Smart Retail, 3rd Edition

xiii

Preface – Why

retailing?

One thing that hasn’t changed since the last edition is that retail is still

physically and mentally hard work. The pressure’s always on, we’re only

ever as good as our last trading day. Every time we open the store, what

follows could be a disaster or a triumph.

And that’s the thrill of the thing, that’s why we do

it – get things right, get the team pulling together,

make customers happy and take some money . . . well,

those are the days that keep us coming back for more.

Getting retail right is thrilling – magic, even.

Welcome then to Smart Retail, where together we can try to make sure that

you enjoy more good days, better profits, a happier team, an improved

business performance and a boost to your retail career. I love selling things

in shops, it is my passion, and this book is all about sharing retail excel-

lence so that we can all enjoy the good bits of that more often.

That there Internet thing

Selling online has had a massive impact on what we do and it is an impact

that will continue to grow, not just through e-commerce but in how

easily-available information and price-comparision forces change in the

way retail works overall. Nowhere in the book though do I make much

distinction between retailing on the Internet and retailing in a store – and

that’s because they are the same activity. Both forms are about selling prod-

ucts people want in nice, shoppable, environments – supported by robust

systems, great customer service and effective communications. Retail

standards apply in the same way across both.

Where distinctions do apply is in the suitability of your product, posi-

tioning and format to either form. The rule of thumb is this: if you are a

bricks-and-mortar retailer then you are unwise to be without a credible

Getting retail right

is thrilling – magic,

even.

xiv

p r e fa c e – w h y r e ta i l i n g ?

online outlet – it’s another store and one with a big potential catchment

area. The other way around though and it’s less clear-cut: the Internet

allows smaller retailers to reach far more people, more directly and more

powerfully than a few physical stores might.

As Internet retailing has matured, so too has an acceptance that both forms

can learn from each other. Internet retailers have begun to understand

better the principles of the complete customer experience, while bricks-

and-mortar retailers have slowly begun to learn how to communicate

better and how to give customers more reasons to come back. Reminding

us that they exist, telling us about good things we might like to buy and

reminding us to come visit is something the best Internet retailers do

superbly well – better than any high-street store. Internet retailers say

‘thank you’ better than traditional ones too and that’s more powerful than

you might think.

Asking the questions

Each edition of Smart Retail has been put together on the back of a simple

question that I’ve asked the world’s best retailers: ‘What makes you so good?’

Maybe it’s a surprise that they would reveal the answer to that question?

That they have, over and over to me, is, I think, because great retailers have a

passion not just for their own success but a determination that the more retail

businesses out there who get retail right then the better off we all become.

A vibrant retail sector plays a critical role in the success of economies and,

as it goes, the UK in particular owes much of its last decade of success to

the superb performance of some of the best retail businesses on the planet.

Equally, when customers stop spending . . . 2009 and 2010 were tough: we

lost a few businesses but others strengthened and learned. I’ve experienced

three recessions in 25 years of retailing now and I’m sure I’ll experience future

ones too. We push through and we survive by continuing to give customers

what they want, need and didn’t know they were looking for.

Is it rocket science?

Because the book is founded on examples of best practice and because, as

we will explore later, there are few ‘new tricks’ in retail: much of what we