Dealing with the Age of Disruption

Posted on May 28, 2015 by bermanevansretail
Consulting firm PWC calls this retail era “the age of disruption.” And PWC has done a lot of research to determine the characteristics of this era, their implications, and how to deal with them.
Recently, PWC completed a major survey of shoppers:
“The report surveyed more than 19,000 online shoppers in 19 different countries. It focuses on how four major disruptions have resulted in unprecedented change in the retail industry — (1) The changing role of the store. (2) Mobile and related technologies. (3) The proliferation of social networks. (4) Demographic shifts.”
“As online shopping continues to grow at the expense of store visits, the premium in the future will be on creating unique,brand-defining experiences that keep customers coming back — whatever the channel.”
Take a look at the slideshow from PWC.

 

 

Posted in Global Retailing, Online Retailing, Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 5: Managing a Retail Business, Part 6: Merchandise Management and Pricing, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer, Part 8: Putting It All Together, Social Media and Retailing, Technology in Retailing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Using Supply Chain Optimization to Grow

Posted on May 27, 2015 by bermanevansretail
Managing the entire supply chain, from the acquisition of merchandise to the sale and delivery to final consumers, has always been a challenge for retailers. This is even more true today than in the past — given the multiple selling channels used by many retailers.
Therefore, supply chain optimization is critical from both customer satisfaction and retailer profitability perspectives.
As Forbes notes:
“At the inflection point of retail’s evolution, how are visionary CEOs from around the world preparing to manage and grow their enterprises in an increasingly complex omni-channel world? To better understand their viewpoints, JDA Software commissioned PwC and Forbes to conduct a global retail CEO survey.” 

“The resulting report by Forbes Insights: Retail’s New Imperative: Supply Chain Optimization as a Growth Strategy, revealed that supply chain has become a mission-critical area for these CEOs to get ahead of market disruptions, adapt to the changing retail environment and establish a new foundation for growth.”

Take a look at the slideshow summary of this report.

 

 

Posted in Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 5: Managing a Retail Business, Part 6: Merchandise Management and Pricing, Part 8: Putting It All Together | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

What Does It Mean to Be Customer Centric?

Posted on May 25, 2015 by bermanevansretail
Virtually all retailers understand that long-term success is only possible with happy, fulfilled customers. But what does it take to be truly “customer centric”?
Consider the following slideshow from Raymark (empowering retailers for 25 years with technology solutions): 
“As our physical and online environments continue to come together, consumer behavior  keeps changing and retailers need to react. Today’s consumers are extremely connected and live a digital lifestyle. They are educated, expect speed, and have become extremely demanding. With an overload of mass marketing, some customers have lost trust in retailers and have become less loyal.”
“In this guide, we will take you through the 10 commandments that every customer-centric retailer needs to follow in order to increase loyalty, new customer acquisition, visit conversion, transaction value and to optimize marketing and customer engagement costs.”

 

 

Posted in Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment