We Are All Retail: The Race to Improve the Retail Experience in a Post Covid World

By Bruce Michelson and Leif Olson

Driven by the changing demographics, technologies, and what consumers want, retail is changing at a dramatic pace.

Instead of a brick-and-mortar experience, successful retailers have transitioned to providing products and services through multiple channels, including online. In this book, the authors explore the customer-facing side of retail as well as the steps companies can take on the technology end to succeed.

Get answers to questions such as:
• How can businesses cater to different personas—user segments that define end users—to build a thriving operation?
• What do buyers expect from sellers and vice versa?
• How can we align information technology, consumer behavior, and trends into a single point of view?
• How can changing the experience of shopping drive new sales and customer engagement?

The authors also challenge the assessment that “retail is retail,” exploring why that may no longer be the case.

Every business, regardless of their primary industry, is directly or indirectly involved in retail. Get detailed insights and strategies on how to serve more customers with the lessons in this business guide.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Nov 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665733953

Bruce Michelson

Bruce Michelson Bruce Michelson is an HP Distinguished Technologist (Emeritus) and the Manager of Close Loop LLC. Bruce has over 36+ years in delivering industry white papers and customer engagements. Bruce’s White Papers total over 1,000+ and engagements total over 350+. Bruce is the author of 7 books covering lifecycle management and user segmentation, among other topics. Bruce has numerous copyrights and patents regarding his expertise including Closed Loop Lifecycle Planning©, User Segmentation©, Cost of Change©, Appropriate Incumbent Behavior© The Ready State©, and other intellectual property. Bruce is currently adjunct instructor at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, where he teaches Health Care IT and Advanced Systems and Design. Cody Gerhardt Cody Gerhardt is an HP Distinguished Technologist and Chief Technologist with over 16 years’ experience. Cody is a leader in security, manageability, modern workplace, cloud, and virtualization. Cody is well credentialed, and his expertise is in high demand across various industries. Cody has been certified by ICS2 as a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). Cody has several published intellectual properties, pending patents and defensive publications including the Accelerated State©, teamed with Bruce. Cody works with customers on modern management adoption, security, cloud adoption, virtualization, operating system management, and persona development. Cody has published or co-published over 60+ industry white papers.

Book preview

cover.jpg

WE ARE ALL

RETAIL

The Race to Improve the Retail

Experience in a Post COVID World

BRUCE MICHELSON; LEIF OLSON

Copyright © 2022 Bruce Michelson; Leif Olson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,

graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or

by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the

author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author

and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of

the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of

people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Archway Publishing

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.archwaypublishing.com

844-669-3957

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or

links contained in this book may have changed since publication and

may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those

of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6657-3394-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-3395-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022921737

Archway Publishing rev. date:  11/18/2022

Contents

About The Authors

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1     We are all Retail!

Chapter 2     The Changing Faces of Retail - A New Generation Gap (of sorts)

Chapter 3     The Impact of Current Events

Chapter 4     The Changing Face of Retail

Chapter 5     The Trends

Chapter 6     An Early Step - TV-Based Shopping

Chapter 7     The Mall versus The Strip Mall

Chapter 8     Online Mania

Chapter 9     The Headwinds

Chapter 10   It’s The Distribution System, Stupid!

Chapter 11   Technology Now Drives Retail

Chapter 12   Security

Chapter 13   Appropriate Incumbent Behavior for Retail©

Chapter 14   Customer Satisfaction, The Next Frontier

Chapter 15   Retail and Sustainability

Chapter 16   The Future of Retail

Appendix

About The Authors

Bruce Michelson is an HP Distinguished Technologist (Emeritus)

and the Manager of Close Loop LLC. Bruce has over 36+ years

in delivering industries white paper and customer engagements.

White papers total over 1,000+ and engagements over 350+

and the author of 5 textbooks on lifecycle management.

Bruce has numerous copyrights and patents regarding his

expertise in user segmentation, lifecycle management,

cost of change, and Appropriate Incumbent Behavior.

Leif Olson is a proud United States Navy veteran of 8 years

having served as a Gunners Mate 2nd Class (GM2), Surface

Warfare Specialist (SW), an HP Distinguished Technologist

and Solutions Evangelist. With extensive customer and prospect

engagements, Leif is a subject matter expert on end user experience,

modern management, end-point security, manageability, user

segmentation, and services. Leif is an active member of the

technical community and the host of The Razor’s Edge Podcast.

Dedication

For anyone considering and writing any type of book, your family must share your passion and drive to be successful. The effort is always rewarded in the completion of the final product.

To our fellow colleagues, you are our friends as well as our colleagues. We have worked together for over decades; we have learned (and continue to learn) more from you than we ever would have imagined.

Finally, to the businesses who over the long number of years, permitted us to discuss and strategize on the issues of the day and collaborate together - thank you. Sometimes in the consulting world and research, we sometimes do not say something that simple and important.

From Bruce Michelson - To my wife, Vicki, and my son, Charles, we have now experienced creating multiple books and research together. I continue to be amazed at your patience, confidence, and unwavering support.

From Leif Olson - For Ali and Nikki – The support and encouragement from the two of you to try new things and continue to grow is what fuels me. You are why I exist, and I would be nothing, without you both.

Acknowledgements

This book is reliant upon getting feedback and direction from a very close-knit group of talented individuals. Your observations, feedback, and support has been nothing short of brilliant. We as authors are proud to have your leadership as one of our guiding lights in this retail book.

Our Review Board:

Alexander Lopez

Alex is a Clinical Professor at the Kelley School of Business

at Indiana University teaching the Business IT Operations

and Design Technologies. Alex is a and Associate Chair

of Kelley Direct Online Programs, a Grant Thornton

Scholar, and the AIS Associate VP for Student Chapters

Alison Olson

Ali has many years of finance and bookkeeping experience and was

the General Manager of a retail store for a leading eyeglass chain

Charles Michelson

Charles is a graduate of Lynn University with a Master’s Degree

in Communications and Florida International University with

a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Charles is a key researcher

for business and technology with Close Loop LLC

Dr. Kevin L. Falk

Kevin is a Retired US Air Force Reserve officer.

Decades of experience as a civilian intelligence

expert for the US Federal Government

Jeff Malec

Jeff is the Subject Matter Expert for client computing and

lifecycle management at HP. With over 21+ years with Microsoft

before joining HP, Jeff provides guidance for the migration

to modern management and the cloud first era of today

Marcia Falk

Marcia is the President of Bellator Wines and More

Inc. with decades of experience in retail apparel,

construction, and wholesale wine industries

1

We are all Retail!

I n a sense, we are all buyers, sellers, consumers and, overall, an integral part of the retail cycle in acquiring goods and services. Whether we are a part of the cycle as a member of an organization that sells to the public or not, most of us are very well aware that retail is an important part of our lives.

A vibrant retail sector is absolutely critical to economic success. Reporting has demonstrated how critical consumer sentiment is to the overall economy. How we as customers feel about the economy appears to be as important as our actual spending.

The objectives of this book are several, but the key theme is to suggest that as a result of client technology, the retail industry has been forever altered. The retail model today has been so basically changed that; in a sense, it is not as recognizable as it once was.

Personal preference is a significant part of retail. A retail organization is only as strong as its brand, and these days, a brand can be easily raised or lowered directly by the consumer. A poor experience is long remembered, often longer than a positive experience.

One of the observations of Closed Loop Lifecycle Planning© is - customers are as current as of the last conversation they care to remember. This is perhaps why a negative experience lives so long.

Technology in client computing has significantly changed the way we acquire goods and services and, therefore, the way goods and services are sold and delivered. Technology can strengthen a brand or weaken a brand in a very short timeframe.

Many still believe that retail is retail, perhaps suggesting that buying and selling are so fundamental to the system that they can withstand change. Let us hope that that premise is not correct. Retail must change with the times, as all business models.

In a tight and volatile economy, the ability to change is even more critical; it may determine whether or not a retail business can remain viable. A fluctuating economy exposes more of the flaws of the business plan. If adoption of the trends in IT and client computing are not embraced, competitiveness is clearly impacted.

The authors of this book have examined and studied many industries. Retail is particularly vulnerable as an industry since it is impacted by so many outside forces that are well outside its control. Whether it is the unemployment level, recession, inflation, disposable income, or any of a wide range of social and political issues, retail is at the epicenter of impact in all of these matters.

Retail is being shaped to a very high degree by client computing. How the customers and consumers want information about goods and services may be as important as the goods and services themselves. Differentiation of a brand may have as much to do with the techniques and technology promoting the brand as the brand itself.

We are in a technology generation of change. Change by its very nature is unsettling, and there is always resistance to change, whether or not the change is in our best interest or not. For the retail industry, change is a second of the key themes.

For many years, technology in retail was simply a part of the execution of a business plan. That has changed today. In some cases, technology adoption is the plan. Deferring to adopt the trends that are occurring in client computing today places retail in a particularly awkward position.

Closed Loop Lifecycle Planning©, which is the overall body of work developed regularly used by the authors of this book, suggests that there is a set of entrance and exit costs associated with change. One of the critical cost drivers is how large the gap is in technology. The larger the gap in technology, the greater the cost.

For retail, there is yet another consideration. The larger the gap is in technology, the greater the risk of losing market share or even relevance to competitors.

The economy has played a key role in the retail segment as well as other vertical industries as an inhibitor to embracing change. There is, however, a tipping point. As the client computing trends and technology progress, retail must adapt in order to retain its market share position, not to mention growing and expanding.

One of the basic concepts in embracing change is that in order to innovate, change must occur. While it may seem that this is stating the obvious, it may be helpful to think about those initiatives in IT that have been delayed, deferred, or held for a variety of reasons. Experience suggests that change is trumped by emotions, politics, culture, and the need to socialize change.

A defined business plan for innovating technology in retail may find that the biggest obstacle to be overcome is the internal issues to initiate the changes. Nothing can be worse than being a change agent in any environment where there is resistance and reluctance to change. Every retail enterprise needs to determine the level, if any, that which this dynamic exists.

It is a traditional aspect of retail historically that when there were dollars to invest, that investment would be made to the storefront. The back-office segment was often relegated to whatever may be available. As a result, technology innovation was lacking in many organizations.

New retail and fulfillment models have been enabled by technology. To miss adoption times and rates may well be a bet your business decision.

Closed Loop Lifecycle Planning© has concluded – there are no right or wrong answers, only conscious and unconscious decisions. It is not clear if the technology gaps among retailers were a conscious or unconscious decision.

The lessons learned in other industries are very relevant and should be noted by retail. The velocity of change comes to mind as one of the critical discussions. Adoption rates of technologies in health care and financial services, for example, are relevant to understand as a part of how retail could embrace change.

Velocity is important because the speed of adoption assumes that there is a readiness and capability to adopt. The elements include policy, process, procedures, and governance. Technology has far outpaced the governance required to support and maintain the footprint in many businesses.

The velocity assumes that the infrastructure is readied and that the required skillsets and management tools are in place. Retail, like regulated industries, must be mindful of security and regulations at all levels. Security for personally identifiable information (PII) and both internal end users, external customers, and other associates such as suppliers have a high level of scrutiny.

Another consideration is just how much change can be embraced. A common misconception in many enterprises is underestimating the overall effort required to embrace change. Every business is unique, and the ability to adapt will vary between organizations and even departments within an organization. Many retailers sense the critical nature of innovating and establish timelines that are quite aggressive, and often unrealistic.

The balance is always establishing goals and objectives that, while a stretch, are realizable. Many of the trends that are discussed in this book represent step changes, which are significantly different ways to do business. Realistic goal setting is critical in the ability to execute the strategies. No one wants to implement step change with the added pressures of knowing that the goals and timeline are not in synch.

A final objective is to provide reference to what change really is. At its core, change is simply something new. For those of us in IT, that is a low threshold. For those of you who are in retail, perhaps there is an inference from this perspective as well.

Change can be as simple as enhancing the governance model to adopt new technologies or as complex as redesigning the IT infrastructure. As we are all constantly reminded in our day-to-day lives, change is inevitable. Being prepared for change is something altogether different. If change is considered to be only something large on a scale and a change in paradigm, it is possible to miss the point of change.

Change needs to have a compelling business driver that will increase revenues, improve margins, and enhance the customer experience. While this may seem simplistic, if these fundamental questions are asked each time a change is to be considered for adoption, perhaps the outcome and timing would be different.

In the research for this book, the conclusion drawn is that this economy and changing technology have placed retail at a crossroads. Thinking big and re-inventing a business model is no small task. The potential for delays and