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Friday, October 11, 2019

From The Co-Founders

Patricia M. Johnson & Richard F. Outcalt
Outcalt & Johnson: Retail Strategists, LLC • Retail Turnaround Experts • Co-Founders, The Retail Owners Institute®

What's in store for the store of the future?
What independents already have!

We've just been able to read through the latest Benchmark Report done by RSR Retail Systems Research*. Since 2007, they have conducted an annual survey among large, multi-store retail operations, and their views on the state of retail.

RSR then groups the respondents into three categories, based on their year-over-year sales growth rate. Those whose growth rate is worse than the 4.5% average are the Laggards; then the Average performers, and finally the "Retail Winners."

Ahh yes, top line sales continues to define the prevailing view of retail success. While The ROI prefers other metrics of success, based on financial strength, this extensive research study by RSR offers valuable insights, useful to independent retailers of all sizes.

What do the "Retail Winners" believe about the future of the store?

Their vision for the future store includes offering personalized service and localized merchandise assortments. (They want to be like local retailers!)

More than half believe that

"stores will continue to be our most profitable selling channel"
"will remain the primary point of customer order fulfillment"
"will be our primary face to the customer"

And two-thirds of the Retail Winners (those with the highest sales growth rates) expect that "major redesigns will have helped reinvent stores."

What does all this mean for the independents? Perhaps a sigh of relief; brick-n-mortar stores will remain. Then a caution: not necessarily the ones we have today.

This is not a call for business as usual. Rather, it offers a challenge: a reinvented and revitalized instore shopping experience is the critical foundation to realize these other benefits. These are things most of you already are doing.

So – once again, the major national chains want what the independent retailers already provide. The Big Guys must try to achieve it through technology. And they are committed to it.

Independent retailers must move with the same sense of urgency. Keep raising the bar of what a shopping experience can and should be. You already have the advantage of your local knowledge, your customer relationships, your established positions of trust in your communities.

Independents are the envy of all other retailers. That's darn good news, isn't it?

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* The Store in 2019: Fulfilling Orders and Serving Customers. Paula Rosenbaum and Steve Rowen, Managing Partners. RSR Retail Systems Research.

The Top Five "Killers" of Retail Businesses

Careful. Don't rush to blame the "usual suspects"

Yes, there are dismal statistics about failures in retail. And the drumbeat of "retail apocalypse" with major chains closing stores doesn't help.

But...what really causes retail businesses to fail? Especially since over a third of those that do close actually are profitable?

Go to The ROI's Library for Owners to find out.

Top Five Killers of Retail Businesses

Crisis Looming?

Don't just sit there and cringe. Use the lead time!

There is an entire section of The ROI's OWNERS Center dedicated to tips, tools and tactics specifically for retailers confronted by a crisis. How-to articles, tactical webinars, online calculators, and more.

Six Steps to a Survival Plan for Retailers
Beyond Survival. Time to THRIVE!
Retailing's THREE STAGES of DECLINE
How to Have C-A-$-H When You Need It
Use the Controllables: Time to "Make Something Happen!"
Bank & Vendor Negotiations: A Piece of Cake
Stress Management for Retailers
How to Jumpstart Your Turnaround
The ROI's 3-in-1 INTEGRATED CASH FLOW Calculator

Available exclusively at The ROI. Online, 24/7, whenever you need it.

Remember: All ROI Members have unlimited access to this unique OWNERS Center.
Not yet a Member? Go here for immediate access.

OWNERS Center: Crisis Management

Do your "best customers"
make money for you?

WEBINAR OF THE WEEK • Now thru Thursday October 17

How to focus on your most profitable customers

Wondering what the real key is to survival today?

Profitable lines of merchandise? Important, sure. Profitable stores? Necessary. But the real key? Having profitable customers!

For that, meet the Retail STRATA:G® Wheel. (That's "strategy". Every retailer needs one!)

It shows why and how effective target marketing means more profits and more financial strength. (Yep, everybody wins!)

And how you can identify your most profitable customers without spending a dime!

This proprietary concept, showing the cause-effect connection between marketing and financial management, was developed by and is exclusive to The ROI.

Sound too lofty? Don't worry. Pat Johnson and Dick Outcalt, The ROI Co-Founders, present their innovative concept in a lively TOPICAL TUESDAYS Webinar of the Week. They connect all the dots in a retailer-friendly way.

Ready to challenge business-as-usual thinking? Take advantage of this empowering how-to webinar, available only from The ROI.

Free Access Now: WEBINAR OF THE WEEK