Fail Fast, Fail Cheap
By Erin Harris, Editor-In-Chief, Cell & Gene
Follow Me On Twitter @ErinHarris_1
There are three indisputable facts about the Retail industry:
- The retail industry has changed more in the past 5 years than it has in the history of retailing.
- Retailers are awash in data. The typical retailer captures product, profitability, store, and transaction data in addition to customer data and operating data. And all this data is delivered non-stop by in-store devices.
- Omni-channel retailing (i.e. a seamless integration between online and offline channels) and the customer experience shape the way retailers do business.
As a result of the three facts about the industry, retailers are shifting from business-as-usual (from the daily and common and keeping the lights on) to embracing new technologies and philosophies to help attract and retain loyal customers. To remain ahead of the curve or to simply keep pace with the competition, retailers need to constantly enhance the way they run their business.
Technology has played and will continue to play a vital role in how retailers meet customer expectations. But innovative technologies and processes are what drive the retailer to move ahead of the competition. They also level the playing field between SMRs and large retailers in certain areas and can create competitive advantages for smaller retailers when done right. Walk the show floors at any retail trade show, and most solutions providers are demonstrating their innovative technologies that promise to propel the retailers’ business forward.
Yet, innovation is one of those terms in business that is so overused and esoteric that it has almost lost its meaning. Innovation is not about the shiny objects; rather, innovation is a shift in mindset — a change in the company’s philosophy and culture that forces it to think differently and ultimately to be better. It’s not all about disruptive technologies; rather it’s about an evolution in thinking that often starts with the C-level. When the C-suite develops an innovative vision and believes in it, it’s easier for the rest of the organization to adopt the vision.
Retailers are beginning to understand that true advancement means tending to the tech-savvy customer by first truly understanding the customer experience and building on the necessary technologies and processes from there. But, where should they start? I had a chance to catch up with Chetan Ghai, Shoppertrak’s Chief Product Officer, during our recent podcast. I asked him to explain his thoughts on innovation adoption inside the retail enterprise, and he provided three insightful messages.
According to Ghai, when considering innovative technologies for the organization, retailers should:
1. Have a very clear hypothesis of any technology you are looking to prosecute. In many cases, retailers are unsure of how they intend to use the technology at the end of an experiment or pilot. They need to develop a hypothesis around how they think the technology will provide answers to the question of how to drive behavior across their entire chain. If that doesn’t’ exist when looking at a piece of technology, you’re going to be left with unanswered questions on whether the technology is actually useful.
2. Parallel process many technologies. There may not be one tech that will be a silver bullet for any retailer. Test different technologies across sections of the chain to determine which ones are the best fit.
3. Fail fast, fail cheap. If something isn’t working, shut it down, and go back to the drawing board. We actually celebrate when we find tech that has not worked; it shows you are cycling through innovation quickly and finding the way to the right technology.
No matter where the company is on the innovation adoption bell curve, it will have to address organizational and institutional issues as new policies and procedures and technologies will be required to tackle the complexity of the challenges ahead. Innovation will need to become a part of a retailer’s culture — an anticipated and accepted part of the landscape.