Archives tagged: retail
In The Future of Shopping, a 2011 article by Darrell Rigby—a partner in the Boston office of Bain & Company—sees retail today as part of a 50-year cycle. Rigby writes 150 years ago, the railroads promoted the growth of big cities and the rise of the department store. One hundred years ago, the automobile made possible the shopping center and 50 years ago, we saw the rise of the Big Box category killers.
More Market share is not intrinsically valuable. In the world of business, good profit dollars are what has intrinsic value. Profit dollars, earned by serving customers, are the existential purpose of a firm. Anything else is merely instrumental.
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What can sales managers do to reduce the risk of account loss? According to their research, putting top salespeople on the account doesn’t do the trick at all. Rather, putting a person familiar with the account’s industry on it, even if their past sales performance is average or even below average, can almost eliminate the risk of account loss.
More Millward Brown’s brand valuation analyses provide strong evidence of the importance of branding for business leaders. Brand is about reputation. A brand generates trust for a company, for its products, and for its services. The brands mentioned in the BrandZ top 100 list are the world’s most trusted.
More Dismal earnings have been reported at Macy’s, JC Penney, Kohl’s, Barnes & Noble, Sears, and many other retailers—countered by increase sales at Amazon.com. Even Walmart is investing in online capabilities, begging the question will all physical retail fail? No.
More “Discounting becomes a drug that is hard to get off, and creates this basis for consumer to not trust regular prices,” Uri Minkoff.
More Notice the deal specificity. Target prices are deal dependent. That means it can vary between customers and between selling opportunities with the same customer. Target prices may be customer dependent, product mix dependent, quantity dependent, promotional timing dependent, competitive situation dependent, or even cost dependent.
More Adrienne Hartman, Director of Ecommerce & Customer Insights at J.J. Keller & Associates talked about how B2B Ecommerce cannot be solved only by software alone. (I agree with her) She also talked about using Google Manufacturing Center. She encourages you to ask, “How well can buyers use your site?” It is clear that her words come from an employee of an organization with a strong culture.
More The fact that consumers buy gas on a continuum rather than in discrete gallons (unless you’re a wizard with the gas nozzle handle) likely makes it easier for both sides to live with the current arrangement. The pump price and volume numbers go along until the tank is full or you release the handle, and there perhaps isn’t much analytical thought put into the final ratio that appears.
More In deliverable based pricing, prices are tied to deliverables, not effort. In order for that to work in favor of the service provider, that provider has to know, plan, and execute what it takes to achieve the defined deliverable with the client. (Laggard service providers may be afraid of deliverable based pricing precisely because of their project management skill-set deficit – but it is something they can learn.)
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