Progressive Grocer - March 2009 - (Page 22)

Wake-up Call Tough-love tips on smart retailing Back to the Future To visualize the stores yet to come, we need to appreciate those of the past. technology can do, rather than by determining what the country and the military need to do. Billions have been spent over the past few years on new bombers that represent the latest in technology, but are no help in uch has been written, in finding terrorists in the mountains of Afghanistan and this special issue and else- Pakistan. We have fallen into the trap of building what where, about the store of we can build, rather than building what we need — like the future, and the vast better body armor and more rugged Hummers. majority of that work This is all to say that I am ready to leave the revolves around new technology and the way this technology part of predicting the future to my feltechnology will change the way we do business. low writers and technologists, and I will, instead, Dozens of new technologies are reviewed, from text concentrate on what messages programmed to land on your cell phone the store of the future the moment you drive into the parking lot to cart- should be — on locking systems that prevent you from taking the reviewing the needs cart along as a souvenir of your trip. Technologies that must be met for are heralded as the drivers of the future of retailing. retailers to succeed in And there is significant truth in the assertion that the future. technology drives the store of the future. But new And at the end of and improved technology is not the whole story. the day, it is all about While technology is important, new technology does meeting consumer not drive the future of retailing but, rather, provides needs. When you look a set of new tools — some of which move the art of back at successful retailing forward and others that set the process back. retailers of the past, Technology allows us to do a variety of things, but the what you see are technology itself does not determine which of these visionaries who underthings are the most important and useful ones to stood what consumers implement. wanted and figured out how to deliver it to them. Meeting Consumer Needs In the 1880s, Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery So if it is not technology that provides a road map Ward realized that rural consumers wanted access to to the store of the future, what does? I would suggest the wide range of goods then available in large, urban that the best guide we have to understanding the store stores. By leveraging the emerging technologies of inexof the future is a review of successful stores of the past, pensive printing and wide-range delivery offered by and a look back at the elements that drove their success. the U.S. Post Office, these retailers created the “Dream The idea here is really simple: While emerging technolo- Books” that made virtually everything available to virgies are great at telling us how to do things in the future, tually everybody in an easy and appealing format. And, they are not good determinants of what to do in the in doing so, they built huge businesses. In the 1940s, leading food chains like A&P and future — to find that road map, we need to look back Safeway realized that consumers and inside ourselves. More ONLINE wanted the convenience of selectLet me make the point one For how retailers can create a ing their own goods off open more way, using the analogy of successful “Store of the Future,” shelves, and were willing to do a military spending. The military go to Progressivegrocer.com significant amount of work — is tremendously guilty of letting picking their groceries, wheeling the future be determined by what By David Diamond M them around the store and unloading them onto the checkout stand — in exchange for modestly lower prices. By simply reorganizing the store, these retailers fundamentally changed the grocery business. In the 1950s, McDonald’s understood that consumers wanted food served quickly and economically in a consistent manner, all over the country, so they deployed technology designed to deliver a uniformity of experience no matter where in the country the consumer was and what time of day it was. They met the consumer’s need to know what he or she was going to eat before it arrived on the plate (or in the bag…). In the 1990s, Whole Foods realized that consumers wanted higher-quality food — better food, more naturally grown food, tastier food, more exotic food — and that these consumers were willing to pay for it. They used a variety of approaches — from new technology to empowering store managers to deal with local farmers — to meet this fundamental consumer need for better, more interesting, tastier food. You get the picture: Smart retailers don’t simply deploy technology; they determine what their customers want and then deploy the technologies needed to meet their customers’ needs. Smart retailers, then and now, look to solve their consumers’ problems and to make their consumers’ lives better — and they consider only those technologies that accomplish these specific goals. Contributing Editor David Diamond is an independent consultant focused on marketing and strategy, and was most recently chief vision officer for Catalina Marketing. His e-mail is david@ddiamondassociates.com. www.progressivegrocer.com 22 • Progressive Grocer • March 2009 A H E A D O F W H AT ’ S N E X T http://www.Progressivegrocer.com http://www.progressivegrocer.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Progressive Grocer - March 2009

Progressive Grocer - March 2009
Contents
Front End: Ahold Banners Launch 'Major Consumer Wellness Initiative'
Nielsen's Shelf Stoppers/Spotlight: Frozen Foods/One-Food Oriental Entrees
Market Snapshot: Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Independents Report: The New Agenda at FMI - And in Washington
Lempert Report: What Shoppers Will Demand in 2009
Wake-Up Call: Back to the Future
Progressive Views: Looking Forward
Frozen & Refrigerated Trends: Staying Cool
Store of the Month: Straub's Newest Family Member
FutureView Introduction: Great Expectations
Futureview: Magnetic Core
Honey: Sweet Sensation
Organic/Natural Cereal: The New Face of Breakfast Sales
FutureView: Home-Cooked Homecoming
2009 Meat Operations Review: Solid Ground
2009 Seafood Operations Review: Rough Seas
Pharmacy: A Destination for Health
Technology FutureView: Retail 3.0
Equipment FutureView: Sustainable Differentiation
What's Next: Editors' Picks for Innovative Products

Progressive Grocer - March 2009

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