news & insights

Last week we attended the Retail Leaders Forum, which brought together some of the biggest names in Australian retail, each offering insights into their operations and marketing.

 I wanted to share a few of my key takeaways:

1. FOCUS ON THE CUSTOMER

It’s obvious but is sometimes forgotten. Tjeerd Jegen, Managing Director of Woolworths Supermarkets and Petrol says the customer is the most important stakeholder in your business. You need to understand what’s happening in their mind through surveys and research. Whether you agree or not, it’s what the customer thinks and your content strategy should be based on answering their concerns, pain points and aspirations.

 2. SERVICE AND INSPIRATION

7-Eleven’s Chief Executive Officer Warren Wilmot talked about how in a low price point, saturated market, value needs to mean more than price – it also encompasses customer service and product mix. Luxottica’s Chief Executive Officer, Chris Beer confirmed this saying that service and inspiration was a “cultural initiative” that must run through the core of the business. Many companies can replicate the Luxottica offering, but the way the company connects with staff, suppliers and customers is something people can’t copy. Interestingly, he also noted that Luxottica chose not to talk about competitors, but rather focus their attention on their own plan.

All C-suite members at the conference said that good store performance was directly proportional to a good store manager. Backing up Luxottica’s view that good service needs to begin in-house.

3. INNOVATION

Kmart’s Chief Operating Officer David Matheson noted that innovation was particularly important in the value sector. Price points are continually lower but volume grows, so productivity becomes key, and a dedicated resource for innovation ensures you are always staying one step ahead of “business as usual”.

4. EXPERIENCE

PayPal’s Managing Director Jeff Clementz discussed his company’s goal to remove the barrier of queuing to pay. The more streamlined the transaction process can be the better the experience for the consumer. He also discussed the new PayPal check-in offering, which allows retailers to connect with their consumers and build on their advocacy and exposure. You can see a video on how Sonoma Bakery have implemented this. Linking service and inspiration with experience, The Body Shop’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Kindness says that “dialling up” your businesses core values gives customers and staff something to engage and identify with.

Education, engagement and, ultimately, speaking to people’s hearts and minds, will result in strong financial results and also attract employees who truly support the philosophy of the business.

 5. LOCATION CENTRIC TO CONSUMER CENTRIC

Another key theme across all retailers who spoke was how shopping is changing from location-centric to consumer-centric. It is driven by the consumer, not the location of where a particular store is. The success of “click and collect” options across the likes of Coles, Woolworths, Amazon and many online retailers takes this one step further. The consumer not only wants to access goods from any store no matter what its location, they also want to determine when they pick up products, rather than being tied to a particular location at a certain time.

6. RELEVANCY

Philip Corne, Louis Vuitton’s Chief Executive Officer commented that if you want genuine loyalty you need to go deeper than a points plan; you need engagement, which is primarily driven through relevant content to the consumer. Knowing what customers are interested in and want to hear about, in relation to your brand, is key.

Nigel Lester, Manager of Pitney Bowes Software took a different tack and told those at the conference to think about the “persuadables” and focus on those when communicating. Also, think about inbound communications and what opportunities lie there for your business.

Bryan Hynes, Managing Director at AMP Capital Shopping Centres and Andy Hedges, Director Shopping Centre Management Westfield, urged retailers to consider the complete consumer journey – how do you facilitate it and ensure it is seamless from research through to purchase?

They too reinforced that communication needs to be personal, contextual and relevant. The device is not the point, the relevancy is paramount (something that can be forgotten in this era of shiny new gadgets).

 Overall what I took away was that, although we now have more ways to communicate with our customers,  the basic rules of marketing remain the same. Keep it simple and focus on the basics and your message will start to be heard, through all the channels. Remain nimble and flexible. If your strategy doesn’t fit on a back of an envelope, it is probably too complicated and won’t communicate well.

Written by: Jo Whelan
Published: November 19, 2014
Major Domo