A colleague of mine recently shared with me the story of “The 5 monkeys”. Some of you may already know this story, but please bare with me for a moment while I share with you the version of this story I heard. Some years ago, scientists placed 5 of our nearest evolutionary relatives in a glass cage.
Every year I am lucky enough to travel the world and – like a voyeuristic sponge – soak up new knowledge from the best (and worst) the wonderful world of retail has to offer. Of particular interest over the many years of retail gluttony I have indulged in is the study of department stores because they affect the competitive context for so many categories.
Interesting media skirmish. The head of the Australian Retailers Association and one of Australia’s most successful retail entrepreneurs clash over the state of retail. In the blue corner, self-made billionaire Gerry Harvey and in the red corner Russel Zimmermann – defender of the average retailer.
Nothing excites me more than seeing queues outside shops. The buzz. The noise. The energy. The tell tale signs that a retailer is doing it right and that shoppers love it. Forget media propaganda, if you travel around the world you’ll see it everywhere. Retailers doing incredibly well and happy smiling shoppers expressing the joy of the shopping experience and gladly parting with their money.
We’ve all read the case studies. We’ve all been taught the principles. When you are managing a business you need to foster the loyalty of your staff and suppliers. We spend money on staff climate studies to help us gauge how well we are doing at fostering loyalty amongst our staff and more money on the initiatives to generate loyalty.
While shopper’s willingness to spend is only limited by what they perceive they have to spend, dollars spent at retail continue to grow in Australia to all time highs. Interest rate increases are beginning to affect the cumulative debt levels they can continue to service, but shoppers are still out there spending nonetheless and still in increasing dollar amounts.
