Results Count ... everything else is conversation.

What customers really want … and few retailers can deliver

CRM might be the single greatest opportunity & challenge for retailers

Image Credit: Patpitchaya

If you ask consumers if they like CRM, most wouldn’t have a clue what you are talking about.  But, if you ask customers if they like having their shopping lists follow them where ever they go, on any device, they are very likely to applaud the convenience.  Throw in the convenience of previous search history, outstanding orders, as well as shipping status and today’s omnichannel customers are definitely getting hooked on retailers’ ability to make their lives easier with CRM.  So, what is this magical thing called CRM?  Why don’t all retailers offer CRM if consumers highly value its usefulness? 

Why this is important: When products and prices become ubiquitous, consumers seek value beyond the merchandise itself. CRM is the "secret sauce" that makes things omnipresent, personalized and so easy for today's omnichannel shoppers.

The expanding digital divide between consumers and retailers

Consumers want it all … but just how much can retailers deliver?

I'm fortunate to have an opportunity to travel to India next week to speak at the Omnichannel India Conclave. It is always a great learning opportunity to visit another country to discover retail trends firsthand. And, India is a fascinating market place, with one of the highest percentage of population under the age of 30. In preparing for this event, I encountered a new perspective that is emerging worldwide. The new retail reality is a growing digital divide between what today's smartphone wielding consumers expect, and what most retailers can deliver. One of the biggest challenges retailers face in 2016 is where to invest when they simply can't do it all. A related question will be how to measure ROI when purchases can now occur anytime and everywhere!

Why this is important: Retailing has always been about serving customers. But, today's omnichannel consumers have unlimited options available via their smartphones. Make no mistake, the consumer is driving the bus, not retailers!

In order to survive & thrive … don’t breathe your own exhaust

Biggest threat to today's retailers lies within the walls of the ivory tower

Image Credit: MrWildlife

The biggest challenge and competitive threat to retailers' today lies within. Traditional retailers have rich legacy of improving how to sell products through stores. These successes have the effect of creating habits or patterns, which become "accepted standards". The danger is that today's consumers are challenging many of these standards by their new patterns of how they shop anytime and everywhere. If managers "breathe their own exhaust" they tend to miss important trends and fail to ask the right questions. To thrive even in the near term requires both the courage and discipline of asking the tough questions, rather than repeating the "party line". Those retailers breathing their own exhaust are expiring at an increasing rate.

Why this is important: It is very easy to fall into the trap of over estimating how good you are today. Tomorrow's success requires management to ask the tough questions of what is NOT being done to meet consumer's changing expectations.

Kid Power demonstrates the power of technology for good

Finally a gift that just keeps on giving to children around the world

Image Credit: UNICEF

I've discovered that the best part of being a grandparent is that you keep on learning from both your kids and grandkids. This past holiday season, I discovered a wearable for children that was so popular it was almost impossible for parents to buy one in time for Christmas. If you don't have preteens in your immediate family circle, you may have missed the UNICEF Kid Power Band. It is a "Fitbit-like" wearable designed to promote fitness by having kids earn points that convert into lifesaving nutrition packets for malnourished children around the world. It is also a lesson for all of us in the power of engagement at a personal and global level for doing "good" that benefits others.

Why this is important: Childhood obesity is a growing problem in developed countries. Kid Power Band incorporates the genius of motivating kids to exercise by tying their activity to a tangible social benefit of helping other children.