Results Count ... everything else is conversation.

“More is not better. Only better is better.”

Adding more technology does not mean that they will come or buy  

By Chris H. Petersen

Image Credit: https://www.ces.tech

Along with 180,000 other humans who converged on Las Vegas last week, I attended CES (Consumer Electronics Show). Every tech gadget imaginable filled the millions of square feet of exhibition space. From drones, to self-driving vehicles, to rolling stores. AI and robotics were everywhere, including a robot designed to fold clothes that did not exactly accomplish the task, at least reliably. The pervasive theme of CES seems to be that more is better. More technology is better. More gadgets are better. Bigger and faster are better. The reality is that only a handful of the CES gadgets will ever become viable products in retail actually purchased by consumers. Spoiled by choice, today's customers are more finicky than ever. The question is whether all those brands and manufacturers will understand that the "C" in CES determines when and how better is better.

---

    TWEET THIS

For today's spoiled consumers, adding more features does not make it better. Better is better when consumers perceive value for them.

5 Top Themes for Future Retail Success - TCG Retail Summit

Source: TCG Retail Summit

By Chris. H. Petersen

I was honored to have the opportunity to speak at the TCG Retail Summit 2017 held in Berlin last week. The TCG Summit represents a very unique gathering of top European Executives from across Europe. TCG is specifically focused on technology retailing, which is one of the most challenging categories in all of retail. In mature categories with declining volumes and margins, there are immense pressures on the C-Suite to innovate. This year's TCG summit was particularly noteworthy in terms of the dominant recurring themes for future retail success, not only for technology, but all categories of retail.

Why this is Important: The paradox was that even though the focus was on technology retail, the innovations were less about applying technology to retail, and much more about how to engage today's omnichannel consumer.

5 Key distributor opportunities in an omnichannel world

Golden opportunities for distributors in the "last mile" of omni-retail

By Chris H. Petersen

Image Credit: Stuart Miles

For today's consumers, omnichannel is their "new normal". They now shop and purchase anytime and everywhere. Power house ecommerce players, like Amazon, have made huge in roads in retail by selling and shipping consumers "on demand". What this means for traditional retailers is that they must become more flexible and "seamless". Consumers are demanding more in terms of expanded product range, as well as more choice in how to engage, where they want to purchase and take delivery. This creates a "perfect storm" of opportunity for distributors to play a strategic role in helping retailers to increase assortments, responsiveness, and fulfillment of the "last mile" all the way to the customer's door when they choose not to come to the store.

Why this is important: In order to survive and thrive, retailers are transforming to omnichannel. That will require new capabilities from distributors to in order to meet consumer expectations of more product choice and delivery on their terms.

Online assortments – Long tail, curation or castration?

Omnichannel creates new dilemmas and decisions for retailers

By Chris H. Petersen

Image Credit: Stuart Miles

Omnichannel has arrived as the "new normal" for consumers. That does not mean that all omnichannel issues have been sorted out by retailers. Traditional retailers have a particular challenge of how to develop and manage assortments online. How much do consumers want to see online? And, if certain products are only assorted online, doesn't that destroy "click and collect," where consumers expect online purchase with same day pickup in store? Customers will tell you they want it all … largest selection with the ability to choose where to purchase and collect. Key omnichannel decisions for both retailers and vendors will be balancing online assortments against financial viability and profitability for their business model.

Why this is important: Declaring you are omnichannel is the easy part! Achieving profitability will require balancing the tradeoffs of long tail assortments versus the ability to deliver a quality experience integrating the virtual and physical shelf.

Place: The final frontier … They can “see” you now!

Trends and issues related to tracking your location

Image Credit: Stuart Miles

Without you realizing it, that smartphone you are carrying announces your presence, and leaves a "breadcrumb trail" of data everywhere you have been. Your smartphone is literally like your internet cookie … it enables retailers and space managers to track your location and behavior. Location based data and analytics is one of the most dynamic trends impacting the future of retail stores and space. It is also being used by many other institutions to plan and manage services. What are the risks and rewards of location based tracking … for retailers and you as the consumer? One thing for sure, if your phone is turned on, someone somewhere is probably watching … and will be more active about offering personal assistance.

Why this is important: Knowing when, where and how people move through "Place" is a huge benefit to retailers and space managers. Consumers can also benefit with a better experience, but there are some trade offs as well.

Omnichannel the great disruptor, or much ado about nothing?

Top Q&A from our webinar – "Omnichannel is the new normal"

Image Credit: Stuart Miles

I had the privilege of leading a webinar for Vend last week. The title of the webinar focused on omnichannel being the great disruptor and change agent for retail today. The topic drew a lot of interest and questions. As with any webinar format, interactive exchange is difficult. But, the Q&A has continued via social media and email. The nature of the questions reflect not only a great interest in the topic, but a variety of opinions as well. The IMS Vend webinar attendees were a diverse group of retailers, consumer products manufacturers, and professionals from the retail industry. Their topics and questions are reflective of the current state of flux across retail worldwide. The bottom line question: Is omnichannel a key for retail survival, or just a passing fad?

Why this is important: Retailers are rightfully asking if omnichannel is real, or another passing trend. Given the time and expense of implementing omnichannel strategies, this has become a real question of what is actually necessary to survive.

CONTEXT – Partner Needs and Opportunities for Omnichannel

Observations and sound bites from the Melco Forum in Spain

Image Credit: Renjith Krishnan

I was invited by CONTEXT to speak at the Melco Forum in Valencia, Spain last week. Melco Forum proved to be a unique event where vendors and retailers came together in an intimate gathering, to discuss common issues and identify mutual opportunities (#newretailthinking). All too often, vendors of consumer products and retailers are seen as adversaries, or at least as aggressive negotiators. However, in a world where omnichannel is the new normal, there are new opportunities and increasing demands for vendor/retailer partnership. The Melco Forum is a snapshot of the kind of emerging dialog and exchange that will be required for both retailers and vendors to be profitable in an omnichannel world.

Why this is important: Strength or size in the current market does not ensure future success. Future survival will depend upon partners' ability to adapt and collaborate to rapidly changing consumers who shop many channels, any time, everywhere.

RCE Summit: State of the art is “Turning features into feelings”

Retail sound bites from the RCE Executive Retail Summit

I had an opportunity to speak at the RCE Executive Summit this past week. Being a speaker at a conference does two things. First, it forces you to organize your experiences into some cogent thoughts to share with others who live retail daily. Second, when you attend a conference like RCE, you have an incredible opportunity to gather a wide range of knowledge and a "pulse on the state of the art". In the course of the Summit, I came away with one clear sound bite: The very best retailers create engagement by turning features into feelings.

Collaboration 3.0 = Recovering lost sales & consumer mojo

The retail tightrope of balancing inventory and keeping shelves stocked

Image: David Castillo Dominici; Freedigitalphotos.net

So, you decide you will go to the store after all to make a purchase. You want see the color, style and touch the actual product. After fighting through traffic, you finally reach the shelf only to find empty space. Unfortunately, the % of items out of stock is increasing in many areas of retail. In trying to balance inventory costs, retailers are willing to risk being out of stock. As a result, both retailers and suppliers are losing significant sales. And, the real question is will you, the consumer, come back to the store after being disappointed multiple times?