Change management is one of the most challenging things. Even if we see the clear cut technological opportunities, or even just a vision of what the future could bring, it is difficult to get the whole organization behind you and support your plan.
In this post, I have gone into some of the challenges of organizational change and how what we can do to create an intrinsic desire to change from within an organization.
Have a great day,
Remco
Follow me on Medium: @rlivain
Are Insurtech product innovations something that traditional insurances should let startups take care of? What are some of the opportunities and challenges that insurance companies face with regards to Insurtech innovation? In this article I will elaborate on how startups use flexible insurance products to get a foot in the door in the world of insurance. Next that that, I will highlight some of the missed opportunities that corporate insurer should start to address, right now. „Flexible Insurance Products Can Enable Insurer To Build A Stronger Customer Relationship“ weiterlesen
We believe that data driven decision making will become more and more important in the years to come. One of the industries that has been playing catch-up in the last few years is fashion retail. We currently work with a great number of fashion distributors and fashion retailers and consult them on there buying decisions for their omni channel stores.
We have come to notice that many budget decisions are taken on the bases of last season’s sales and sales quotes. Most of our customers have always used last year‘s numbers to decide on how much of a certain brand to buy and nothing more. We believe that there is a more efficient way of taking budgeting decisions for fashion retailer.
In this article we will explain the three most important things to consider when taking budget decisions. In essence we want you to forget about sales quotes and ignore them entirely.
„Why fashion retails should ignore sales quotes for budgeting decisions“ weiterlesen
Resource allocation and optimization is a topic that many retailers do not look at often enough. Budget allocation decisions are generally taken once or twice a year. This is usually done when it is time to purchasing the goods for the next season.
In our opinion, one of the core capabilities of an omnichannel organization is being able to perform analytical optimization. Analytical optimization might sound very technical, but by that we mean that you should look at each part of your business through the eyes of a business intelligence expert. Of course not every organization has these resources and capabilities in-house. However, if you go about these processes pragmatically, there is a lot to be gained.
We believe that it is important to plan more regularly and in shorter cycles.
For retail businesses this means using the off-season dips to plan and optimize your business. The summer months are great for that. Especially in fashion retail, businesses focus too much on top level revenue and inventory levels. The Winter months are the ones in which the money is made. Therefore you need to plan ahead, build up cash reserves and give yourself time to breath in the summer months. „How setting targets can help optimize your omnichannel resources effectively“ weiterlesen
We believe that it’s important for retailers to continue to do that what they do best. Digital transformation is a process not a goal.
Yet, for many retailers this is not very easy to grasp. We see that a great number of retailers think that digital is the future or at least online purchases are the future. To a certain extend there is some truth to that. However we believe that customers are not fully ready to go all-in on online.
Next to that, they enjoy the possibility to shop in stationary shops. It might currently look as though pure online players are “winning”, but there are some clear limitations. Traditional retailers might not be fully out of the game, just yet. That is, if they continue to do what they have been doing best for many decades. „This is why the future of retail is digital“ weiterlesen
Multi or Omni-Channel businesses tend to focus on one business unit most strongly. It is tempting and natural to focus on the unit that brings the highest turnover. However we see that many business opportunities are foreseen when doing so.
In fashion, we oftentimes see that sourcing is generally done for the stationary stores. It is assumed that the customers that buy online are the same ones as offline.
Yet we have come to believe that this is not necessarily the case. Next to that, the customer behavior is generally different between online and offline stores. It is generally important to develop a sourcing strategy that takes both businesses into consideration.
Omni-Channel data management is very difficult. Especially for businesses that have both brick and mortar stores as well as online webshops. The challenge is usually that customer and transactional data is not stored centrally. This can be due to the fact that the offline stores were there first and online followed just “recently”.
However, we have come to know that there is a lot of optimization potential for multi-channel businesses that combine the insights of both business units.
By using cross-functional sources of information, we are able to identify hidden potentials. These could range from short term sourcing quick wins to long term marketing budget allocation potentials. At the basis of it all are a variety of sources of information. The source of this data could be: transactional data, sourcing data as well as customer data. „How data cleansing will help your fashion retail business take the right decisions“ weiterlesen
A solid business plan can I help you with your team structure your resources best and having a solid game plan is key to long term success
In the heat of the moment, it’s sometimes very difficult to find the right balance between wanting to over exceed your own expectations and doing the right things. Most of the times it is not so much about the actual output, but more about managing expectations. Especially with senior management breathing down your neck and asking for results. Having a good game plan for your digital activities is essential. „How to develop a digital game plan“ weiterlesen
If you are setting up your marketing plan, you will most definitely want to take these things into consideration. Planning can be painstaking and difficult at times, but essential if you want to make an impact.
The most important thing about planning, is that you do it. Often enough it is quicker and easier to simply do what others have come up with, or what agencies propose. Yet you should definitely know your customer base better than that. You know what works and what does not. And if you don’t (just yet), plan it into your budget to find out what will work and what doesn’t.
These things will help you put together a solid marketing and budget plan:
„Things to think about in your marketing plan“ weiterlesen
When we first got started with our own projects back in the mid-2000s, SEO, Search and Social Media were just getting started. The tools have evolved, the marketing possibilities have developed themselves, and account management / good “connections” has become less important.
These increased opportunities and the tools that are at our disposal at the moment are fantastic for the industry. However this does not mean that digital (marketing) has become more transparent for SMBs. There are many tools and service provider out there.
When you do not have the skills and knowledge in-house that you need to manage your marketing campaigns, an working with an agency can be a good idea.
Agencies have become far more professional and many have access to the exact same tools, channels and traffic. This means that it is very important to understand their value propositions and what it is that they actually offer. „How to choose the right agency“ weiterlesen
Data Integrity should be a strategic asset for any digital business. If you make “clean data” a priority, it opens a lot of doors to insights that will fuel your business’ success.
Knowing how to work with tools and data on a daily basis has become essential for any performance marketeer. Digital businesses and multi channel digital businesses rely on great data visualization tools that help optimize campaigns and streamline operations.
One of the most commonly used tools is Google analytics. Even in the free version of Google analytics, users are able to see a large number of insights of their business. These insights can be very helpful in understanding your customer base and campaign success.
However, what many do not know is that all tracking tools need to be fed correctly. Tracking tools such as Google analytics, ECONDA and Adobe omniture site catalyst, understand a lot of your data from the get go. But if you format your data correctly it becomes a lot easier to work with. „How To Secure Data Integrity in Google Analytics“ weiterlesen
