Chris Savage from STW Group wrote a blog recently quoting ‘Ironman’ Trevor Hendy. A fantastic quote that is perfect for the times we live in – the reason Savage used it. The quote seems at first glib yet becomes incredibly profound upon deliberation. Hendy, when asked about the challenge of competing, simply said – “The conditions are always perfect.”
There is simply no way to sugar coat the rapidly approaching demise of many retailers other than to say some, not all, can avoid going the way of The Titanic. The technological icebergs that have re-drawn the charts of retail can be navigated. But unlike the Captain of that famous ship, the problem needs to be understood and acknowledged and help sought quickly to avoid impending disaster.
Social scientists and social researchers argue that the world today is perceived by most people as being increasingly cold; technological; complex; de-humanised; stressful; uncertain; and transactional. As business people we feel it too.
I’ve been learning about retail most of my life and will always strive to learn more from the vocation that I love. However, from my earliest recollections of my grandparents newsagency chain, through to the retail projects I am currently working on and all the retail heroes I have had the privilege to spend time with all over the world, it is the simple rules of retail that just keep being proven and re-proven over and over again to me.
Amongst all the propaganda, agendas and poor strategic decision-making in retail today, it is wonderful when you come across a diamond in the rough that points to a bright future for our industry in the not too far distant future. Make Designed Objects – a Melbourne based ‘blended multi-channel’, designer home-ware retail business is a glowing example of this.
WOW! the consumer electronics and electrical store chain fails. WOW! Another one bites the dust. Predicted by many and not the last to fail in that category. Dick Smith Electronics is up for sale. Harvey Norman is being pounded by critical commentary. Even JB Hi-Fi – the market darling – has been hit by comparative store losses and profit downgrades. And we haven’t seen the last of the pain in this category as the stresses of change and re-alignment manifest.
