I was struck recently by two retailers who took part in the Academy in Action project, where executives from leading suppliers visit their stores to discuss what they have got right from the perspective of a shopper and what could be better. Inside both shops looked great, with good displays and ranges. The "shoppers" noted the commitment to customer service and warm welcome. However, the exteriors of both shops were poor: One had a torn canopy; the other a long-damaged fascia. Do shoppers notice? The answer is yes. Think about when you get a present. Think of the care that someone puts into wrapping the gift, personalising it for you. That takes time and effort and magnifies the value of the gift. Think about what it feels like if the gift is unwrapped! There is a simple remedy: walk across the street from your store, close your eyes, imagine you are a visitor, open your eyes and ask yourself would you cross the street to visit that shop.
“Twenty years ago I was driving boxes to the post office in my Chevy Blazer and dreaming of a forklift,” says Jeff Bezos in his most recent letter to shareholders. A blink later and he points out that the company has grown from 30,000 employees in 2010 to 230,000 now. But his ambition is the same. “We want to be a large company that’s also an invention machine. We want to combine the extraordinary customer-serving capabilities that are enabled by size with the speed of movement, nimbleness and risk-acceptance mentality that is normally associated with entrepreneurial start-ups.” Amazon is great at disruption because of its customers focus and the fact that the internet means it needs none (or very few) people between its warehouses and the shopper. The threat of Prime, its membership service, is the biggest challenge facing the UK retail market and the wholesale market by extension. It is both a direct threat and an indirect threat in that is inspiring countless numbers of othe...
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