Embracing Technology for Enhanced Efficiency
What a lot of people get wrong about technology in retail is they see it as a saviour. Something thatâll make all their problems go away. I Assume technology was never meant to replace human effort or creativity - it was always meant to assist and augment it. It isnât really a question of technology replacing people, itâs a question of how technology can work with people.
Now, I know what youâre thinking - there are very few areas in our industry where technology hasnât made an impact. Even in the most basic or traditional stores, you have screens, card swipers, product displays, and so much more. The thing is, store owners and managers often make the mistake of thinking of technology as being customer-facing only - but your tech should be working for you too. Think stock counts, inventory monitoring and replenishment, staff schedules, and shift tracking - these are almost never all vital areas in the business that need some TLC too.
And by TLC I mean automating them with robust systems that take the grunt work out of your day-to-day. Of course, all this is easier said than done. There are a million options for every single task - and thatâs not even accounting for the integration nightmares youâd be signing up for.
But if you look at tech as something that can lend itself to improving specific processes or tasks versus something that needs to run everything, youâre better off in the long run. At the end of the day though, technology is a tool like any other.
Its power lies in how much you use it to do more with less - saving time on what doesnât really matter to get more time doing what does.
Diversifying Product Offerings for Market Resilience
This is a mistake I see with new brands all the time. They have an idea - like hats for dogs, or dog hats for men who want to look like dogs - and they fixate on one thing. Diversifying their offerings is a sort of betrayal of their unique vision. I am all for sticking to your guns, but people do not like being told what they want - they do not even really know what they want most of the time.
It is best if you let them figure it out, or guide them gently toward what you are offering by casting a much wider net. This makes for market resilience. When a recession hits, people will stop buying dog hats.
But if you are also selling pet food bowls or leashes, customers might pick up those instead and end up buying some pet hats as well because you are reminding them that this exists and making it more accessible to buy all the things at once - which saves them time. Sort of. In general, when brands offer more product categories or even sell other complementary brands through their ecommerce store, they create stability in revenue.
The idea is not to offer everything under the sun but to offer your customers whatever related products they want in one place so that your product collection covers as many bases as possible within the larger niche that your brand operates in. You can always diversify across verticals or target audiences as well, but this is where you have to step back and consider things like how many resources your business can support at one time and whether your customer base is broad enough to warrant this kind of expansion. There is no right way to diversify because there are plenty of ways to do it wrong; how you expand depends on your industry, capacity, and long-term plans. Itâs easier than ever for brands with online stores because most ecommerce solutions allow merchants to easily add as many products as possible within minutes - even third-party brands through integrations and add-ons.
The hard part comes after expansion with things like keeping track of inventory, integrating suppliers into workflows and systems, updating storefronts according to stock availability across warehouses, processing returns and exchanges from multiple vendors without mistakes or delays causing customer dissatisfaction, ensuring fast shipping times with accurate information provided to customers from checkout until delivery while also maintaining accurate stock records across platforms used by suppliers themselves etc⌠basically just being organised in general so nothing slips through cracks during busy periods which happen inevitably after successful launches.
Building a Strong Online Presence
The way I see it, a lot of people fall into the trap of thinking that having a few followers or occasionally posting a product photo is pretty much enough. Social media for stores is more than just being present or worse, selling. Constantly selling gets you nowhere on social media these days.
Itâs about engagement and community building. Social media is meant to be a two-way street, not a one-way sell path. It is about connecting and sharing.
People will start to care about your brand if they care about you as a person and what you care about. If you have started your business because of a personal struggle or desire to make life better, then share that story. If you support a charity or cause, let it be known. If you are new to something, share your journey and struggles.
Building an online community means showing up consistently and authentically - and it takes time. Social media offers the benefit of not being physically present in a city to build a strong community there but that also means people need to believe in your authenticity through the screen. You canât fake it till you make it on social media anymore.
You also canât work with an agency or run ads alone anymore. You need to be at the centre of it all even if you are not comfortable showing your face on stories every day. More or less.
There are more or less ways to be present online while still maintaining some privacy - show your team, your family, your dog, whatever matters to you in life beyond work (while always keeping safety in mind). The digital world is complex for sure but brands that get online presence right now are winning big time.
Leveraging Data Analytics for Informed Decision-Making
I think people get a bit too excited about data and analytics. Or maybe some of us have simply watched The Matrix one too many times. As if numbers can predict everything - even the weather.
Itâs an easy trap to fall into, I suppose. Weâve all seen those stories of some 12-year-old whiz kid who started a business with a spreadsheet and now has nine Ferraris and three houses. And that can make things seem sort of magical. It seems like but real data is never quite as smooth as it is in the movies.
Not so long ago, someone presented me with this beautiful graph on consumer patterns for shopping at 3:14pm on a Wednesday afternoon. It was captivating - but somewhat pointless, I realised, because what were we going to do with that information. It wasnât giving us anything valuable - or actionable.
Like, should you reschedule your team meetings for late afternoons on Wednesdays because consumer spending drops then. Not really. What matters more is understanding what your data is telling you - and how you can use it in ways that lead to smarter decisions in running your store. Retailers tend to like dashboards - mostly because they look good during presentations and audits.
Itâs slightly different when youâre attempting to use multiple streams of data in a way that makes sense for individual departments. I find it helps to ask yourself what you want to know before you start swimming through those reports. It can also be quite eye-opening to see how other people interpret the same information based on their interests, background or area of expertise. The truth is, there are plenty of tools available now that help you get reliable figures without needing four degrees in statistics.
You could even automate some amount of reporting if you knew exactly what you wanted from it. At the end of the day, good analytics is about showing you trends that have the power to transform your business into something better than it was before - not just growing it bigger for no reason at all. Because data cannot replace empathy and good judgment - it can only help guide them in more informed ways.
Fostering Customer Loyalty Through Engagement
Looks Like a lot of people think customer loyalty is about bribery - those never-ending points programs or the constant stream of discount codes. You almost get whiplash from the amount of emails you have to unsubscribe from when your inbox floods with offers that are one cent less than the day before. But deep down, most people arenât just itching for another percent off - well unless itâs a really big percent.
Theyâre searching for something meaningful. It sounds cliche. Meaningful relationships.
But thatâs essentially what builds trust and ultimately translates into sales. Whether itâs through educational content, webinars, customer service or simply having customers co-create the product with you, there are endless ways to keep customers engaged. Itâs not always about giving something - itâs more about listening. When you listen to your customers, itâs fairly easy to build lasting relationships that turn them into brand ambassadors.
Everyone likes being heard. With that said, there are a lot of factors at play in this scenario. Like your customersâ individual preferences or their own online habits that impact how they engage with brands they like.
Thereâs no set blueprint but what seems to have worked is showing up consistently and meeting customers where they are - whether itâs responding to comments or keeping the right tone on social channels. If youâre asking for feedback in any way, shape or form and expect to maintain a positive reputation, you need to be open to hearing what your customers want and acknowledge that sometimes, it may not be what you want. Thatâs okay though - the trick is to identify what feedback can work for you and help you grow and what canât.
Fostering loyalty is a two-way street so donât forget that your brand identity and values matter too.
Streamlining Supply Chain Management for Scalability
I think most people still see supply chain management as the boring side of retail. They get into fashion for the creativity, the thrill of seeing your collection worn in public. Fair enough, but if youâre not keeping an eye on whatâs going on behind the scenes - your entire brand can fall apart at the seams, if youâll pardon my pun.
Scaling up requires planning and systemising your processes now so you donât have to figure it out in a panic when you grow. You know what most retail business owners get wrong. They do it all themselves and they delay getting help until itâs too late.
I understand why, but I have to say thatâs not always a winning strategy. Most of them spend too much time learning how to do everything themselves (which they can do, for sure) but then fail to build systems and hire experienced experts to set up efficient supply chain management that works without being dependent on them. There are supposedly some great strategies that work well for most e-commerce fashion brands - like adopting smart automation technology for operations or using business process outsourcing services for procurement and vendor management.
These processes reduce dependency on key personnel which helps you be less vulnerable to sudden disruption and also helps keep costs low. I think thereâs also value in building strong relationships with your suppliers so you have more flexibility with inventory, packaging or delivery based on demand. It seems like but letâs not fool ourselves into thinking this is simple or easy. There are many challenges that seem overwhelming - like high minimum order quantities from suppliers, high costs of hiring experts and custom software or technology subscriptions, or cash flow issues at specific times during growth that force people into survival mode.
But with growing adoption of sustainable packaging, working with local vendors and expert consultants who specialise in small businesses in growth - there are more options than ever before for small businesses to scale their supply chains and become more sustainable too. Sort of.