STORES Magazine - April 2009 - (Page 12) trEnDS COMPILED BY STORES EDITORS Trying to Remain Customer-Centric The industry tagged customer centricity as a critical business strategy years ago. According to some new research, it remains a key initiative for both retailers and consumer products manufacturers, but sizable hurdles remain. Fast Fashion Fading in the U.K. It’s interesting to watch how attitudes shift over time. Not so long ago, the industry celebrated “fast fashion,” heaping praise on those who were able to respond swiftly to customer demands for the most up-to-date fashions at prices that allowed shoppers to regularly bolster their wardrobes with new pieces. Now the infatuation with fast fashion appears to be fading – at least in the U.K. The government there recently launched a sustainable clothing action plan, a campaign intended to tackle the environmental impact of a fast-fashion culture. Noting that about two million tons of clothing end up in landfills every year, more than 300 retailers, producers and designers have agreed to be part of the campaign. Government officials also are calling on consumers to be sure the clothing they purchase is made, sold and disposed of without damaging the environment or using poor labor practices. Overall, the initiative outlines commitments to make fashion more sustainable throughout its lifecycle, from design and manufacture through disposal. As part of the action plan, Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Sainsbury’s have pledged to increase their lines of Fairtrade and organic clothing and to support fabrics that can be recycled more easily. Tesco is banning cotton from countries known to use child labor. 12 STORES / APRIL 2009 The survey, conducted by IDC Global Retail Insights, finds that most retailers (75 percent) and CPG manufacturers (58 percent) rank consumer centricity as a top-three success factor. Moreover, 80 percent of retailers and 67 percent of manufacturers expect an increased focus on consumer centricity in 2009. High-performance retailers – defined as those having annual same-store sales growth of at least 7 percent — use consumer insights more frequently in sales/merchandising relative to the industry at large and are motivated to share data to strengthen trading partner relationships. Likewise, top performers among the CPG participants – those within the top 10 in the survey based on annual revenue growth percentage – use consumer insights for demand planning/forecasting with greater frequency than the competition. Still, manufacturers need to work on leveraging consumer insights across the organization: Only 43 percent indicate their ability is better than satisfactory, compared with 64 percent of retailers. The limited availability of team resources was found to be the largest impediment to consumer-centric success for retailers (37 percent) and manufacturers (43 percent). WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG
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