The Resistant vs The Innovative
eCommerce has been on a tear during COVID in the last few months, and there is a flashpoint between two groups in the retail world: the resistant and the innovative.
Shopify COO Harley Finkelstein spoke on CNBC Squawk to amplify a few points, but I wanted to expand further on a few of his points, because they ring true to me.
The resistant look like:
Don't want to do business with someone unless they place large orders in advance.
Fixed, rigid implementation and integration infrastructure. Hard to spin up new projects and partners.
eCommerce is almost an afterthought. Trade magazines and retail doors are the core focus.
Slow to create new digital content that matters for their consumers.
See Amazon as "just another retailer."
The innovative look like:
Understand digital is the core of their brand's DNA.
Willing to experiment and try new things.
Understand rate of change is one of the most important variables.
Understand the consumer is the ultimate customer, not the retailer.
Understand the investment and frequency needed in fresh digital content to continually make their brand relevant.
Tom Hawkins echoed my quick observations with some additional insights: “Unfortunately for the resistant, they may fall so far behind the curve they may not be able to catch up with their innovative competitors and lose market share. eCommerce and associated digital content are already embedded into the fabric of how buyers shop and buy - whether online or offline. Buyers have to be able to find and evaluate your product before they will buy. If your competitors are coming up and you are not there then you are losing market share!”
David Weissman added “Digital isn't a channel anymore, it's necessary for your business and you need to have a robust DTC business in this day and age. And you need to innovate, especially on the customer experience. The benefit of digital is you can experiment and try new things at low costs and fail fast. Those that innovate can find gold in them thar hills…” Absolutely - if you are nimble enough to innovate, you’re drastically increasing your chance of surviving.
Jon Menagh may have said it best here “The problem for some is they are resistant while their competitors were already innovating, prior to the current apocalypse. Now they are in a real predicament and market share is rapidly diminishing...when we get to the new normal, if they survive, they will be a long way back. Clinging to the old ways & hoping is not a strategy.” Thomas Haydn Dee said he is “sure a few old dinosaurs will be left behind” and, unfortunately, I have to agree.
