January 24, 2018

2018: Four Levers

Last week Twitter was peppered with tweets (often from influencers hired and/or reimbursed for attending and saying nice things) from the NRF conference.

The theme was "technology".

Why do you think the theme was "technology"?
  1. Do vendors control the merchandise? No.
  2. Do vendors control the customer experience? No.
  3. Do vendors control awareness? No.
  4. Do vendors offer technology? Yes!!
  5. How does a conference make money? Vendors!
So the focus on technology is a bit skewed.

You read a lot about personalization. Personalization touches the Customer Experience and it leverages Technology ... so yeah, you're going to hear a lot about that. It's a key way vendors can make money. And a pundit will never be wrong talking about personalization ... so you'll hear a lot of chatter about it from that side of the dance floor.

Meanwhile, ask J. Crew what happens when you don't have cute merchandise?

When our industry swung too far toward "omnichannel" ... our industry suffered.

Our industry is swinging too far toward "technology" now.

When an industry swings in one direction, there are significant opportunities in other directions.

Did you hear anything about the following quadrants above last week?
  1. Product.
  2. Awareness.
You are going to hear a lot about Experience & Technology over the next two years.

Without Product & Awareness, Experience & Technology (especially the latter) are much less meaningful.

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