By Jennifer Sherman,
Kibo
No matter which lens we look through — from consumer
expectations and behaviors, to in-store technology and reliance on online sales,
to fulfillment and shipping — retail has transformed. With disruptors like Amazon,
consumer interactions with brands, distributors and retailers are changing faster
than the commerce world can respond to them. What is driving this
transformation is consumer knowledge. As the old adage goes, knowledge is power
and quite frankly, today’s consumers completely own this power.
The combination of the smartphone economy and data
accessibility has drastically changed the landscape for retail. But how can retailers
effectively respond to these needs, keep their businesses alive and transform
to emerge as leaders in the world of retail 2.0?
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We know consumers expect retailers to leverage technology
wisely to drive personalized experiences, but it is very easy for retailers to get
caught up in the day-to-day tactical items, the meetings, the promotions and
layout of a landing page. To truly transform, the retail industry must continue
to challenge itself to keep consumer needs, desires and expectations front and
center. In the midst of any transformation, two things must happen to achieve
success: meeting the basic needs first and then pursuing the wants.
Implementing The Basic Hierarchy Of Needs
As children grow up and get exposed to the world, they start
to realize the difference between what they want and what they need. This got
me thinking about how we lay the foundation in order to achieve retail
transformational goals. Consider this: retail has basic needs that parallel
human needs. More specifically, they parallel Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
We are all familiar with the concept. Humans have basic,
fundamental needs in a hierarchical order. We can’t think about higher-level
needs until we have the needs below it met. Starting from the base and working up,
these needs include physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem and
lastly self-actualization. This last level includes the ability to problem-solve
and look at issues and challenges objectively so that we can grow unhindered.
We can leverage this same framework to develop a Hierarchy
of Needs for retail.
- Physiological:
At the base of the pyramid, we have our core omnichannel capabilities — web site,
inventory, stores and mobile apps. The technology solutions a retailer chooses
to implement cannot constrain them from going up onto higher layers.
Fundamental systems have to be integrated and customer-centric (not product
centric). And it isn’t sufficient to just have these elements, they need to be
connected, integrated and working in harmony. - Safety: Once the groundwork is in place, we can
think about safety. In the retail space, this means security and scalability of
your commerce capabilities. Here, the advantages of cloud solutions come to the
forefront, but you still need to ensure your organization is running on a
secure and scalable cloud. - Love and
Belonging: This level requires analysis of how a retailer translates their core
and scalable capabilities into personalized elements that attract consumers and
connect with them on a deeper level. - Esteem:
“Once I belong as a retailer, then my brand can be valued by others.” This
phase requires extending a retailer’s brand and developing a sense of
contribution to the industry, their peers and customers. The question “do my
customers come back and have I driven greater lifetime value for each consumer?”
should be asked and answered in this stage. - Self-Actualization:
After a retailer has solved the basic requirements for commerce, only then can
they start to think about problem-solving in a new way. By working through the
building blocks, personas and journeys connecting consumers to their brand, retailers
can realize their full potential by leveraging data driven methods.
While each retail organization may find itself in different
stages of their all-commerce journey, the basic principles of retail
transformation needs apply to all. Getting to the top of the pyramid requires a
consistent and pragmatic approach to building the elements at each level. Most
folks don’t spend their days thinking about retail transformation in terms of
pop psychology, so to put it another way, as you engage and collaborate on your
transformation, think about the various steps you need to unlock your
opportunity. By thinking about the basic needs for the customer, your sites,
stores, offerings (products) and brand, you will unlock ideas on how to create
and reach self-actualization.
As SVP of Product and Strategy at Kibo, Jennifer Sherman is responsible
for the product management, business analyst relationships and product
marketing organizations, and is crucial in charting Kibo’s corporate strategy
and direction. Within the past year, Sherman has led the successful integration
of Kibo’s five product lines. Kibo first debuted as a company with the merger
of Shopatron, MarketLive and FiveRun, and as a key player of the newly formed
company’s leadership team, Sherman led the selection of both Baynote and Mozu
in the latter part of 2016. Beyond the selection process, she also served as
the project leader and executive sponsor for the integration of Mozu into the
company. As a unified company, Kibo now provides its software solutions to over
800 customers worldwide.
