Remember Woolies?
Last week we went to our usual Thursday night pub quiz and one of the rounds was logos of all sorts of brands, long since disappeared... Kodak, Debenhams, Comet, Tower Records... and Woolworths.
If you’re of a certain age like me you’ve got to remember their pick and mix. 🍬Not just their pick and mix either, I bought my first record from there back in 1976 with my pocket money (Save Your Kisses for Me by the Brotherhood of Man 💜).
It was a great store… toys, sweets, homeware, records even a cafe!
But the issue was that that wasn’t enough.
You see when the internet came along Woolworths thought they could battle on doing what they’d always done, providing a great service, good prices and a wide range of products.
They stood firm in their belief that their customers would be loyal.
But the sad truth is that customers are only loyal whilst they’re happy… they love you when it suits them. But in actual fact they’re pretty fickle.
Someone offers something slightly prettier or faster or cheaper than you and then (as they say on Love Island) their head will be turned!!
And for Woolworths when Amazon prime came along in 2004, with all the same products but faster, quicker (and without having to walk past the pick and mix to get them) Woolworths were left with their proverbial pants down. They lasted out until 2009 🥲
What’s that got to do with us as business owners. Well it’s not really a new message and it definitely isn’t 🚀 science.
You have to embrace new things. You need to recognise that if you’re not moving forward, like Woolworths and the others you’re actually moving backwards.
You need to be looking at your business and working out what you can offer next year and the year after that your customers will want.
Think about how you can make what you offer something that your customers feel they can’t do without.
So what will you do to avoid going the way of Woolies? 🤔
#businesscoach #servicebusiness #customersatisfaction #smallbusinessowners
Executive Director at JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A.
1moCongratulations to all