. Her crying was heard but she was not seen. In return for her love, she instructed the monarch to be celebrating her every year to get the town to progress.

    During the Igogo Festival, there should be no booming of guns, men and women must not wear caps and headgears, while no drums should be beaten. Wooden sticks and iron metal gongs are used in place of drums, while different songs are sung during this occasion.

    High Chief Ola Osenenpen, who was also dressed in woman’s clothes while speaking about the festival said “Nobody should miss the festival, it is a sign of showing love and honouring the king who is the chief celebrator at the festival. I am about 69years and since I became a chief 25 years ago, I have never missed the festival”. On the costs implication, Osenenpen said it cost him much, “I buy drinks and food for my visitors. In fact, I spend about N500,000.This is our own festival.”

    Chief Christianah Famulagun,91, the Obanuwa of Owo kingdom described the festival as a huge success despite the fact that she had become old and cannot go out again. She as a result of old age could not go out to join the dance but she observed it from her home. The septuagenarian in spite of her inability to walk, dressed in her own regalia decorated with beads and sang songs. According to her, she has never missed the festival since her enthronement adding that whoever does not celebrate the festival is assumed to be the monarch’s enemy.

    The Olowo of Owo said the festival is part of the town’s culture and tradition. “Though I am a staunch Christian and traditional royal title holder but we have the chief priest, Chief Adelanke who is the custodian of the town’s rites and rituals” He, however, denied that he has a plan to abolish or abandon the festival. “This is culture and there is a difference between culture and religion,” he said.

    Mrs. Akinola Grace Olajumoke, Assistant Chief Museum Education Officer, Owo, described the festival as a good one that can boost the economic power of the town. This is because “during this festival a lot of things are sold like ornamental beads, wigs, socks, and women attires. It is one of the richest festivals in Yorubaland.”

    Tunde Onibode appealed to both the state and federal government to come to the support of the festival, saying this is another tourist attraction Festival. Owo is well- known in Yorubaland.