Retail Pragmatist Multi Channel Retail Specialists http://www.retailpragmatist.com/ Sun, 20 May 2012 07:51:56 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.retailpragmatist.com//images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://www.retailpragmatist.com/ Retail Pragmatist Multi Channel Retail Specialists index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=96&Itemid=37 Retail Pragmatist specialises in ad hoc and tailored retail market research to validate strategic intent and to form the foundation for business development planning. There are many sources of information available both in the public domain and from subscription sources. However, these sources rarely fit individually with specific decision support needs when entering a new market, launching a new service or looking for acquisition targets. Retail Pragmatist has helped clients to put together comprehensive, tailored research findings, conclusions and recommendations to support their strategic ambition by combining relevant, focused sources of information to create knowledge. Tailored market research case studies include: Identifying the top 50 distance selling companies in the UK and the addressable volumes for a new final mile delivery service launch, as a platform for market testing the solution with key target clients; Identifying and analysing the top 10 UK parcel carriers capability and assessing each carrier's degree of fit with the client's specification, enabling prioritisation and focus for selection; Examining the fulfilment provider market to identify acquisition targets for a European fulfilment business looking to expand into the UK, which subsequently resulted in due diligence support for a successful acquisition. If you are looking for decision support for strategic implementations... What We Do - What we do Thu, 10 Nov 2011 10:33:58 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=37 Retail Pragamatist has one aim - to help retailers build and implement future proof, channel integrated propositions through pragmatic, focussed and visionary strategic implementations aimed at getting it right first time from when the customer presses the Buy button. The results? Lower costs to serve, improved service and enhanced customer retention. I didn't appreciate until we met that someone could know so much about Logistics... Founder, Award-winning pureplay e-tailer. Retail Pragmatist differentiators: Unrivalled knowledge of home delivery and returns management best practice World class programme management capability Risk mitigation on implementation is central to RP's approach How to maximise your asset recovery from returns Looking to outsource? Who should you be talking to? We know the market Fulfilment? Distribution? Returns? Who is your best partner and why? Balance cost and service to suit your proposition and budget. Ambition v Capability AnalysisTM: Capture your ambition for your business Be honest and realistic about your capabilities Find the critical gaps that are preventing you from realising your ambition Prioritise and sequence your activities in balance with your resource levels and capability to absorb change Establish a realistic, future proof plan, building on solid foundations with key risks identified for mitigation Execute your plans effectively, and monitor results... What We Do - What we do Sat, 22 Oct 2011 00:00:24 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=101&Itemid=70 On a personal level, in general I experienced a great Christmas performance from all the retailers I shopped with online in the run up to the festive period. One retailer who stood out for me was Amazon, with one particular order. It wasn't required for Christmas as a gift, in fact I only saw it advertised on the 22nd December, a Panasonic TZ20 camera, with a load of bells and whistles, plus £35 cashback. Amazon was at the low end of a vast range of prices, so I plumped for them, placing the order around 3pm on Friday 23rd December. The following morning, my camera arrived by post, so it was like getting an early Christmas present. This in the Retail Pragmatist's view is how to win loyalty in a very fiercely competitive market. I have had some other experiences in the run up tp Christmas that have not worked out so well in the loyalty stakes... Retail Comment - The Retail Pragmatist Comment - Factual & Personal Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:38:07 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=100&Itemid=70 Today is Black Friday in the United States, when traditionally huge discounts are offered to drive footfall to stores the day after Thanksgiving. Conventionally a retail holiday, one chain caused uproar by opening up on Thanksgiving; it didn't stop the queues though. Sales are vanity... Sir Philip Green, owner of Arcadia, has described flat (sales) as the new growth - to achieve flat in the current climate is a major achievement, when you consider that the Arcadia boss is considering exiting between 250 and 275 store leases in the next three years. An early warning shot to landlords, perhaps? Or is this another significant step to Tumbleweed High Streets, with abandoned stores and flat or reduced consumer spending? Have your say in our new poll on Retail Prgmatist's homepage (http://www.retailpragmatist.com), and check back in a month or so to see the results, thank you! Follow @RtailPragmatist (https://twitter.com/RtailPragmatist) Subscribe to RSS Feed updates at RP Retail Comment here Retail Comment - The Retail Pragmatist Comment - Factual & Personal Fri, 25 Nov 2011 08:01:00 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=99&Itemid=70 Over the last few years, my local town in Cheshire has become a focal point for a couple of big league supermarket chains keen to oust the current incumbent, a regional player with a monopoly effectively in the town, with only a local Co-op for competition and high prices accordingly. My town is now on Aldi's radar, subject to a planning application that looks like it has a few hoops to go through yet, and has recently seen both a Sainsbury and Waitrose local store open. The winner for me by a country mile is Waitrose; there's obviously been a lot of thought and planning in the ranging which is spot on. Whether the local Ocado purchases database was used to analyse what customers were buying to support the ranging, which would make sense, or whether they have both a highly developed model and sense of what a local small store format should look like and contain, the Waitrose team have done a great job. I think the only thing that has caught them out, is that customers buy more than a few items in a basket, and the checkouts aren't really designed for trolleys and packed baskets. But I'm sure... Retail Comment - The Retail Pragmatist Comment - Factual & Personal Mon, 14 Nov 2011 10:10:44 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=98&Itemid=70 Retail Pragmatist would like to think that someone from John Lewis or Waitrose has actually read my blog post from the 26th October and acted upon it. Anyway, be it coincidence or action following the blog post, John Lewis's Click and Collect offer has gone from great to outstanding. My blog post referenced the fact that it is possible to collect John Lewis orders, placed either from store or online, at Waitrose stores. Which is great for the Retail Pragmatist, with a local Waitrose store in my home town. The point was that this service was not promoted in the Waitrose store, so I had no idea such a fantastic convenient option was available. I found out incidentally from a friend who had placed an order in a John Lewis store where she was told she could collect it from Waitrose. I was in my local Waitrose yesterday and the John Lewis Click Collect Service is now promoted in store, so well done John Lewis and Waitrose, outstanding service recognised and achieved. Follow @RtailPragmatist (https://twitter.com/RtailPragmatist) Subscribe to RSS Feed updates at RP Retail Comment here Retail Comment - The Retail Pragmatist Comment - Factual & Personal Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:00:24 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=97&Itemid=70 As the world's largest department store and a registered New York City landmark, Macy's is more a shopping empire than mere retailer. Nine floors of merchandise, from beauty products and men's fashion to dinnerware and designer slip dresses, fill the store's one million square feet of retail space—that's one solid city block of stuff, eight stories high. Each and every day, thousands of sightseers and city dwellers coast through the glass and wrought iron doors on 34th Street into the mammoth Herald Square flagship, Macy's home since 1902. Last week I was one of those tourists - is biggest really best? Retail Comment - The Retail Pragmatist Comment - Factual & Personal Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:25:42 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=95&Itemid=70 Yet another example of disconnected thinking by retailers. I recently bought a branded garden vac from a well known multi-channel retailer. I didn't go to my usual store as I had some other stuff to do in another area, so bought it from a store there. The garden vac packed in after using it once, so I needed to return it. That's when the fun started. Retail Comment - The Retail Pragmatist Comment - Factual & Personal Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:10:02 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=94&Itemid=70 Cross selling is an art that all retailers should seek to master and do well. Unfortunately, many try and fail. Yesterday, whilst shopping on a major DIY retailer's site for bark mulch, on the checkout page I was offered mirrored wardrobe doors. At least offer me something remotely to do with gardening, or is bark mulch now a new trendy bedroom floor covering? I was convinced of the power of cross selling over 15 years ago when my then employer, GUS Home Shopping, was pioneering contact centre offers driven by customer account history. A lady was buying some shorts for her kids on a Back to School offer and was offered a pine curtain pole by our pilot system. Guess what? She bought it. The system had recognised that she had previously bought pine bedroom furniture and figured she might be looking for a matching curtain pole. Now that's smart retailing. But suggesting random, pointless products on a check out page to customers of whom the retailer has no previous history, and who may not even have logged in to check out at that point, is pretty pointless. It's a shotgun approach, rather than being a smart sharp shooter. So,... Retail Comment - The Retail Pragmatist Comment - Factual & Personal Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:51:10 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=93&Itemid=70 The attractions of international expansion are obvious for retailers. Leverage your website as multi-currency and multi lingual capabilities become easier to roll out; expansion is low risk as there is no bricks and mortar investment to worry about, and the infrastructure costs of the web site are sunken, and need leveraging. The benefits have been reflected in the strong performance of ASOS in particular, with overseas sales now outstripping UK sales, and providing a growth opportunity as the UK stagnates. Other retailers are fast exploiting this opportunity with M S, House of Fraser and Debenhams all reporting strong activity. There are downsides - extra distribution charges, poor tracking, difficult returns management and customs documentation for non-EU countries. Whilst it is obvious from the relative short term success experienced by these pioneering retailers, I wonder how many will see any repeat business from overseas customers, and whether this target group can be offered the same level of customer care and attention that they receive from their own national retailers. Retail Comment - The Retail Pragmatist Comment - Factual & Personal Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:24 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=70 I read recently about Supergroup's supply chain glitch, caused by a warehouse systems upgrade, which could affect full year profits materially. Any systems upgrade is a risky business, as is opening a new warehouse, reconfiguring a distribution network, selecting a new carrier partner for distribution. The key, based on recent practical experience of programme managing a network transformation programme for a household name retailer, involving both a physical infrastructure and systems implementaion, is to identify, manage and mitigate risk. A fundamental element of Retail Pragmatist's approach is the identification of Go / No Go criteria, which identifies key dependencies on a project, tightly managed and controlled by a proactive programme management governance process. The Go / No Go criteria, driven by key task completion dates, were reviewed three months out, looking for pitfalls to avoid and opportunities to address. Any tasks that were dependent on a task that wasn't completed on time simply did not get the go ahead to commence. The focus on task completion that this process brought about was a key critical success factor in managing, to a successful conclusion, one of the highest risk profile programmes that the Retail Pragmatist has had the pleasure... Retail Comment - The Retail Pragmatist Comment - Factual & Personal Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:47:52 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=89&Itemid=70 Gift cards from retailers - lovely to receive and even lovelier for retailers, as they are one of the most profitable products retailers can offer. Why? Because only 30-40% of them are ever redeemed, so cash in the tills upfront, a book liability until the cards are redeemed, but so what? The cash is in the bank. Maybe I'm being cynical, but why do some retailers make it very difficult to redeem gift cards online? A case in point is my recent experience with a major high street departrment store's online shop. We were the very lucky recipient of a £100 gift voucher, and spent a while accumulating a basket of goods on which to spend it. So far so good, then it all went badly wrong. Retail Comment - The Retail Pragmatist Comment - Factual & Personal Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:45:09 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=88&Itemid=70 This issue is relevant for any retailer who has a charge account system for its customers. The problems related to this issue have actually caused me to cancel my account with this particular retailer and be removed from its distribution list, it was that serious. This particular retailer runs a charge account for its customers as an option whereby purchases can be added to the account and the balance settled at the end of the month. If the balance isn't settled then an interest charge is levied to the outstanding balance, a very lucrative income stream. The issue I had was with a return which had been bought through the directory as a home delivery and returned to a store. A receipt is issued in store and given to the customer as proof of return. This is fine in the majority of cases. In this instance, the process went badly wrong. Retail Comment - The Retail Pragmatist Comment - Factual & Personal Tue, 18 Oct 2011 08:08:36 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=87&Itemid=70 Being the proud father of a baby girl (my fifth child, so been there, done that), and needing a top up on some new baby stuff, Kiddicare.com was our retailer of choice, primarily for its free next day delivery offer. Kiddicare's focus seems to be on second time round parents, understanding the need for low prices and quick, easy, no hassle delivery. And Kiddicare.com delivered. Retail Comment - The Retail Pragmatist Comment - Factual & Personal Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:41:23 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=86&Itemid=70 Congratulations to Amazon in winning the award for top brand for overall customer experience, a well-deserved accolade indeed. Amazon, in the personal view of the Retail Pragmatist, has always blazed a trail for others to follow with its online shopping experience. The Buy Now With One Click button is inspired, having encouraged me to spend far more than I really wanted to using this easy shop facility. The power of the personalised recommendations and customer reviews create a real powerhouse driving sales, and spontaneous purchases in particular. On many occasions I have been informed by Amazon of releases I had not been aware of, and bought them, in one click again! But there is always room for improvement... Retail Comment - The Retail Pragmatist Comment - Factual & Personal Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:21:29 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=85&Itemid=70 This is a top tip for all COO's, CIO's and Logistics Directors, whether you have a new Warehouse Managememt system (WMS) or not, but particularly if you have just installed a new one. I was working with one client recently who had installed a new WMS; we had done extensive testing on gold runs and exceptions but did not find this particular loop hole until a supervisor offered it up. And it exposed every home delivery order to potential fraud and customer claims. Retail Comment - The Retail Pragmatist Comment - Factual & Personal Fri, 14 Oct 2011 07:15:02 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=84&Itemid=70 I had a problem with a door chime from a major national DIY chain, which I had bought from one of its warehouse formats. I didn't realise the relevance of this until I tried to return it via a different store which was a trade format which stocked a different range. The (eventually) very helpful lady on the Customer Service desk initially tried to bounce me to the original store I bought the item from. Retail Comment - The Retail Pragmatist Comment - Factual & Personal Thu, 13 Oct 2011 08:01:40 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=83&Itemid=70 I found out something great about John Lewis Click Collect service today - you can pick up orders from Waitrose stores as an option, which is great for me, as a Waitrose store has opened recently in the town where I live. Also, if you order online before 7pm, orders should be available to collect from 2pm the next day. This is a great offer, and well done John Lewis. But why on earth is there no information in my local Waitrose store to promote the fact that I can collect my John Lewis orders from that store? I found out by accident from a friend who was told whilst ordering an out of stock item in a John Lewis store that she could collect her order from our local Waitrose. This is an example of where joined up thinking on multi channel services can really pay off and take a new service from great to outstanding. Follow @RtailPragmatist (https://twitter.com/RtailPragmatist) Subscribe to RSS Feed updates at RP Retail Comment here Retail Comment - The Retail Pragmatist Comment - Factual & Personal Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:38:54 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=82&Itemid=9 Download a FREE Ebook on Search Engine Marketing here (http://www.axandra.com/go.to/Dateblogger/http://www.axandra.com/Successful-Search-Engine-Optimization.zip) Solutions Today - Solutions Today Thu, 19 May 2011 18:24:05 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=37 We arrive prepared, ready to talk about you. To ensure timely delivery of results, it is important to understand and avoid the pitfalls of some of the more traditional consultancy approaches. The MultiChannel ACTIONTM approach and supporting models and maps are all prepared - our clients do not pay for us to prepare our base study material once the project has started. Our senior team are experienced both as Retail Directors and Blue Chip Consultants - our thinking is grounded in live experience of having managed significant multi channel change before. We focus our learning specifically on our clients’ nuances not our core discipline when we deliver our projects. We hit the ground running and can provide rapid, impressive results by next month’s board meeting. Our action plans are achievable, and enable you to deliver on the promise you make at that meeting. And we understand that being able to do this matters. A lot. Evaluate today’s investments against Retail Pragmatist’s multi-channel retail roadmap – are you future proof? What We Do - What we do Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:00:23 +0100