There are a lot of changes happening around us everyday at the moment. This is causing a lot of older businesses to really show signs of failure. Take a look at the retail sector for example, with UK retail giants like Toys R Us & New Look slashing jobs and facing liquidation.
But why is this happening? Is it just that people are shopping differently or is there is simply a reluctance to modernise?
I think it's a bit of both really...
For sure, people have changed the way we do things. With the total dominance we see from companies like Amazon, there are fewer and fewer reasons to venture out to the old fashioned town centre. Personally, I do most of my shopping from the comfort of my sofa, or even on my mobile whilst traveling.
So what could the big stores do to keep the foot fall coming through the door? Innovate!
Lets take a company like New Look - A High Street Fashion Brand. Almost all of their products, as well as their competitors products, can now be purchased online. With simple returns processes, a huge range of items and sizes and none of the hassle of getting to an actual shop. But, what if the actual shop offered you more...
Just speculating but, whats to stop New Look training a few of the their existing staff to act as Personal Shoppers? Maybe even offering a bit of a "makeover" service in store. Changing the dynamic of the shoppers experience could get people off their sofa and back into store.
Why couldn't Toys R Us start a Pokémon Tournament, offer Balance Bike Lessons for kids, or even have an XBox Gaming event?
These aren't groundbreaking ideas, they're just different ways of getting people to see the store as a different experience and not simply an old fashioned way of shopping.
Even THC have realised that the old ways of consultancy need to catch up with modern thinking. So we are developing our new Customer Portal - The Helpful Cloud - to give our clients a more usable and direct service, without having to devote as much time to meetings and conference calls.
We aren't changing what we do, we are simply giving people more value and benefits, to keep on top of the game. Is it time you thought about making some changes too?
Innovate or Die