CART - Advancing Retail

If your company provides solutions, particularly technology solutions, to the retail industry, selling is a mandatory activity and in many younger companies that duty often falls to the founder, CEO, or other key executive. The CART team has worked with hundreds of young tech companies and we’ve seen some things that work and we’ve seen many things that don’t work as well so thought we’d share some lessons with you. Many technology company people are incredibly smart when it comes to the tech, but unprepared when it comes to the selling of it.

First, sell your story, not the technology. It takes a lot to found a company or to join a young company at an early stage - it’s not an easy thing. So chances are you’re pretty passionate about what capability you’ve developed or what your company is doing. When you are talking with a prospective customer, let that passion come through. Prospects always hear about features and functions, why this widget is better than that widget. What they don’t always hear is why you are doing what you do. Tell a story that highlights the problem you’re trying to solve - one way to do that is to speak naturally, like you’re talking to a friend or acquaintance. Then tap that same passion when you talk with a prospective customer.

How do you do what you do? This still is not the time to talk about your specific product or solution. What you want to focus on next is how your solution works, how it does what it does. Are you using AI and machine learning to help solve a problem? Does AI and ML power enhanced machine vision enabling your capability to do something special? Focusing on the how is where you want to separate your capabilities from competitors. The how is where your magic happens.

Lastly, and finally, you can speak to the specific product or solution your company is selling. This is where you can talk about all the cool features and functions your capability provides. But here’s the thing: If you’ve done a great job with telling your story about why you’re doing what you do and you’ve done a good job talking about how your solution does what it does, you’ve probably got the sale pretty well made before you even get to the specific product.

So now you’ve got your presentation flow down and its time to practice. For some people, actually writing out a script can help you be succinct in what you’re saying. For other people, creating a list of bullet points is enough to guide them through a presentation. Do whatever works for you but do think about what you’re going to say ahead of time and practice it.

Lastly, be engaging. Make eye contact. Don’t just read a sales presentation - engage and talk with the people you’re with. And absolutely, never ever, turn your back to the people you are talking to. It’s unprofessional to say the least. Seems like a no-brainer and yet we see people do this all the time.

Creating and building a great technology is only half the battle. Selling and positioning your new capability is where the battle is won.

WHAT’S YOUR STORY | Gary Hawkins

THREE IMPERATIVES FOR RETAIL IN THE NEXT THREE YEARS | Gary Hawkins

KNOW A REMARKABLE INDEPENDENT? NOMINATE THEM TODAY!

WBG and CART, along with presenting sponsors, will host a celebratory reception and awards presentation ceremony for its 2020 Remarkable Independent award winners at the National Grocers Association (NGA) Show, which will be held Feb. 23-26 at the San Diego Convention Center.

NATIONAL GROCERS ASSOCIATION - NGASHOW 2020: Register to Exhibit and/or to attend - February 23rd, 2019 - February 26th, 2019, San Diego, CA

Apply to Speak at the CART Event at NGAShow 2020

Apply for a booth in the Innovation Pavilion at NGAShow 2020

Join the INNOVATION PROGRAM -New Events to be Announced Soon!

Notify me about upcoming and new events

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES MEET HEALTH AND WELLNESS | Hosted by Kevin Coupe, MorningNewsBeat’s “Content Guy”

SPECS SHOW 2020 - The ForeFront of Physical Retail - March 15-17, 2020, Gaylord Texan, Dallas

Innovation, individualization and immersion are all shaping the future of retail. Savvy retailers are embracing more immersive shopping experiences, big data intelligence, and deep operations and systems integration to continue innovating their store designs in this new age of “i.”

WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY:

THE CART RETAIL TOMORROW INNOVATION PROGRAM™ IS UNLIKE ANYTHING YOU’VE SEEN IN THE INDUSTRY | The CART Team

GET ON THE INSIDE.  MEMBERSHIP HAS BENEFITS.

Become part of the epicenter of retail innovation exclusive network. The place where retail decision makers and solution providers come together to advance retail into the future.

FOR RETAILERS>> Proven programs to advance your business

FOR SOLUTIONS>> Your growth engine into retail

✔️Blogs ✔️ Webinars ✔️Newsletter ✔️Accelerator ✔️Pitch Events ✔️Solution Spotlights ✔️Innovation Programs ✔️Educational Content    

LEARN MORE>>

VIEW ALL SOLUTIONS HERE

CONTACT US

TELL ME HOW TO GET MY SOLUTION ADDED TO CART

Think about major developments in the grocery retail industry between 1940 and 2015, and by major I’m talking about advances that are truly transformational in nature.

When I went through this exercise I came up with only three: The development of self-shopping, the development of UPC barcode scanning, and the development of capturing customer identified transaction data via loyalty programs.

Now consider major developments in just the past three years: Amazon Go self-shopping, automated distribution centers, self-driving vehicles, robots in store, robotic food preparation, drone deliveries, artificial intelligence everywhere, voice-based shopping, and more.

That explosive growth in just the past few years makes it obvious that we’ve hit the inflection point on the exponential growth curve of technology and that change is only going to happen faster and be increasingly noticeable.

Now alongside this explosive growth of technology put recent forecasts of store closings: Coresight Research states that 5,864 stores closed in 2018 and projects 12,000 store closing this year (2019). Tom Blischok, a long-time industry observer, estimates 30% of traditional supermarket chains will be gone by 2025, five short years from now. And UBS Securities projects a whopping 75,000 stores will close across all retail sectors by 2026 if eCommerce continues to grow from today’s 16% to 25%.

A crisis of disruption is bearing down on grocery retail, driven by fast-changing consumer expectations fueled by new tech-driven capabilities. How are traditional brick & mortar retailers to keep up?

I believe traditional retailers that survive the next three years will have increased their odds of longer-term survival. I believe there are three things - imperatives - that retailers need to focus on in the next three years:

Innovation as a Process: Too many retailers treat new capabilities as one-off projects, not understanding that transformative capabilities are flowing into retail at an ever-faster pace. In this world innovation needs to be viewed - and operationalized - as a process. Something very much at odds with the slow-moving historical change. CART’s Innovation Program is designed to help regional and national retailers drive discovery and awareness of meaningful innovation as part of a process.

Transform into a Nimble Organization: Though many retailers are moving faster than they have historically it is still not fast enough to keep pace with Amazon and the flood of new capabilities transforming retail. Traditional retail organizations need to embrace innovation, become more nimble, and evaluate, pilot, and deploy appropriate capabilities faster.

Prepare for the Age of ‘i’: As I wrote about in my latest book, Retail in the Age of ‘i’, the world is increasingly tailored to each of us individually and there are significant implications for retailers. Consumers today expect contextual relevancy, not only online but increasingly in the physical world, and retailers need to deliver that. Delivering a true customer-first shopping experience requires an overhaul of the systems, processes, and practices that have become institutionalized in the product-first world of retail.

THREE IMPERATIVES FOR RETAIL IN THE NEXT THREE YEARS | Gary Hawkins

3 WAYS INDEPENDENT GROCERS CAN COMPETE WITH THE ‘BIG GUYS’| Guest Blog by Bobby Brannigan, Founder and CEO of Mercato 

KNOW A REMARKABLE INDEPENDENT? NOMINATE THEM TODAY!

WBG and CART, along with presenting sponsors, will host a celebratory reception and awards presentation ceremony for its 2020 Remarkable Independent award winners at the National Grocers Association (NGA) Show, which will be held Feb. 23-26 at the San Diego Convention Center.

NATIONAL GROCERS ASSOCIATION - NGASHOW 2020: Register to Exhibit and/or to attend - February 23rd, 2019 - February 26th, 2019, San Diego, CA

Apply to Speak at the CART Event at NGAShow 2020

Apply for a booth in the Innovation Pavilion at NGAShow 2020

Join the INNOVATION PROGRAM -New Events to be Announced Soon!

Notify me about upcoming and new events

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES MEET HEALTH AND WELLNESS | Hosted by Kevin Coupe, MorningNewsBeat’s “Content Guy”

SPECS SHOW 2020 - The ForeFront of Physical Retail - March 15-17, 2020, Gaylord Texan, Dallas

Innovation, individualization and immersion are all shaping the future of retail. Savvy retailers are embracing more immersive shopping experiences, big data intelligence, and deep operations and systems integration to continue innovating their store designs in this new age of “i.”

WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY:

THE CART RETAIL TOMORROW INNOVATION PROGRAM™ IS UNLIKE ANYTHING YOU’VE SEEN IN THE INDUSTRY | The CART Team

GET ON THE INSIDE.  MEMBERSHIP HAS BENEFITS.

Become part of the epicenter of retail innovation exclusive network. The place where retail decision makers and solution providers come together to advance retail into the future.

FOR RETAILERS>> Proven programs to advance your business

FOR SOLUTIONS>> Your growth engine into retail

✔️Blogs ✔️ Webinars ✔️Newsletter ✔️Accelerator ✔️Pitch Events ✔️Solution Spotlights ✔️Innovation Programs ✔️Educational Content    

LEARN MORE>>

VIEW ALL SOLUTIONS HERE

CONTACT US

TELL ME HOW TO GET MY SOLUTION ADDED TO CART

Get the CART Weekly Report delivered to your inbox. Sign up here.

Guest blog by Bobby Brannigan, Founder and CEO of Mercato

The other day I overheard a phone call between one of our sales representatives and an Independent Grocer. It went something like this:

Sales Rep: Hi, this is Nikki from Mercato. We are the only e-commerce and delivery platform designed exclusively for independent grocers. I was hoping to talk with you about getting your store online and growing your business.

Grocer: Oh, I’m not even thinking about that right now. There is a store across the street and they aren’t online, so I’m not sure it is important for me. Plus, I’m really busy.

The sad truth is that we hear conversations like this all the time.  It’s almost 2020, and here is a merchant who isn’t even thinking about getting online. That isn’t even the worst part! The worst part is how far this is from what the big chains are actually thinking and doing. To them, e-commerce is yesterday. They are already there. They have already moved on to the next big things.

How is the independent grocer supposed to compete in a world where the resource gap between the “haves” (Kroger, Amazon, Albertsons, etc.) and the “have-nots” is this large?

The Independent Grocer’s Edge  

My family is in the grocery business, and I grew up working in our family store. I’ve had the privilege of seeing what makes Independents so amazing, and why they really do have a gigantic advantage over the big chains. It boils down to a few key things:

Quality of the food – from prepared to fresh food, it doesn’t get any better!

Quality of the employees - nobody cares more about the customer experience.

Quality of the customer service - a constant drive to serve every customer as if they are family.

No matter how much money Amazon and the others spend, they will never be able to compete in these areas. These are the virtues that Independents can use to their advantage.

Growing up in my family’s Italian grocery store, I’ve also seen first hand the real disadvantage independent grocers have when it comes to technology, innovation and marketing. Even more troubling, the gap is widening as the big companies acquire smaller chains and increase their investment in the future. Despite these difficulties, and because Mercato loves to help independent grocers, we have prepared a strategic roadmap to success.

Competing With the ‘Big Guys’

Phase 1: E-commerce and Delivery

I’m sure you’ve heard the stats by now. According to a study by FMI, 20% of grocery sales are expected to occur online by 2025. That may seem like a long time from now, but many stores on the Mercato marketplace are already seeing 10-15% of their retail store sales happening online.

The percentage of U.S. consumers who purchased groceries online over the past year grew from about 23.1% to 36.8%, according to Coresight Research, an online marketplace for independent grocers.

Online grocery shopping is without a doubt here to stay. The Independent can win by embracing this change and getting online.

List all of your products online. The number one concern for online shoppers is freshness and quality. Prove to them that the Independents are the only ones who understand this by listing all of your prepared foods, amazing produce and high-quality dairy and meats.

Know your online customers. Drop them a nice note in their bags. Figure out how to create an experience for them that shows your dedication to their satisfaction in the same way you would the person in your physical location.

Packing is key. Make sure that every online order that leaves your store was packed by an employee who knows your customers and can pick the highest quality cuts, the freshest produce and ensure items aren’t missing.

Phase 2: Data

What makes Amazon so successful? What makes Kroger’s tick? What makes Albertsons profitable? Simply put, data. Without data, they have no idea what to stock on their shelves, no idea what the competition is charging for similar products, and no idea what hot new products are on the minds of their customers.

Independents are at a real disadvantage here. If they only have 1, 2 or even 10 stores, how can they capture the same amount of data as a company with 500 or 1000 locations? Even more challenging, they aren’t data analysts. If they had the data, many of them wouldn’t even have the time to crunch it all. So, what to do?

Find any source of data you can. Data is information, and information is power. Many big wholesale suppliers have sales trend data. Be sure to remember that this data can be influenced by the particular products the supplier is promoting or offering at that time. It’s not always the complete picture.

Embrace competitive data. What are stores in the local market charging for similar products? Where is the sweet spot between profitability and over-charging? Knowing this information can give stores a huge advantage.

Find help. If a merchant doesn’t have the time or skill to know what to do with the data, find someone who does. Hiring data analysts can be expensive and time-consuming. Think about contractors, consultants or other sources of not just data, but analysis. It will pay off in the long run!

Mercato is committed to helping in this area. With our network of merchants rivaling the sales of some of the larger chains, we have access to the data that Independents need to compete, including pricing recommendations based on your local market competition, product recommendations based on online data and aggregated sales trends, and insights and suggestions for overall product mix and promotional strategies to improve profitability.

Phase 3: Supply Management

Many Independents don’t spend a lot of their time negotiating pricing with their suppliers or researching alternatives to lower their costs. As a result, the 16oz package of Cheerios that an Independent sells for $4.79 is available at the local chain for $3.59 and at the nationwide player at $3.09.

Even with diligence around negotiations and keeping suppliers on their feet by getting competitive bids, the buying power of any Independent can’t match the superstore. How do we change this?

Start with your supplier. The average Independent is probably using the same supplier they have been for years. Bring in a competitive supplier from time to time, push for better pricing constantly, and challenge your suppliers by showing them that price matters to you.

Join a larger group or association. There is power in numbers and in aggregation. Always try to be negotiating as part of a larger group. This way you punch above your own store’s weight and can get access to bulk pricing.

Mercato is poised to be there for Independents in this area. With the aggregated buying power of the merchants on the Mercato online platform, we can deliver all sorts of benefits, including bulk pricing and access to hot new products that your suppliers might not even carry.

In the end, the winners in grocery will be the ones who innovate, create passion among their customers, and have the best economics. The best strategy for an Independent is to keep doing the things they are great at, and then to find partners who are great at the rest to fill in the gaps.

Mercato now has over 750 merchants on our platform. Some are multi-store chains. Some are huge public markets and some are small specialty stores. What they all share is the courage to compete and the desire to stand up for the things they worked so hard to build.

Bobby Brannigan, Founder and CEO of Mercato

KNOW A REMARKABLE INDEPENDENT? NOMINATE THEM TODAY!

WBG and CART, along with presenting sponsors, will host a celebratory reception and awards presentation ceremony for its 2020 Remarkable Independent award winners at the National Grocers Association (NGA) Show, which will be held Feb. 23-26 at the San Diego Convention Center.

NATIONAL GROCERS ASSOCIATION - NGASHOW 2020: Register to Exhibit and/or to attend - February 23rd, 2019 - February 26th, 2019, San Diego, CA

Apply to Speak at the CART Event at NGAShow 2020

More CART RETAIL TOMORROW INNOVATION PROGRAM™ Events to be Announced Soon!

Notify me about upcoming and new events

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES MEET HEALTH AND WELLNESS | Hosted by Kevin Coupe, MorningNewsBeat’s “Content Guy”

SPECS SHOW 2020 - The ForeFront of Physical Retail - March 15-17, 2020, Gaylord Texan, Dallas

Innovation, individualization and immersion are all shaping the future of retail. Savvy retailers are embracing more immersive shopping experiences, big data intelligence, and deep operations and systems integration to continue innovating their store designs in this new age of “i.”

WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY:

THE PROMISE AND PERIL OF DATA FOR RETAILERS AND SOLUTION PROVIDERS | Gary Hawkins

THE CART RETAIL TOMORROW INNOVATION PROGRAM™ IS UNLIKE ANYTHING YOU’VE SEEN IN THE INDUSTRY | The CART Team

GET ON THE INSIDE.  MEMBERSHIP HAS BENEFITS.

Become part of the epicenter of retail innovation exclusive network. The place where retail decision makers and solution providers come together to advance retail into the future.

FOR RETAILERS>> Proven programs to advance your business

FOR SOLUTIONS>> Your growth engine into retail

✔️Blogs ✔️ Webinars ✔️Newsletter ✔️Accelerator ✔️Pitch Events ✔️Solution Spotlights ✔️Innovation Programs ✔️Educational Content    

LEARN MORE>>

VIEW ALL SOLUTIONS HERE

CONTACT US

TELL ME HOW TO GET MY SOLUTION ADDED TO CART

Get the CART Weekly Report delivered to your inbox. Sign up here.

GNC LAUNCHES NEW PERSONALIZED DAILY VITAMIN PACKS BASED ON INDIVIDUAL HEALTH NEEDS, LIFESTYLE GOALS AND EVEN DNA; DELIVERED DIRECTLY TO YOUR DOOR | Cison PR Newswire

Gary’s Take: My latest book, Retail in the Age of ‘I’, is all about the world - both digital and physical - becoming increasingly tailored to each of us individually. GNC, the vitamin and supplements retailer, has just launched new personalized daily vitamin packs tailored to each individual customer. "Based on an individual's age, gender and personal and family health history, GNC will create a science-backed wellness plan curated with the industry's leading vitamins and supplements to aid consumers in their quest for healthy living.” The GNC4U service can also ingest DNA information, either from a GNC DNA test kit or other source. 

This is just one more example of how in the Age of ‘I', products are becoming increasingly customized to the individual. Brand manufacturers and retailers should both be thinking about how their products, services, and experiences can be tailored to each customer.

THEFT IS A MAJOR RISK FOR RETAILERS USING SCAN AND GO, EXPERT SAYS | RetailDive

Gary’s Take: In a surprise to almost no one, a study published recently found that theft related to scan-and-go self-shopping increases as sales done via scan-and-go apps increases. While not all loss is intentional theft - some comes from people simply forgetting to scan and item or other issues - the bottom line is that shrink does increase. Many retailers using scan-and-go technology perform random bag checks or even verify each customer order. Since scan-and-go apps first came on the scene I have seen this capability as simply a stepping stone to a full Amazon Go-like fully automated checkout system or other process that speeds checkout and reduces friction. Loss related to scan-and-go applications, intentional or not, can quickly add up, putting pressure on retailer’s already thin margins. Even more, all the retailer is doing is shifting the scanning and payment process from a cashier to the customer, not really providing any extra value to the shopper. Not a winning proposition in the long run.

OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE WANTS TO KNOW IF A.I. TECH CAN HELP IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE | CNBC

Gary’s Take: The use of AI powered computer vision analytics is moving from the store into restaurants and other settings. Outback Steakhouse is the latest to install cameras in its entrance and lobby areas to measure customer wait time, the number of customers leaving without being seated, and more. Outback is focused on leveraging the technology to improve the customer experience.

Cameras are showing up everywhere and these kinds of analytics will increasingly be used to digitize behavior in a physical space with a goal of gaining insight to customer behavior and optimizing sales or other activity.

DOES TARGET NEED TO ADDRESS ITS ASSOCIATE MORALE PROBLEM? | Retail Wire

Sterling’s Take: Team morale is everything and it translates directly into customer experience in store. If the employees aren’t happy, customers will be less happy over time. Of course Target has to make smart business decisions, but with the cuts store managers should be granted some autonomy to take care of individual employees as needed to keep morale high. Communication is the most important thing here so everyone on the team feels part of the conversation, not at the effects of it.

CAN b8ta DO FOR FASHION WHAT IT’S DONE FOR CONSUMER TECH? | Retail Wire

Sterling’s Take: There's plenty of room in the fashion and lifestyle space to innovate the stores. b8ta definitely has a track record to do these kinds of things; they did for consumer electronics what Sephora did for makeup. But I do think lifestyle and fashion is a little more difficult as it doesn't naturally lend itself to interaction in a new way (most clothing stores let you touch, feel and try on the clothes). The banner will create interest from many; however, service in the store will be the key to making it successful.

 WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY:

THE PROMISE AND PERIL OF DATA FOR RETAILERS AND SOLUTION PROVIDERS | Gary Hawkins

THE CART RETAIL TOMORROW INNOVATION PROGRAM™ IS UNLIKE ANYTHING YOU’VE SEEN IN THE INDUSTRY | The CART Team

MAKING LOYALTY PROGRAMS WORK HARDER | Winsight Grocery Business

HAPPENINGS:

UPCOMING RETAIL TOMORROW INNOVATION DAYS/EVENTS

NATIONAL GROCERS ASSOCIATION - NGASHOW 2020: Register to Exhibit and/or to attend - February 23rd, 2019 - February 26th, 2019, San Diego, CA

Apply to Speak at the CART Event at NGAShow 2020

CART RETAIL TOMORROW INNOVATION PROGRAMS™

More CART RETAIL TOMORROW INNOVATION PROGRAM™ Events to be Announced Soon!

Notify me about upcoming and new events

SPECS SHOW 2020 - The ForeFront of Physical Retail - March 15-17, 2020, Gaylord Texan, Dallas

Innovation, individualization and immersion are all shaping the future of retail. Savvy retailers are embracing more immersive shopping experiences, big data intelligence, and deep operations and systems integration to continue innovating their store designs in this new age of “i.”

GET ON THE INSIDE.  MEMBERSHIP HAS BENEFITS.

Become part of the epicenter of retail innovation exclusive network. The place where retail decision makers and solution providers come together to advance retail into the future.

FOR RETAILERS>> Proven programs to advance your business

FOR SOLUTIONS>> Your growth engine into retail

✔️Blogs ✔️ Webinars ✔️Newsletter ✔️Accelerator ✔️Pitch Events ✔️Solution Spotlights ✔️Innovation Programs ✔️Educational Content    

LEARN MORE>>

VIEW ALL SOLUTIONS HERE

CONTACT US

TELL ME HOW TO GET MY SOLUTION ADDED TO CART

Get the CART Weekly Report delivered to your inbox. Sign up here.

Data powers the retail industry, especially in today’s digital age. From in-store analytics to optimized-everything, and from marketing personalization to product customization, big data is the fuel in an age of tech-enabled innovation. Rarely do we see a few weeks go by that some new solution enters the industry that either creates a new data stream or feeds off existing data.

But retailers’ resources and skills have not kept pace with the growth of new data and new solutions. It is surprising how often I encounter retailers - even multi-billion dollar revenue retailers - who do not have the skill sets to make effective use of systems and capabilities that they’ve purchased and put in place.

Sometimes, retailers look to CPG brand manufacturers to purchase data, either as part of a broader initiative in which the brand is using the data to give back to the retailer insights & analytics, or other times as simply a new revenue stream. Selling data is not necessarily always a good thing: often there is some kind of quid pro quo with the brand expecting something in return that may or may not align with the retailer’s best interests.

Solution providers have an opportunity to play a pivotal role here. It’s often not enough to just sell some new innovative capability to the retailer; true success comes from helping the retailer be successful with the new solution. I think it is incumbent upon both the solution seller and the retailer buyer to have a frank discussion around what skill sets and resources are required to make use of a new capability and identify if the retailer has those skills or if there is a gap. In the case of a gap, the solution provider has an opportunity to help the retailer train people or hire new people with the requisite skills.

Now set this entire discussion in the context of exponential change where the development of new capabilities is increasing at a faster and faster pace every day. The need to constantly upgrade skill sets and train and educate employees to take advantage of new capabilities is paramount. The penalty for failing to do this grows by the day. It is incumbent on solution providers to make new technology and new capabilities as easy to implement and use as possible along with helping the retailer what’s required to be successful.

COMING SOON: A.I.-POWERED PERSONALIZED RESTAURANT MENUS | OZY

Gary’s Take: Reinforcing the growing convergence of the massive food and healthcare industries, a growing number of restaurants are personalizing their menu items to the individual customer. These restaurants recognize that a growing number of people have food allergies - an estimated 32 million people in the U.S. alone - or have nutritionally sensitive health conditions (60% of Americans have one or more chronic health conditions) or have strong diet and food preferences. This personalization is happening across restaurants of all formats, from quick serve like McDonalds to more formal establishments. As I wrote about in my latest book, Retail in the Age of ‘I’, the world is becoming increasingly tailored to each of us individually and this trend of personalizing restaurant prepared meals is just the latest sign that this movement is expanding across the digital and physical worlds.

WILL CUSTOMERS GIVE WALMART THE KEYS TO THEIR HOME? | Retail Wire

Sterling’s Take: Privacy is culture and it changes over time. 15 years ago it would be ludicrous to post all our family pictures and trips online; now it’s almost standard. I expect we’ll see that same thing over time for these kinds of services. Is the value exchange worthwhile? Consumers will increasingly answer: yes.

PERSONALIZED PROMOS ADD UP TO A ‘WIN-WIN’ FOR RETAILRS AND CONSUMERS | Retail Wire

Sterling’s Take: Personalized pricing is inevitable. We see it in our credit card rates, our airline tickets and increasingly we see it as a standard in retail. Done right, not only do the economics work, but it's a better customer experience all around.

REI OPENS OUTDOOR ADVENTURE GATEWAY CONCEPT | Retail Wire

Sterling’s Take: This is a great idea! And the next step in experiential retail. Not something contrived to create an “experience” but a real place consumers can launch their experiences from. It adds a lot of value for consumers and I’m willing to bet this concept will be successful for REI.

WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY:

THE CART RETAIL TOMORROW INNOVATION PROGRAM™ IS UNLIKE ANYTHING YOU’VE SEEN IN THE INDUSTRY | The CART Team

MAKING LOYALTY PROGRAMS WORK HARDER | Winsight Grocery Business

RETAIL AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE - GLOBAL TRENDS | Thinking Heads

HAPPENINGS:

UPCOMING RETAIL TOMORROW INNOVATION DAYS/EVENTS

INNOVATION PROGRAM AT HY-VEE HEADQUARTERS - Des Moines, Iowa | November 6-7, 2019

NATIONAL GROCERS ASSOCIATION - NGASHOW 2020: Register to Exhibit and/or to attend - February 23rd, 2019 - February 26th, 2019, San Diego, CA

More CART RETAIL TOMORROW INNOVATION PROGRAM™ Events to be Announced Soon! Notify me about upcoming and new events

THE RETAIL REVOLUTION at PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY’S CENTER FOR RETAIL LEADERSHIP - October 24, 2019, 12:30-5:00pm, Portland, Oregon

SPECS SHOW 2020 - The ForeFront of Physical Retail - March 15-17, 2020, Gaylord Texan, Dallas

Innovation, individualization and immersion are all shaping the future of retail. Savvy retailers are embracing more immersive shopping experiences, big data intelligence, and deep operations and systems integration to continue innovating their store designs in this new age of “i.”

GET ON THE INSIDE.  MEMBERSHIP HAS BENEFITS.

Become part of the epicenter of retail innovation exclusive network. The place where retail decision makers and solution providers come together to advance retail into the future.

FOR RETAILERS>> Proven programs to advance your business

FOR SOLUTIONS>> Your growth engine into retail

✔️Blogs ✔️ Webinars ✔️Newsletter ✔️Accelerator ✔️Pitch Events ✔️Solution Spotlights ✔️Innovation Programs ✔️Educational Content     

LEARN MORE>>

VIEW ALL SOLUTIONS HERE

CONTACT US

TELL ME HOW TO GET MY SOLUTION ADDED TO CART

Get the CART Weekly Report delivered to your inbox. Sign up here.

BRINGING A DEDICATED TRADE-SHOW TO THE RETAILERS' HEADQUARTERS;  WE CONNECT SOLUTION PROVIDERS IN A POWERFUL ENGAGEMENT WITH KEY DECISION-MAKERS.

The CART Innovation Program™ is a powerful way for solution providers with transformative, disruptive new capabilities to gain an audience with the senior executive team of large regional and national retailers. Without a program like this, gaining such an audience - especially for young companies - is nearly impossible.

Solutions are curated at the request of the retailer. Through our application and acceptance process and partnering with the retailer, we select the exact solutions they want to see.  Once accepted to participate, the CART team partners with the solution provider to hone their presentation and coaches them to deliver a spot-on presentation; helping to create a powerful, succinct story to gain the retail executives’ attention. This is being proven to be the most effective and powerful way to begin the sales cycle.

The CART Retail Tomorrow Innovation Program™ provides you access to the retailer’s senior execs and time to network, exchange contact information, hear immediate feedback and begin to build a relationship.  You can begin your sales process by hunting down people at a company hoping you get a meeting with a person who will listen or you can be in front of the C-suite and senior decision makers all at once.  There’s no better way to get your foot in the door, launching your sales cycle, and breaking down corporate silos than having a full audience of decision makers all in the same room to understand your solution’s capabilities.

Historically, before the CART Retail Tomorrow Innovation Program™ was developed, solutions selling into regional and national retailers would typically encounter a two, to sometimes four, year period of selling before getting the deal signed. Companies still have budgets, decision making processes and due diligence to manage after a Program which a solution provider needs to be aware of and manage accordingly. The CART Retail Tomorrow Innovation Program ™ facilitates and expedites this process.

With the CART Retail Tomorrow Innovation Program™ solution providers have an opportunity to engage more quickly and effectively, better understanding the retailer’s decision making and budget processes and who the decision makers are. With this knowledge solution providers can potentially get pilots moving faster so the retailer has time and experience to envision what a full implementation looks like should they engage the solution.

AMAZON’S DYSTOPIAN PLAN TO BE ANYWHERE AND EVERYWHERE | The Week

Gary’s Take: Amazon had a product launch event during which it released 15 new products - more than most companies release in a year. Amidst the various products, Alexa was featured prominently as Amazon is focused on getting Alexa on as many products suitable for as many environments as possible, from  your living room to your car to the office. Thinking about what Amazon is doing, it is becoming clear that the company believes that voice is going to be the next major platform, potentially surpassing the smartphone. Lots of implications here for retailers when thinking about customer engagement and how to accomplish that in a world of voice-based computing.

THIS ROBOT CAN MAKE 300 PIZZAS IN AN HOUR | Trib live

Gary’s Take: The robots are coming! We’re seeing lots of activity in automating food production and the latest is from a company called Picnic. They have created a robotic pizza maker that can make 300 12-inch pizzas an hour and 180 18-inch pizzas per hour. This comes on top of Flippy, the automated burger grilling bot, salad robots, and even bread baking robots. Automation at retail in the areas of food production and maintenance (like robotic floor cleaning machines) make a lot of sense for retailers. Smart retailers will take the savings they realize from automating these types of non-customer facing jobs and reinvest in people in roles where they engage with shoppers and can build relationships. 

AMAZON IS LOOKING TO INSTALL ITS GO TECHNOLOGY IN HUNDREDS OF RETAILERS BY 2020 | Business Insider

Gary’s Take: So this is really interesting - Amazon is in talks to bring its Amazon Go checkout free shopping experience to movie theaters, sports venues, and other retail stores. Makes sense from Amazon’s perspective as the tech space has gained a number of companies focused on replicating Amazon’s tech to bring to traditional retailers. Those startups are receiving some serious  funding and we are seeing a growing number of deals being announced as Grabango begins work with Giant Eagle and Tesco makes an investment in Trigo Vision. While many retail execs seem to be skeptical that the technology can scale to eventually handle a full supermarket, advances in computer vision are happening fast and I believe the tech will get figured out.

BEST BUY MAKES A BIG BET ON HEALTH TECH | Retail Wire

Sterling’s Take: I think it’s a good move for two reasons: 1. There’s a significant and growing need and 2. Technology and services can fit that need in new and innovative ways. Establishing themselves as an early entrant into the new senior tech + services market builds relationships with customers that have a high switching cost (as your data, support and knowledge will already be with Best Buy).

WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY:

MAKING LOYALTY PROGRAMS WORK HARDER | Winsight Grocery Business

RETAIL AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE - GLOBAL TRENDS | Thinking Heads

HAPPENINGS:

UPCOMING RETAIL TOMORROW INNOVATION DAYS/EVENTS

INNOVATION PROGRAM AT HY-VEE HEADQUARTERS - Des Moines, Iowa | November 6-7, 2019

More INNOVATION PROGRAM Events to be Announced Soon! Notify me about upcoming and new events

X/SPECS 2019 - October 15 thru 17, 2019 at the Waldorf Astoria, Orlando

Store Design in the Age of “i” - Wednesday, 11:30am-12:15pm

THE RETAIL REVOLUTION at PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY’S CENTER FOR RETAIL LEADERSHIP - October 24, 2019, 12:30-5:00pm, Portland, Oregon

SPECS SHOW 2020 - The ForeFront of Physical Retail - March 15-17, 2020, Gaylord Texan, Dallas

Innovation, individualization and immersion are all shaping the future of retail. Savvy retailers are embracing more immersive shopping experiences, big data intelligence, and deep operations and systems integration to continue innovating their store designs in this new age of “i.”

FOR RETAILERS>> Proven programs to advance your business

FOR SOLUTIONS>> Your growth engine into retail

VIEW ALL SOLUTIONS HERE

CONTACT US

TELL ME HOW TO GET MY SOLUTION ADDED TO CART

Get the CART Weekly Report delivered to your inbox. Sign up here.

As competition abounds from all sides, grocery retailers need to up their game. A promising option to that end is loyalty programs, which need to do two things to be effective: offer advantages to the customer along with a better shopping experience. They also need to...

READ MORE>>

THE GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY FOR U.S. DRUGSTORES | Nielsen

Gary’s Take: The convergence between the massive health care and food industries in the United States continues to gain momentum and retailers and brands not paying attention will miss major opportunities and risk their shoppers moving on without them. 

While supermarket retailers with in-store pharmacies are right in the middle of this convergence, drug stores are in a more challenging position. Food is increasingly being viewed and understood as medicine, putting grocery retailers in prime position. Drug stores are improving their food selections but have a long way to go.

Needless to say, any retailer in the food, pharmacy, or health and nutrition space should be aware of the convergence underway and figure out how they can benefit their shoppers.

THESE 18 RETAILERS HAVE FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY OR LIQUIDATION IN 2019 | Business Insider

Gary’s Take: Yesterday, Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy, adding to a growing list of retailers closing stores and going out of business. Many of these retailers are in non-food related channels like apparel, toys, etc. but it is only a matter of time before we see an acceleration of bankruptcy filings, store closures, and acquisitions in the supermarket sector. I believe this acceleration has already started but it is occurring across the independent sector of smaller retailers where filings don’t make the news. How it shows up though is in consolidation happening at the wholesaler level as the wholesalers seek to maintain their volume through acquiring other smaller distributors.

I also continue to believe that the majority of retail executives do not yet fully understand what’s coming. I hear more execs talking about change and innovation and exponential growth of technology but its almost as if they are just saying the words. Technology and all it enables is moving faster every day, and the exponential growth of computer processing power is creating industry disruptive capabilities at a growing pace.

The challenge for the retail industry is three-fold: 1) putting in place processes like the CART Innovation Program to build discovery and awareness of new capabilities, 2) train and educate your organization to be more open to innovation, doing things differently, and moving faster, and 3) develop a strategy for where you want to go and create a roadmap identifying what systems, processes, and practices need to be developed to get you there. BALANCING TECH WITH THE HUMAN TOUCH IN RETAIL | tech radar.pro

Gary’s Take: That automation is transforming retail is no longer in debate. The only question is what area of retail operations are going to be automated and what retailers are going to do with the savings. I believe automating jobs that people really don’t want to do, like floor cleaning, makes a lot of sense and everyone wins. And while I believe that Amazon-Go like technology will eventually make its way to full supermarkets, I’m not sure that’s a great thing. 

People are social animals and shopping has been a social activity, seeing your neighbors, family, or friends at the local supermarket. Removing human interaction through automation can transform  the shopping experience to a sterile, people-free transaction but eliminates a massive opportunity for retailers to actually foster and grow relationships with their customers.

WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY:

RETAIL AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE - GLOBAL TRENDS | Thinking Heads

HOW TO FOSTER EMPLOYEES INTO BRAND AMBASSADORS by Andrew Hoeft, Retail Process Innovator | CEO at Pinpoint Software

Solution Highlight: Date Check Pro 

New Date Check Pro e-Book! 

What Does it Mean to be a Community Grocer in 2020? This eBook dives into the strategies and tactics you can put into place in order to make an impact as a community grocer in 2020.

HAPPENINGS:

UPCOMING RETAIL TOMORROW INNOVATION DAYS/EVENTS

INNOVATION PROGRAM AT HY-VEE HEADQUARTERS - Des Moines, Iowa | November 6-7, 2019 

More INNOVATION PROGRAM Events to be Announced Soon! Notify me about upcoming and new events

X/SPECS 2019 - October 15 thru 17, 2019 at the Waldorf Astoria, Orlando

Store Design in the Age of “i” - Wednesday, 11:30am-12:15pm

THE RETAIL REVOLUTION at PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY’S CENTER FOR RETAIL LEADERSHIP - October 24, 2019, 12:30-5:00pm, Portland, Oregon 

SPECS SHOW 2020 - The ForeFront of Physical Retail - March 15-17, 2020, Gaylord Texan, Dallas 

Innovation, individualization and immersion are all shaping the future of retail. Savvy retailers are embracing more immersive shopping experiences, big data intelligence, and deep operations and systems integration to continue innovating their store designs in this new age of “i.”

CART COMMUNITY. GET ON THE INSIDE. MEMBERSHIP HAS BENEFITS.

Become part of the epicenter of retail innovation exclusive network. The place where retail decision makers and solution providers come together to advance retail into the future.

✔️Blogs ✔️Newsletter ✔️Webinars ✔️Accelerator ✔️Pitch Events ✔️Solution Spotlights ✔️Innovation Programs ✔️Educational Content

FOR RETAILERS>> Proven programs to advance your business

FOR SOLUTIONS>> Your growth engine into retail

VIEW ALL SOLUTIONS HERE

CONTACT US

TELL ME HOW TO GET MY SOLUTION ADDED TO CART

Get the CART Weekly Report delivered to your inbox. Sign up here.

Guest blog by Andrew Hoeft is CEO/Founder of Pinpoint Softwares, Inc

In the digital marketing space, brand ambassadors have become a must-have accessory. The media landscape that we’ve all become accustomed to is crowded, so much so that a single message from a company – even on a stage as big as the Super Bowl – doesn’t easily resonate with an audience. It’s not memorable. It’s not moving the needle.

Digital marketers seem to have found their secret sauce in brand ambassadors, those influential people online who can convince others to purchase the products and support the brands that they do. With these ambassadors on their side, they’re able to cut through the noise and convey a message to a specific target demographic without a Super Bowl-sized budget.

What makes them stand out in a crowd of advertising? They’re people.

But we’ll get into that more later.

As a grocer, you may think that brand ambassadors aren’t in your wheelhouse. After all, influencers are chasing after big brands and products that can show off their clout. They wouldn’t want to be an ambassador for a grocery store?

Would they?

And, even if they did, would it really have an impact on your business? How would having an influential person spreading the word about your store bring in more customers and more revenue?

I think you just answered your own question.

Let’s get into the details.

What is a Brand Ambassador?

A brand ambassador is someone who is paid to showcase a product or service to their network, digital or otherwise, in the hopes that their influence will inspire a group of people to purchase the product or service.

The term is thrown around a bit loosely when it comes to marketing, but the above definition gives a more specific answer to the question, “What is a brand ambassador?”

One common misconception is that a brand ambassador has to be someone who does their work digitally, through social media. We hold a strong belief that an individual who has a wide, connected network that is invested in their opinion will do just as well as a brand ambassador as someone who has hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of followers. A brand ambassador who can bring up your brand organically at a cocktail party, at an event that they’re hosting, or casually in the drive through at the local fast food restaurant is probably more convincing than a celebrity spokesperson anyway.

Why You Need Brand Ambassadors for Your Grocery Store

Now that you understand what a brand ambassador is, the logical question is, “Why do I need one?”

Aren’t my in-store promotions enough to get people through the door? My weekly flyers? My digital ads or app notifications?

The truth is, that even those more sophisticated means of reaching your customers may not be working. People are inundated with thousands of messages every day, asking them to buy this, call this number, take action here. It can be incredibly overwhelming, and your litany of messaging could be adding to their mental exhaustion.

Brand ambassadors work in this media environment because they are people. (Remember when we talked about that in the beginning of this post?) Brand ambassadors aren’t hidden behind a company logo, anonymous copywriters, or editorial writers tasked with giving your press release a unique spin. Brand ambassadors are people, and people trust people.

Here are the cold hard facts:

76% of people find content posted by other consumers to be more honest than brand content.

46% of Twitter users rely on recommendations from influencers, while 56% rely on recommendations from their friends.

92% of consumers trust online content from friends and family above all other brand messaging.

It makes sense when you think about it logically. If you see a commercial for weed killer that tells you it kills 95% of weeds in your lawn, you may not be convinced. If your neighbor Joe is telling you about how the new weed killer that he’s been using in his garden has staved off weeds and essentially saved his tomato plants, you’ll probably be more inclined to remember that message.

Right now, your marketing team is probably spending the majority of their time (and budget) on corporate messaging. However, the research shows that your customers might only be seeing or hearing that message a small percentage of the time, and, even if they do, they don’t trust it as much as a recommendation from a friend or an influencer.

That’s why you need brand ambassadors for your store. Tapping into those personal relationships will help to convey your store’s message to your ideal customers in an authentic, organic way.

Why Employees are Your Best Brand Ambassadors

The key to an effective brand ambassador program for your grocery store is to tap the right ambassadors. As we mentioned above, it takes more than a brand ambassador with a large follower account to move the needle. In fact, it could be just the opposite.

Micro-influencers are hot right now across industries because of their highly engaged audiences. A micro-influencer is any digital influencer who has less than 10,000 fans and a high engagement rate (usually above 3%) on their content.

For a grocer, this influencer might be right in your midst. They could be walking the aisles of your store on a daily basis, building relationships with customers right under your nose. They might be on your payroll.

That’s right – the best brand ambassadors for your company are your employees. These individuals likely already have social media accounts, and they’re most likely in the micro-influencer range when it comes to follower count.

Here’s why they’re so great as brand ambassadors for your store:

Your employees are in your brand each and every day. They understand your company’s mission, your tone, and the reasons behind why you do what you do. They have a deep knowledge of your products and services, and what makes you different in the grocery space. You won’t have to educate them on this information, as it would have already been covered in their corporate training.

As brand ambassadors, they would be genuinely authentic. Because they are already employed by your brand, it’s clear that they have an affinity for your company. They likely already shop there on a frequent basis, and it wouldn’t feel disingenuous for them to speak about your brand or post about it on their social media channels.

Finally, these employees as brand ambassadors could be found in your store on any given day. The average person who may follow them on social media, or know them within the community, will see them working in your local store, creating a quick association between your brand and a local, aspirational individual.

How to Choose Employees to be Brand Ambassadors

Just because employees are your best bet for effective brand ambassadors doesn’t mean that every employee is the right choice.

It probably comes as no surprise to you that you should choose your best employees to be your brand ambassadors. How you define “best” is up to you: from someone who excels in customer service to someone who exemplifies your brand values, you should choose the employee that will always put their best foot forward in the name of the company.

That’s the thing with brand ambassadorships. It’s impossible to “clock out” as a brand ambassador. Once you’ve given that title to one or more of your employees, they wear it constantly. Whether they’re actively working in your store, talking to people about your brand, or out for a night on the town, they are still known as your brand ambassador. Take that as a word of caution when you’re making your choice.

In addition to setting the right example, the individual or individuals that you choose must also have a presence in the community. It’s one thing if your best employee is someone who only works in the store and heads home for the night, and quite another for them to be socializing in their free time, networking, and building connections with your target customers in the community. Those employees that have a certain level of notoriety in your geographic area are the ones that you should choose as brand ambassadors.

How to Foster Employees into Brand Ambassadors

Find out what a brand ambassador is? Check.

Discover why you need them for your store? Yep.

Choose the right ambassadors? Done.

You’ve made it to the final piece of the puzzle: actually fostering those chosen employees into brand ambassadors.

It’s likely that this has already happened organically to some extent. People in your community are probably aware of who works at your store, and the subsequent association between that individual and your brand. If that individual already carries a certain level of influence, you may have had a brand ambassador working for you without even knowing it!

However, to make this initiative truly successful, you need to put a bit of effort into it. Here are our suggestions:

Provide your chosen brand ambassadors with resources that they can use to spread the message. Marketing toolkits, easy to photograph spaces in your stores, and opportunities to speak about your brand are great places to start. Make sure to let them know that it’s better if they use their own words instead of “corporate speak”. It will come off more genuine and drive better results.

Encourage your brand ambassadors to share their day-to-day activities, the work that they’re doing, or any news from your store either on social media or with their network through word of mouth. A post here and there during their shift won’t hurt you, and, in fact, it may help humanize you.

Offer rewards or a stipend to your brand ambassadors for their work. The best way to get great work is to incentivize those who are doing it with the things that motivate them most. Whether that is monetary, through physical prizes, or something a bit out of the box (event tickets, additional PTO, etc.), you’ll need to consider how you’re reimbursing your brand ambassadors for their time.

Are you already thinking about which of your employees could be a great brand ambassador? We look forward to seeing how you make this concept your own, and how you run with it in the grocery space.

New e-Book! What Does it Mean to be a Community Grocer in 2020? This eBook dives into the strategies and tactics you can put into place in order to make an impact as a community grocer in 2020.

Andrew Hoeft is CEO/Founder of Pinpoint Softwares, Inc, a venture backed company providing intuitive process solutions to the retail and food-service industries.

Pinpoint Solutions: - Date Check Pro - expiration date management - Taskle - mobile store visit and task management

ALPHABET’S WING DRONE DELIVERY SERVICE TO LAUNCH TEST PROGRAM IN VIRGINIA | CNet

Gary’s Take: In a real world example of how fast technology is moving. Alphabet (parent of Google) is launching a test program next month using drones to do home delivery in partnership with FedEx and Walgreens. It wasn’t that long ago drones even became a ’thing’ and now real world retailers like Walgreens are moving aggressively to pilot the technology in real world situations. The drones being used in this test will fly about 100-200 feet in the air. When arriving at their destination, they will hover about 20 feet in the air and lower the package with a tether to a backyard or doorstep. The drones will be able to carry packages weighing 2-3 pounds, appropriate for a drug store like Walgreens. This is far from the only drone test; Amazon remains focused on using drones for delivery of packages and other startups have gotten into the game. This space is moving increasingly fast and is part of helping retail solve the last-mile delivery challenge.

GROCERY STORES OF THE FUTURE WILL LIKELY SHARE THESE 3 IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS | Forbes

Gary’s Take: The physical store is changing fast and nowhere is this more evident than in grocery retail. While grocery is moving online quickly, it is the center-store packaged goods that are moving the fastest. This has big implications for the physical store.

- Future grocery stores will be smaller as they focus on fresh and prepared foods while packaged foods are boxed up for customer pick-up or home delivery. 

- Order fulfillment, even for the smallest orders, will increasingly be done on a hyperlocal level. The only way to reduce delivery costs and speed delivery time is to move fulfillment closer to shoppers.

- Frictionless shopping like Amazon Go will happen. Yes, there are pain points today in trying to scale the technology to a full supermarket and recognizing fresh foods, etc. but tech is moving fast and these things will be addressed and solved.

All these factors, and more, impact on store design going forward and retailers should be thinking about these as they look to the future.

WILL FREE SAME-DAY DELIVERY BOOST MACY’S ONLINE SALES? | Retail Wire

Sterling’s Take: There’s little to be gained in playing another company’s game. I think Macy’s will have some minor wins when it comes to launching free same day delivery. And it could be worth doing. But Macy’s would find more benefit in finding themselves in terms of their core value proposition to the customer beyond what everyone else is already doing.

ARE SMART CARTS A SMARTER WAY TO WALK OUT | Retail Wire

Sterling’s Take: The context that these are/are not adopted under is what matters. I don’t think there’s a silver bullet tech that is the answer for everyone. The company, stores, customer base, etc. all factor in to what technology will work and be accepted. This approach will certainly be viable for some retailers. More broadly, all retailers need to rethink the checkout process as it’s ripe for disruption given tech capabilities today.

WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY: 

ARE GROCERY RETAILERS CHASING SHINY OBJECTS? | Gary E. Hawkins

HAPPENINGS:

UPCOMING RETAIL TOMORROW INNOVATION DAYS/EVENTS

INNOVATION PROGRAM AT HY-VEE HEADQUARTERS - Des Moines, Iowa | November 6-7, 2019  

RETAIL REVOLUTION AT PORTLAND STATE - October 24, 2019

More Events to be Announced Soon!

Notify me about upcoming and new events

GMDC SELF-CARE SUMMIT - October 3 thru 7, 2019 in Indianapolis, IN

X/SPECS 2019 - October 15 thru 17, 2019 at the Waldorf Astoria, Orlando

Store Design in the Age of “I” - Wednesday, 11:30am-12:15pm

THE RETAIL REVOLUTION at PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY’S CENTER FOR RETAIL LEADERSHIP - Portland, Oregon - October 24, 2019 12:30-5:00pm

SPECS SHOW 2020 - The ForeFront of Physical Retail - March 15-17, 2020, Gaylord Texan, Dallas

CART COMMUNITY. GET ON THE INSIDE. MEMBERSHIP HAS BENEFITS.

Become part of the epicenter of retail innovation exclusive network. The place where retail decision makers and solution providers come together to advance retail into the future.

✔️Blogs ✔️Newsletter ✔️Webinars ✔️Accelerator ✔️Pitch Events ✔️Solution Spotlights ✔️Innovation Programs ✔️Educational Content

FOR RETAILERS>> Proven programs to advance your business

FOR SOLUTIONS>> Your growth engine into retail

VIEW ALL SOLUTIONS HERE

CONTACT US

TELL ME HOW TO GET MY SOLUTION ADDED TO CART

Get the CART Weekly Report delivered to your inbox. Sign up here.

I participated in a rapid-fire panel discussion at Groceryshop this past week looking at 10 different technologies for supermarket retail. It was a lot of fun speaking with Phil Lempert, Brita Rosenheim, comparing our thoughts in a lively debate that brought up some good points for retailers to consider.

Amidst the explosive growth of new innovative capabilities coming into retail, there are a number of things that seem to have been created just because technology now enables new things - not necessarily focused on solving specific issues. And we see too many retailers chasing after each new shiny object without a real plan for what they’re trying to accomplish.

I think that solution providers should focus on what problems they are helping solve for the retailer, or what benefits they help create for the retailer or shopper. Broadly speaking, new capabilities should help the retailer reduce costs, improve operations, or help benefit the overall shopping experience. Customer facing capabilities ultimately should help the retailer attract new shoppers, grow the value of existing shoppers, or better retain shoppers over time.

Running a retail organization, particularly a larger organization, is a complex challenge. It is an incredibly dynamic business, high sales volumes and low profit margins, that is dependent on doing a million different things well. I’d suggest that retailers can use the same lens suggested earlier for reviewing new capabilities and starting to bring some order to the chaos of new innovation. First and foremost is a focus on the customer and understanding that retail competition has shifted from mass promotion to share-of-wallet and shopper lifetime value.