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5 Retail lessons learned from the upcoming lingerie wars

Everything and every aspect of retail is being disrupted and reinvented

Image Credit: Pixabay.com

By Chris H. Petersen

When I started this blog 12 years ago, I could never have imagined that I would be writing this post about women's intimate apparel retailing! My background and career have been in "hardline categories" of retail, especially consumer electronics. However, I am increasingly intrigued with the disruption and transformation of retailing across other categories, especially specialty retail. A recent post in Retail Dive caught my eye. A pure e-tailer in lingerie is planning to build hundreds of stores in order to compete with prima donna of intimate apparel. There are lessons to be learned from the pending lingerie wars that will apply across all of retail.

Why this is important: NO one is safe or immune from retail transformation. Customer decide what, when and where, not the retailers. The retailers who will thrive are the ones who seek out trends and quickly adapt to stay relevant.

Do customers want help from associates or technology?

Retail Dilemma – Defend yesterday's strengths or invest in innovation?

By Chris H. Petersen

Image Credit: Pixabay.com

You see it in the repeated in the headlines – bricks and mortar stores greatest strength is the staff on the floor. The one thing that ecommerce does offer is the ability to interact with human beings to get advice and assistance. What do today's customers really want? Do they really come to stores to engage with sales associates? Or, do they in fact prefer to get what they need from technology or their smartphones? What seems like a simple question is no longer simple or trivial. The future of retail stores hinges on where and how to make the best investments to increase relevancy for today's demanding customers.

Why this is important: Today's retailers walk a tightrope of defending yesterday's strengths versus innovating for tomorrow. Future success lies in finding ways to be increasing relevant for consumers who have become channel agnostic.

The horse you rode in on will not win the race for the future

Reducing customer effort is critical in earning customers relationships

By Chris H. Petersen

Image Credit: Pixabay.com

How easy is it for customers do business with us? How much effort is required for customers to find what they want, and have it provided where they want? Many retailers rarely ask these "effort" questions. Yet, they are at the very core of the Goliath's strategy that is gobbling up customers at an amazing rate. So much of retail still focuses on a heritage of the 4Ps to market sales transactions. With all of today's options of where to purchase, customers are now looking for seamless, easy experiences. Increasingly, the "effort" required on the part of the customer is as important as product and price. The rest of retail can compete with Amazon if they focus on reducing customer effort required before, during, and after the sale.

Why this is important: A product centric heritage has perpetuated a focus on purchases. Winning is no longer just about the sale today, but how to reduce the overall customer effort and making it easy to do business across time and place.

Winning the race to the home requires more than the last mile

The future of retail is not linear – the winners are building ecosystems

Image Credit: Ring

By Chris H. Petersen

The "last mile" to your door is paved with gold in terms of future ecommerce potential. Home delivery is a current customer expectation, and will prove to be a critical requirement for subscription models delivering regular replenishment orders to households. However, major "potholes" are creating significant barriers. Working customers are not home when most deliveries occur. There is often no place to deliver packages at large apartment complexes and office buildings. "Porch pirates" now follow delivery trucks to steal packages from porches after delivery. Getting to your door quicker is not enough. Secure delivery INSIDE your home or locker is the next frontier.

Why this is important: To grow subscriptions and ecommerce volume in general, retailers must do more than deliver the last mile. Home delivery is NOT a highly valued convenience if the customer has to worry about time slots, access or theft.