Handywoman franchise… Halo game sets records… Leisure shoppers spend up

• Handywoman franchise
• Halo game sets records
• Leisure shoppers spend up

Handywoman franchise

Women-only gyms such as SmartCompany 2007 Award winner Contours have been a success in Australia, and according to Springwise another gender-specific franchise could be on the cards in Britain – trades such as plastering, tiling, plumbing, electrical work and carpentry performed only be female tradies.

British business A Woman’s Touch says many customers prefer to invite female workers into their home and clients praise their efficiency, punctuality and cleanliness.

A Woman’s Touch offers a full suite of services, allowing customers to avoid having to juggle multiple contractors for a single space. Even better, customers who prefer DIY have picked up their own trade skills through A Woman’s Touch DIY training courses.

Springwise says the company, founded by former investment banker Kerrie Keeling, already has a turnover of £1.2 million and will soon be moving to a franchise model.

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Halo game set to smash box office records

The third instalment in the Halo computer game franchise is set to break all game records, and a few movie records too, when it is released in Australia tomorrow.

The Xbox 360 game, about a rebel group of humans fighting back against evil aliens who have taken control of the Earth, is expected to achieve $300 million in worldwide sales by the end of its release day on Tuesday, The Age reports.

More than 42,000 of the games, which retail for just under $100 a pop, have already been pre-ordered in Australia, which will retail at $99.95 for the standard edition.

EB Games Australian director of store operations, Brad Harker, told the paper that the retail chain planned to open most of its stores for the midnight release.

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Leisure shoppers key to regional retail success

Shoppers visiting regional shopping centres with time to browse and not seeking to buy a particular item are the biggest spending retail customers, according to a survey of more than 35,000 shoppers in 60 regional shopping centres conducted by Directional Insights and reported in The Australian Financial Review.

According to the survey, leisure shoppers, who make up just over a third of visitors to non-metropolitan shopping centres, spend an average $81 per trip, $7 more than the average shopper.

The average shopper is generally looking for a specific item, will stay in the centre for around 90 minutes and will spend around 70c per minute, according to the survey. Almost 70% of shoppers in regional centres are women, while the average shopper age was 43.

The survey found that the longer consumers stay in the shopping centre, the more they will spend. Larger shopping centres or those with more attractions to keep shoppers in the centre tend to pull in more of the consumer dollar.

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