The New Retail
Let’s look at just one new ecosystem: The New Retail.
This is arguably the most broad-ranging and significant new ecosystem. And yeah, we know you know about Amazon, and selling online, and all of that. But we’re astounded by the number of clients who come to us and say, “We’re launching a new product, and we are signing up retailers, and we may sell a few things on the website, but it’s really a dealer model.”
Oh really? So this is why online commerce absolutely decimated brick and mortar this last holiday season?
The reality is that buyers are now slipping their old habits. Going down to the local mall, scoping out what’s available, and making a retail purchase seems slow and wasteful in the age of “click to buy now.” Hearing about something on the radio and seeing if it’s in stock at the local dealer is getting bypassed by a quick online search. Let’s face it:
The old model: See something on TV/radio/newspaper –> Call a dealer to check stock –> Drive down to buy it.
The new model: See something on a blog –> Click to the site –> Buy it.
There are entire industries where specialist retailers are falling by the wayside, as e-commerce provides more stock, more selection, and more information than they ever could. There are entire new industry leaders being created who eschew retail sales entirely, for a total direct-sale model. And there will be more, as industry learns about the extreme price advantage conferred by cutting out the dealer margin. In some vertical industries, direct is already the de facto standard.
The lesson here? It’s easy to look around and think, “Nothing has really changed.” In fact, it has. And if you’re architecting your company to perform well in the old ecosystem, don’t be surprised if a new competitor comes up and threatens your dominance using the new ecosystem.
So what can you do:
Start with a brand that means something. The New Retail begins with a strong, differentiated brand. Online, there’s a lot more noise than in the traditional space. Take chances. Create controversy. Say what you really need to say.
Get good at all parts of the new ecosystem. Then, you absolutely need online PR and advertising, engaging the communities who are interested in your product. It continues with a slick online sales system that converts the prospects that come to your site. And it finishes with a more hands-on approach to customer service.
Measure and optimize. There’s no excuse to not know where your sales are coming from—you’ll be able to track the blogs, media sites, forums, and blogs that drive sales. You’ll know the messages that work. Heed these results, tweak the campaign, and make the results better.
Don’t be afraid to change. In The New Retail, you’ll know a lot more about what your customers actually want. They’re vocal. They talk to each other on forums. They chat with friends on Facebook. And they have no problem telling you what they think. Missed the mark? Change it. Because if you won’t, someone else will.
Scary? Not really. In fact, making it in The New Retail is a lot less chancy than getting your products in the right dealers and paying their margin to get them to pay attention to it.
And . . . don’t forget the future. As mobile commerce comes to the fore, be prepared for even more change.
