Now that the second quarter is behind us, Dear Retailers, how are your forecasts holding up since the U.S. economic growth slowed to an annual rate of 2.1 percent? Are tariffs eating into your margins more than anticipated yet? What other vexing contextual themes are you wrestling with as we moved into the second half of 2019? What other innovative practices can you integrate to enhance your supply chain infrastructure? Keep reading to find out the four elements to maintain at the forefront of any investigative efforts aimed to unearth new pathways that will effectively abate strains on margins or your bottom line.
Welcome back Dear Readers and anyone new to this corner of the Internet! As a reminder, this blog is the hub for any of your branding inspiration. In case this is your first time visiting, this blog is the brainchild of JMStrategy LLC (JMS), a boutique consulting firm that devises tailor-made plans of action around crisis management, strategic planning, and long-term prosperity to render your brand as robust as possible. Now, without further ado, here is the lowdown on actionable steps to take that will relieve pressure on corporate margins for the remainder of 2019.
YOU CANNOT DO WITHOUT ADDRESSING SUSTAINABILITY!
Is there any other item on the agenda for this retail edit trendier than the hotly debated issue of sustainability? Absolutely not! The JMS team just got back from hosting several data-driven powwows with clients belonging to different types of retailing businesses; they all shared the same concern: how to address sustainability without causing any branding misalignments?
Thanks to social media, consumers are more powerful than ever and voice louder than ever-changing expectations. Whether scientists can reach a consensus on global warming or climate change any time soon, it will not change the fact that consumers seem to care more and more about sustainable techniques and processes.
While generating the “Hit List” (HL), a centerpiece of the strategic planning deliverable, the JMS team has found that the retail industry struggles to convince customers that it genuinely cares about our planet. Consequently, this blog encourages you, Dear Retailers, to incorporate environment-friendly practices while staying true to core values rather than forcibly endorsing the pursuit of sustainability that your customers can smell as a rip-off a mile away!
If you need help you hammer out a convincing narrative that shows your real commitment to advocate greener living moving forward, feel free to email us at jms@branding24seven.com.
CAN TECHNOLOGY MAKE YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN ANY FASTER?
This second item on the Branding24Seven six months to 2020 retail edit is to account for the way technology transforms consumer expectations. In fact, thanks to high-tech disruptors such as Amazon, we are all accustomed to receiving purchased items instantaneously and with free shipping to boot!
Thus, to remain competitive, retailers must provide even more convenient shopping experiences. That would, of course, entail finding innovative technologies that could not only make your supply chain faster and more predictable but also allow customers to bypass brick-and-mortar stores altogether.
Consequently, this blog suggests shaping online marketing endeavors around these newer consumers’ impulses. Retailers will have to focus on creating a dynamic yet convenient customer experience: the kind that is powered by online social interactions while yielding the most palpable instant gratification possible.
LOYALTY IS SO MUCH MORE THAN A TRANSACTIONAL BENEFIT!
The third item on the Branding24Seven six months to 2020 retail edit is the fact that loyalty is more than ever a fleeting concept. Gone are the days when traditional benefit programs – gift cards mailers, points, half off bargains that superficially elicited loyalty via short term transactions – were able to pack a punch and convert prospective customers into die-hard lifetime fans. Today, retailers must put a premium on connecting emotionally with consumers…. That’s the most expedient way to cultivate loyalty moving forward.
Therefore, this blog suggests finding innovative ways to restructure existing loyalty programs so as to incite non-credit cardholder members to join. Of course, this will only work if retailers offer truly enticing benefits rather than regular old lip service reward systems that require consumers to accumulate an astonishing number of points before enjoying what often would turn out to be rather insignificant benefits.
A great example is the new rewards program that Nordstrom rolled out last fall called the NORDY Club. It offers groundbreaking benefits such as beauty and style workshops, free basic alterations on regular priced items, curbside pickup, first access to top brands. Now that’s avant-garde wouldn’t you say, Dear Retailers?!!
As for brick-and-mortar stores, the time has come to give their consumers experience a much-needed facelift. It is no longer enough to have a few yearly seasonal promotion rollouts to move inventory. Instead, retailers must create fresh new ways to reorganize inventory around specific community-driven initiatives such as store concepts…. Think multiplying opportunities to connect with customers before, during, and after a store visit as in the case of pop-up showrooms that require a certain level of engagement to find out the date, time, and place ahead of time.
A great example is Nike’s flagship on 5thAve that features a “speed shop” filled with popular full-priced items available for grab-and-go buying and its own shopping app that afford customers the luxury to complete a purchase instantly. In short, loyalty-centered marketing strategies that go beyond the usual transactional benefit are worth pursuing. They will foster a deeper level of consumer engagement that will lead to a greater number of sales.
TRADE SHOULD NOT BE LEFT OUT!
Dear Retailers, this blog would be remiss if it failed to mention one last item as you are hard at work tweaking growth strategies for the remainder of 2019 and beyond: the very hot topic of international trade! As we’ve all noticed, President Trump has been quite vocal with his disdain for some U.S. trading partners beginning with China. If he persists on imposing more tariffs, retailers will have no other choice but to rethink their supply chain infrastructure.
This blog insists that it is high time to take a hard look at all components of supply-chain networks and pay special attention to manufacturing and distribution assets as well as transportation contracts. Since trade disputes will most certainly unleash market forces that can negatively impact the demand for your products and therefore erase your profitability almost instantly.
Dramatic much? Not. At. All. Just ask our farmers, Dear Retailers. There is a reason the Trump administration deemed necessary to shell an eye-popping $12 billion bailout to help them so far! While this band-aid temporarily stops any fiscal hemorrhaging, it is not a sound long-term solution by any stretch of the imagination!
Hence, this blog suggests retailers proactively begin to explore alternative sourcing scenarios right this moment to avoid falling into the same predicament but without the guarantee of a safety net such as a similarly tremendous bailout! As we keep hearing from campaign trails that our economy is doing extremely well, why shouldn’t retailers aim to enter 2020 with record-breaking sales?
So Dear Retailers, feel free to email us at jms@branding24seven.com if you need help maximizing swiftness while cutting through the intricacy of your supply-chain despite the price/oil vacillations, international competition, and increasingly brief product life cycles.
Specifically, the JMS team can assist you in identifying pressure points that can enhance the efficiency within internal units of operation or the synergy between supply-chain partners so to boost the process of integration between the procurement and inventory management teams.
And there you have it, Dear Retailers! Thank you for stopping by the blog today. The JMS team hopes you found a few gems in today’s publication and will share it!
As always, we’d love to hear from you in the comment section below, by email jms@branding24seven.com, or by mail:
JMStrategy LLC
21 S. 11th Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107
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