Opinion

It has always been the No 1 rule of retail – know your customer. Learning buying patterns, understanding why they step foot in your store in the first place, and making sure you keep them interested by consistently introducing new product lines will be a big help to ensure customers keep coming back.

The Guardian recently published an unbridled attack on the “detox industry” and supplements and dietary habits for detox. Among the comments were that detox was...

2015 is the year for intelligent retailing. In an age of smartphones, touch-screen devices and clever technology it’s only right that beauty retail should move with the times and provide shoppers with the type of revolutionary customer service that they have come to expect from other industries.

Grappling for shelf space, competing on packaging design, POS promotions – these are all familiar, day-to-day experiences for manufacturers and brands alike trying to stay afloat in the competitive world of retail.

 Last month four prominent Soil Association trustees who recently resigned from the charity accused it of disowning the ‘O’ word. They also warned that the...

Last week four Soil Association trustees resigned from the charity accusing it of lacking conviction on organic. But to create real change you sometimes just have...

People everywhere are reducing meat consumption. Craig Sams argues that organic farmers are well placed to adjust to the coming low-meat scenario My late great...

It’s easy to tell when the festive period is approaching because the nights get longer and boozier, the streets are paved with fairy lights and good cheer, and excitement builds for the celebrated launch of the Natural Beauty Yearbook!

Organic retail sales in the UK are on the move again and growth, though modest, are outpacing conventional sales. But organic’s share of total...

In the New Year the Soil Association is to get a rebrand. The most visible change will be the organic charity's new logo, which...

Honesty is the best policy, or at least that’s what my mother always taught me. It’s kept me in good stead throughout my life, but now it seems this age-old mantra is fast becoming the next wave of corporate policy in a bid to support sustainable product growth. A recent article in The Guardian stated: “With consumers, investors and employees increasingly interested in companies’ social and environmental performance, transparency is becoming a corporate necessity.”

 The Nordic Food Lab fuses the finest gastronomic traditions with cutting edge science to thrilling effect, writes Craig Sams You have to hand it to the...

After a century of destructive conflict a new battle is about the begin – the one to save Planet Earth. It's the war we really...

Look around today and you’ll see a world in crisis. Divisive action in Syria and the Middle East, the news that British troops may be set to re-enter Iraq, and on the domestic front (at the time of going to print) Scotland is on the cusp of making history by voting for independence.

It’s nearly always a Monday morning when you find yourself in front of the mirror being greeted by the most unwelcome of sights —...

Oh, dearie me. In a bitter article in the Sunday Telegraph just a few days after Cameron sacked him as Environment Minister, Owen Paterson...

To many of us, especially those who grow our own, the idea that organically produced fruit and veg is good for you just seems...

Making the switch to organic agriculture on a global scale and turning waste biomass into biochar offers the real prospect of being able to...

Walk into any department store in Europe and you’ll find yourself assaulted on all fronts by a dizzying array of cosmetic counters, a thick...

Yeo Valley is the British organic industry’s biggest success story. Tim Meads has been running the businesses since 1990 and tells Michael Wale why...