Thursday 17 May 2012

(More) Women In Business!

So... I apologise that it's taken me much longer than I might have hoped to get back on the blog, but I couldn't let the recent International Women's Day and the publishing of the McKinsey report 'Women Matter' pass too far by without adding my observations. So this isn't directly retail related- but as our industry employs a lot of women, hopefully you'll still find it relevant.




You are probably already aware of the controversial headline statistic from that report: that whilst 55% of university graduates in Europe are female, women still only occupy 12.5% of FTSE 100 company board positions. This seems unforgiveable and such a wasted opportunity. But I don't need to preach about the benefits of having women at senior levels in industry- the results speak for themselves, as the report confirmed- company boards and management committees with more women simply have the best performance, and generate 'a richer set of ideas',

The real issue is understanding what is happening here, and crucially- what we can do about it.

I don't doubt that an element of this is due to discrimination resulting from still deeply entrenched sexism at senior levels within business; as an anecdote from Cherie Blair at a recent Google event ('Women Who Inspire') demonstrated. She regaled the audience with the story of the Davos World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in which the overwhelming male delegates were issue with 5 plus ones, and instructed that the fifth should be a woman (obviously to improve their opportunity for the same high level access, visibility, and networking opportunities that this somewhat old boys club already enjoy), and the astonishingly high number who chose to only bring four (male) delegates with them rather than find a women to offer the fifth invitation to. But I don't think this is the whole story.
It's also well known that previously 'high flying' career women come crashing back down to earth, and out of the running for the rum jobs, after they have children. This is of course by choice for a lot of women, as this major life event forces us to re-evaluate priorities and our work-life balance, and many decide that family life is more important. But I suspect that for even more women, this slowing down (or complete standstill) of a previously fast moving and rewarding career is simply due to the lack of flexible options at senior levels, to allow women to balance a senior role with parenting responsibilities.
There are so many ways in which companies could facilitate a more flexible working week for mothers that would enable them to still perform at a high level at work whilst still being able to be as involved at home as they needed to be. Some might argue that options such as part-time work, compressed weeks, job-shares, flexible start/finish times, or working from home, mean that mothers aren't able to achieve as much in the role, are not as committed, or 'aren't working as hard', these arguments are simply a distraction from the real goal- ensuring that all the knowledge, expertise and the skills a woman has developed and honed throughout her working life, are not lost to the company as soon as she enters that delivery suite.

Finally, I wonder how much of the problem lie with ourselves as women, and the innate traits that many of us apparently share, as more and more evidence suggests that femalemisplaced modesty and self-deprecation about our achievements and abilities, and a sometimes debilitating lack of self belief, is what hinders many of us in reaching for (and getting) those senior jobs, whilst male colleagues with more confidence and less caution, aim higher and get further. We can learn something from this approach, trusting more in our own abilities, taking a few chances and lets face it, being a bit more ballsy, in order to get where we want to in our careers.

Perhaps you're wondering why I haven't mentioned the contentious quotas that are already in place in some part of Europe and may come our way if we can improve those percentages? Well, if this is the only way we can get more women on the board then I reluctantly support them, but as a last resort. Quotas are patronising, and even worse, mean that any women who does succeed in reaching a high level in their career may well always get a sideways glance from colleagues questioning whether they got there on their own merits or are simply making up the numbers- and that would be a terrible shame.


Let hope that by next year's International Women's Day, we've managed to improve the situation without having to consider this option...


Monday 30 January 2012

Retail Resolutions for 2012

And I'm back! A very belated happy new year to you!


Something I've been thinking about for a while (in between changing nappies and cleaning up baby puke) has been the answer to the question- what should the key focus points be for retailers in 2012- a year that has not got off to a particularly good start, with bad news from Peacocks, Past Times, Best Buy.. I could go on...  And in brief I think these must be priority for retailers who recognise the need for a strategy that is proactive rather than reactive, in order to avoid a similar fate in the coming year... Let me know your thoughts as always...

1. Be 'Omni-Channel'
This term was recently introduced by the Aurora group in the form of a new role within the business- but I think this could be the new buzz word for retail (if it isn't, it should be) as I think this word encapsulates what we are now trying to do, and how we should be thinking about how and where we sell from. 'Multi-channel' no longer cuts it as a concept- for a properly joined up strategy we need to recognise that the various fulfilment channels can and should merge with each other (e-commerce/mobile commerce/tablets, or in-store/click & collect as examples).
Don't think about these as distinct channels- your customer certainly isn't. Your customer doesn't shop in 'channels'. They shop YOU, by whatever means they find most convenient at a given point in time, so stop thinking about channels and start thinking about how you provide them with a consistent, high quality, fully integrated experience, regardless of where their contact with you initiates from, with an 'Order anywhere, fulfil anywhere' mindset, with flexible options that make this a reality.
This is probably the most important thing you can start, or continue to implement, this year, and will go some way to future-proofing you for the short-medium term.

2. Store Estate
This year, retailers with a store estate- need to make their bricks and mortar sites work harder for them. Stores are a large operational cost for retailers, and there a number of things that need to be considered in order to realise their full value.
  • Rationalisation. Times are tough, costs are as high as they've ever been, and as non-store based sales make up ever greater proportions of total turnover- retailers accordingly need to analyse their store estate and strip out their unprofitable stores, re-diverting spend accordingly to make their remaining stores...
  • Destination Points. It's so easy for us to shop with you online, or on our phone, or with pure play e-tailers who are potentially cheaper or offer more... The high street continues to struggle, and our trips to shopping centres are more considered and cautious than in the past. So your branch needs to be a real destination point. I need a reason to go there, to stay in there, and most importantly to shop there. It needs WOW Factor- location, looks, product offering, services- ideally all of these. Additional services such as Click n Collect are a no brainer that delight the customer by providing them with the flexbility to shop how they want.
  • Etail Showroom. Last year we saw a number of E-Tailers dip their toes into a high street presence- such as N Brown with Simply Be, and EBay at Christmas, and I think we need to see more of this in the coming year. As we've already pointed out, your offering to the customer needs to be channel agnostic, and focussed simply on providing a consistent, integrated service- pure play e-tailers risk being left behind in this brave new world without offering the added value that a store can provide.
3. Be The Best
I won't dwell on this point too much as its obvious and I won't teach my grandmother to suck eggs- but no list of retail reccomendations would be complete without pointing out that in today's challenging market, those retailers that are and will continue to suceed, are those which offer something over and above their competitors- something that compels us to shop with them, whether or not we had already decided to dust off our wallets. There are of course a number of points that you can compete on- Product Offering, Price, Customer Service, Innovation. The Goliaths of retail are excellent at a number of these- I'm thinking John Lewis of course, but also someone like Primark- they aren't just cheap, their product offering is also excellent and probably the best within the value sector.
It is worth noting that implementation of a sucessful social media strategy, being based on carefully defined objectives that are relevant to your business and your customer, can be a key way of forging ahead of the competition, in terms of both customer service and innovation. Customers want and increasingly expect responsiveness from the businesses they are dealing with (or considering dealing with)- a two way dialogue, where you engage with them on the platforms they most commonly use. It's a business area that is still being overlooked to a degree, but as social media use continues to grow, it will become increasingly significant so don't get left behind.


And there we have it. These are I think the 'Killer Apps' for retailers who want to make 2012 a year to remember, not one to forget.

And what do you think?