The title of this blog is one of the lessons I learned from Jim Collins. I can’t remember right now which book it is from, but it has always stuck with me. I’m responsible for helping our company change before it had to. I started with my mentor Mieka on redesigning our stores and after she left I continued finding ways for us to innovate. It’s not always been easy, and I’ve not always gotten my way, but we’re still here when other stores are gone. What brought this to mind today is this post about JC Penny from Business of Fashion titled To Save Retail, Let it Die.
One line really stuck out to me:
In order to pump oxygen into an entirely new era of department store retailing, he would have to once and for all turn off the respirator that was keeping this old brand barely alive.
I’ve had to deal with this at our company. Some of the old guard still cling to what originally made us money, even though it is now a fraction of our sales. When I was promoted to Buyer my department accounted for less than 20% of sales. Today it is 85% and climbing. And it wasn’t just that the old market was declining, the new market was increasing. The new market has grown year over year for the last 12 years. Not one single year that didn’t beat the last. Our lowest increase was 10% and that was during the recession. That shift from what used to sell, to what is selling is why we still have all our stores open.
I’m not some genius that just KNEW what the future held. I saw a niche we could exploit to add to our revenue. I had no idea that it would become the bulk of our business. What I did, and what you can do, is simply listen to the market. It took me two years to convince my boss (who owns the company) that the sales trends were real. I ran report after report. It was only recently that my boss has finally realized that the old market is in fact not coming back. But I’ve often wondered if by even still offering the product we’re not hurting ourselves. The old product is for a completely different demographic. Like having a lingerie store that also sells hardware (sorry JC Penny).
The other story of our success came when we began hiring people who were passionate about the product, our company, and our mission. Here’s why that is important from the same Business of Fashion article in detailing the future of retail:
…the role and purpose of retail space will no longer be principally to sell products. Rather, these spaces will act as living, breathing physical portals into brand and product experiences.
Further,
Any human being that doesn’t generate added value, either through creativity, expertise or intuition will be expendable.
I’ve said for nearly a decade that I’m not worried about online sales as they are not my competitor. We sell experience and education, stuff you can’t get from Amazon. In the coming months we’ll be looking to add even more value to our customers in a variety of ways.
These two things seem simple: 1) Buy products that sell and 2) Have staff that are passionate. However, how many times have you stopped into a store and encountered uninterested staff. The key is to take a hard honest look at your sales and your staff and make hard choices. It won’t be easy, and everyone won’t be happy, but if you want to stay in business you need to change before you have to.
Joe Robles 