09 May The Good Old Days Are Gone Forever
Being a retailer these days is like running on a treadmill with someone else controlling the speed.
The harder you try to keep up with the shopping preferences of your customers, the faster they change – forcing you to run full-throttle just to keep pace and hope your business doesn’t collapse in the process.
Life as a merchant used to be so easy and slow-paced.
Your brick-and-mortar establishment on Main Street was an end-destination for many of your customers because you carried goods they could not readily find elsewhere. They would drop in to browse on a regular basis and you knew the regulars by name. You even knew what they liked.
Price was rarely a buying decision factor. Lack of competition for your merchandise and the friendly convenience you offered all but guaranteed that. Sale prices were restricted to inventory you wanted to move and sale events were rarely promoted in the weekly ads you ran in the local newspaper.
You didn’t even mind when those mail-order merchants arrived.
They enchanted your customers with exotic ware from all over the world – delivered right to their doorsteps. But, those catalogs spoke to folks outside your territory, so they were hardly a threat.
That is, until they inundated your customers’ mailboxes – especially during the holidays – invading the pocketbooks of even your most loyal followers. The competitive pressure eventually forced you to join their ranks.
So you made the transition to direct mail.
Though the change was a challenge, it had its rewards. With a broader range of merchandise, your customer base increased and mass marketing could be data-driven – remotely at your convenience – to targeted audiences. No need to wait for customers to walk into your store.
You still spoke to people – but in a different way. They leisurely read your compelling copy extolling the benefits of each product as you subtly drew them closer to making a purchase with sale prices and deadlines. Though the competition might be brutal if you were not in a niche market, you could afford to acquire new customers at a 98% failure rate.
That is, until the arrival of the Internet and the birth of ecommerce.
That was when the retail treadmill suddenly increased intensity in both grade and speed. The learning curve stretched beyond your expertise and the pace quickened as if it were on steroids.
Your customers, however, embraced the new marketplace with wonder and enthusiasm. What you had thought would be simply a passing fad, was – to your dismay – the way of the future. So you migrated your business online, creating a website which employs technology you have no hope of mastering.
But, before you’ve even had a chance to get comfortable in your new store, your customers have moved on to another way of shopping. And, once again your world is about to be turned upside down.
Stay tuned!