The world has changed forever and all it took was a Virus. A virus so strong and powerful that it got the world kneeling and a near standstill. The irony is such that, all what could stop the Virus going and kept it at bay was a mere Bathing Soap.
It won’t be incorrect to say that the world has changed for good, be it behavior, eating, working, meeting, traveling or shopping. The consumer has pivoted from price based decision making to a need based workings. So has been the customer service model adopted by the modern retailers which primarily worked on a ‘Low Pricing’ model & it has been altered to ‘Convenience Model’. Businesses are making shopping convenient for the consumer’s.
The expectation of a consumer is fast changing and with the evolution and digital media, today’s customer is exposed to a lot of other proposition by retailers across the globe. The retailers are also changing their value proposition to ensure that they stay relevant to the consumers.
The consumerism has been at its peak and the disruption by the modern retailer is constantly altering the expectations. Walmart were the pioneers of the movement in the modern retail disruption, by bringing to the customers a change from Specific Day – low price model to Every day – Low price model (Add on ‘EVERYDAY’). This gave them an edge over others and thus the pole position and they were soon caught up by the E-commerce leader Amazon.
Amazon altered the proposition to every day low price shopping at your convenience (Add on ‘CONVENIENCE’). Amazon has surely disrupted the space where by convenience of shopping is topped up with the convenience of delivery slots. The delivery schedule has been shortened upto a 2 hour delivery service and they are constantly innovating towards getting better.
The phenomena of constantly innovating have shifted to a customer focus approach. Thus in order to maintain the leadership position retailers are giving an additional value offering. To explain this better I use KAHN RETAIL EXPERIENCE MODEL i.e. Brands do not need to be best at one thing to stay a leader or at the top. They now need to change their strategy of strength to exceptional at one and best at the second to exhibit their strength. To understand this better let’s understand the table as below;
The below table illustrates the 4 quadrants, where the brands can be placed basis their expertise;
Quadrant A defines the brands that seek high value by positioning and customers are influenced by the brand affinity, Quadrant B is the experiential and the customers seek pleasure through the retail offering (in store experience or digital offering). Quadrant C is strictly driven by price and D is by convenience of shopping;
Quadrant A: It maps the brand which seeks value which is the excellent and brands from this quadrant are moving towards the Quadrant B. Excellent at Value & Best at Pleasure.
Quadrant B: It maps brands that provide high experience and engages with its customers through this offerings. Brands in this quadrant may move towards D. Excellent at Quadrant B and moving towards Quadrant D.
Quadrant C: This is for brands offering value for money as its core proposition and most move into Quadrant D as well.
Quadrant D: Convenience is Key and the movement is towards C / B.
The brands as plotted on the matrix could be used to understand the relationship better.
In the post Covid era, the brand propositions have been altered in complete. It has thus become imperative for the brands to map their success matrix.
The word of the year altered the consumers behavior leading to ‘MINDFUL SPENDING‘ induced by the Net promoter Score of the brand. Brands have to devise their specific strategy to continue to stay relevant with a customer focussed approach. Being excellent at something and best at another is the strategy that brands will have to implement to ensure relevance and on top of its game. In this ever evolving ecosystem there’s only one mission statement for the retailers to adopt.
WHAT GOT US HERE WON’T GET US TO GO THERE.
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Nishant Poddar
Narratives By Nishant Poddar 