Absolutely in accord! Retailers are in dire need of innovative in-store solutions that provide real-time insights into demographics, inventory management, and spatial analytics. Moreover, empowering them with actionable recommendations for optimizing store layouts and driving revenue is paramount. By doing so, they can enhance customer experiences, drawing in more foot traffic, and simultaneously foster a positive employee experience. The era of top-down strategies is fading, making way for a more effective bottom-up approach - Liza Amlani love the write up!
Retail Consultant and Trusted Advisor | Merchandising | Product Creation | Sustainability | Corporate Retail Strategy | Speed to Market | Supply Chain | Board Member | RETHINK Retail Global Expert
THIS is what retailers should be doing. Whether you are design-lead brand, a multi-brand retailer, or have a centralized or de-centralized merchandising model...giving stores more control is a winning strategy. Giving them the tools they need to make quick and real-time decisions will increase revenue. So many great highlights in Trefor Moss' article in today's The Wall Street Journal. 𝒁𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍, 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒑’𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚, 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒂 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒐𝒏-𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔’ 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒇. “𝑨 𝒕𝒚𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒑-𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏,” 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂 𝑪𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒚𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝑺𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒎 𝑩𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓. “𝒁𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔—𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚’𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒐𝒎-𝒖𝒑. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒚 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒕, 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒅𝒂𝒑𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.” 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒑𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎, 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓’𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒙 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒁𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒔, 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. “𝑰𝒇 𝑰 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒛𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒚 ‘𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕,’ 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝑰 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚,” 𝑶𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒊𝒓𝒂 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. “𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒖𝒔.” Fun fact --> the ZARA SA store featured in this article was my home store on the King's Road in Chelsea. While working in Mayfair at Ralph Lauren, I would avoid the Zara on Oxford St and Regent St. Instead I would head to my local store on a weekly basis...for retail therapy, inspiration, or to pick up an outfit for a weekend event. Every week the assortment at the front of the store was new. And now I know why. Localization should be grounded in any brand or retailer that has multiple locations. Community, brand ambassadors and store managers are the eyes and ears of your market. Take advantage and give them what they need to drive loyalty and sales in their stores. Fullstop. Ana Paola Olivieri, Inditex, The Wall Street Journal #stores #retail #retailnews #merchandising #customerexperience
