Stop, look, listen

To be a customer centric retailer, management has to let the customer’s perspective cascade down through every aspect of the organisation from designing store formats to devising store labour models that provide the level of service that customers value most. Take out cost where it does not add value to the customer: add cost where it does. Think like your customer!

Every aspect of the retail business model must reflect customer priorities and values. No facet of the model can remain unchanged or at least unchallenged. Propositions must deliver value to the target customer groups, the organisation must connect with the customer where he/she chooses, store formats must reflect the core customer shopping mission(s), store labour must deliver the service the customer values. Every element of the retail business model needs to be viewed through a pair of customer oriented spectacles.