Opinion

Is this where we are headed? Will other retailers soon join 7/11, the nation’s largest convenience store chain, and become worried about federal immigration agents showing up, unannounced, and carting away undocumented workers and demanding paperwork from store managers to prove otherwise?

This year could be the most important year for retail since, well, since all the way back in 2017.

At the outset, it is certainly shaping up that way, especially with a host of major retailers looking to do all they can to compete with Amazon and its growing online presence, not to mention taking a few points away from each other.

Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba once said, “You should learn from your competitor, but never copy. Copy and you die.” As the Chinese consumer healthcare market continues to rocket forward, what can we learn from them?  For my dollar — or yuan — quite a bit.

Given that online shopping and health and wellness are two of the biggest consumer trends, it made sense the two would become more intertwined. That happened big time in 2017 with the Amazon-Whole Foods merger.

Blais Pascal famously wrote, “I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.” Like Pascal,most salespeople have an inability to keep to the point. My research shows that over 75% of all customer presentations are too long, disjointed, irrelevant or are simply boring. A national retail executive once shared with me: “Most sales presentation put me to sleep or create a trance-like state. They rarely capture my attention.” Do you want to be perceived as valuable and distinct? Get to the point.

This week I was reminded by my two great nieces that we need to be setting goals and looking into the future. Living in the present or only perpetuating the status quo will not fuel growth and reinvention.

When you look in the near and not-so-near future, do you think your company will be in the same industry? In this rapidly shifting business environment, that’s a question that must be asked. Companies and industries are in constant change. To remain competitive and relevant you must imagine a new future.

Author Robert C. Gallagher once observed that “Change is inevitable—except from a vending machine.” The same can be said about the global (and U.S.) regulatory landscape. U.S. brand owners are often intimidated and bypass global opportunities because the regulatory challenge is daunting.

Well, it is possible to keep the change and profit.

A few rules of the road: