There is little doubt that as the digital revolution continues and customer crave more from their interactions with companies, a winning strategy will hinge on good customer experience.
The gift that always gives: customer-centricity
The apprehension of the category killer
A principal section of retail that has fallen prey to market forces is the “category killer.” In an age of endless aisle, hyper-convenience, and so many upstart brands, the market needs less apprehension and more definitive category leadership from these specialists.
Champagne wishes and caviar dreams
With companies no longer able to claim convenience as their calling card, a company must deliver at least one of three core concepts.
To Infinity and Beyond: re-invigorating Bed, Bath
Most analysts and observers of the retail space are not quite ready to declare the once dominant category-killer dead, however the financial picture is causing distress. We ask the obvious questions: what happened and how can it be fixed? We then outline solutions to aid the recovery.
Pumping up the talent strategy (Part 2 of 2)
So, the follow-up becomes how can leaders think through the approach to talent and create a strategy to execute against and build company value? We identified three key ways leaders and organizations can address to build a sustainable advantage. As Michael Scott from The Office says, "You need to play to win. But you also have to win to play."
Transformations: wrapping an old fish in a piece of paper called change
Originally posted on Loup Ventures Written by Carlos Castelán with Andrew Murphy In recent years, companies in the retail and consumer goods space have touted “business transformations” – a cue to analysts and Wall Street that they were launching innovative products and…
The ghosts of talent passed (Part 1 of 2)
A common question asked of many sr. level executives today is, “What keeps you up at night?” It evokes an image of a haggard executive bolting up in bed at night or a tortured manager haunted by a recurring, bad…
The (Abercrombie) air we breathe
Retail is now digital. With over 210 million people in the USA having placed an order through ecommerce in 2017 and forecasts of $523B in online sales by 2020, it is clear this “fad” is here to stay. Retailers have…
Three takeaways from Shoptalk 2018
Contributors: Carlos Castelán and Charlie Wärendh With the abundance of buzzwords – customers, personalization, AI, machine learning– still fresh and the ringing of slot machines gradually fading away, we thought it would be helpful to capture takeaways from Shoptalk 2018 in…
Three observations from Day 2 of Shoptalk
Innovation and technology are common themes…but limited appetite for risk exists. A common theme so far amongst retailers has been around better understanding their customer, building innovation for them and then becoming nimble as an organization going forward. That said,…