Seven big ideas from the Industry Issues Summit
“What’s Next?"
That was the theme of the recent Drug Store Industry Issues Summit in New York in early December. Once a year, senior retail and manufacturing leaders get together to review the ever changing dynamics around how we unlock new value for the consumer. The summit focused on strategies for elevating retailer and manufacturer relationships and focused on 7 business drivers shifting our industry:
1. True Partnerships and “Share of Heart”
2. Game Changing Insights
3. Omni Channel
4. Co-Creation Innovation
5. Personalization
6. The Advancing Millennial Consumer
7. Leadership Advantages
There are no perfect organizations, and we all have a performance gap between where we are and where we hope to land. Recently we conducted a number of informal retailer and manufacturer interviews and uncovered a number of roadblocks limiting our growth. They include:
Lack of relationship transparency, new insights & Omni-Channel alignment;
Lack of discussion around trade promotion & retailer data inefficiency;
Too much operational or transactional thinking & not enough co-development;
Not discussing and agreeing on future risks and the definition of risk; and
Too many promises made and not enough follow through, often on the brand side.
I moderated the event for two hours with a group of gifted industry merchants. Here are the top 7 ideas that can make a difference in your business if you embrace them.
Big Idea #1: The best manufacturing partners present “one face” to the retail customer including integrating sales, marketing and insights into their customer teams. There is also an appetite for increased knowledge of broader in-home ethnographic research that offers new knowledge of the consumer’s motivation & psychology. Getting at the hidden behavioral insights helps uncover unmet needs or growth opportunities which may transform a category.
Big Idea #2: Ensure you have enough curious people on your customer teams, including data scientists & members of your digital team who can help uncover new knowledge which will grow the retailer’s share of business. Also look at merging your digital and in-store sales to uncover the larger brand trends, channel shifts and upcoming trends. They want to understand digital sales slippage, share losses and best practices.
Big Idea #3: Uncover broad future trends supported with a retailer action plan to help them maximize their long term business. Ensure your product’s positioning and education on the retailer’s site, is accurate, impactful and aspirational. The retailer’s site is an open canvas; use it effectively to influence your consumer. Everything starts & ends with the consumer’s unmet needs.
Big Idea #4: Look for future co-creation ideas within alternative channels, international & emerging markets or unconventional segments. Use a “test & learn” approach when discussing and initiating new concepts & don’t forget to lay out a contingency plan just in case the launch is unsuccessful. Co-creation projects must create a new consumer trip or establish a consumer destination to be viable initiative. And as one executive shared: “If you do not customize your offerings you many one day end up irrelevant.”
Big Idea #5: Authentic social media supported with an own able corporate purpose is a vital component of the omni-channel ecosystem. Winning companies clearly define “why they exist” and they scale up their customer teams to include internal leaders who can provide omnichannel solutions to their top retail customers. Omnichannel is a strategic driver for all retailers; if you provide competitive insights and great content you will become more valuable in their eyes.
Big Idea #6: Marshall your best internal talents as you create your customer teams. Retailers want access to your best thinkers within the broader organization. Do you have corporate talent that should be assigned to a retailer team? The entire enterprise can be utilized on a customer call — not just sales and marketing leaders.
Big Idea #7: The fastest means of earning higher levels of trust is to over deliver on your commitments. As a sales and marketing organization, be crystal clear on your definition of success, corporate expectations and create a methodology to measure and track success. If you are not a Joint Business Partner, think and act like one. Consistent over delivery of results unleashes trust!
Our esteemed leadership panel was very clear about the future. They are looking for real partners that can help them brand the store, differentiate their assortment and design a seamless omni-channel consumer impression.
Are you up for the challenge?
For more insights on Dan Mack and the Elevation Forum go to www.mackelevationforum.com. To learn about his first book Dark Horse: How Challenger Companies Rise to Prominence visit www.darkhorsebook.com.