Executive Planning For 2014: Ten Major Issues

Kevin Hillstrom, President, MineThatData http://blog.minethatdata.com [email protected]

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Executive Planning For 2014Ten Major Issues

Kevin HillstromPresident, MineThatData

2Kevin Hillstrom, President, MineThatData

http://blog.minethatdata.com [email protected]

The Ten Issues That Will Impact 2014

Here is a link to the blog post that describes the ten major issues for 2014, in detail.

Click here to read more.

http://blog.minethatdata.com/2013/12/dear-catalog-ceos-what-is-happening-ten.html





Issue #1: E-Commerce Being Cut-Off By Mobile

Most folks believe that e-commerce and mobile are the same thing. They are not. E-commerce belongs to Jennifer’s generation (age 36-51). Mobile belongs to Jasmine’s generation (age 20-35).

What strategy will your Chief Marketing Officer, Creative Director, Customer Service Director, and Chief Merchandising Officer implement to deal with mobile cannibalizing page views and mindshare from e-commerce?

Discuss.



Issue #2: E-Commerce Impacted By Amazon

In the past decade, e-commerce grew by cannibalizing catalog marketing. Those days are over. Increasingly, e-commerce growth will stall or slow because of challenges from Amazon, who now owns 25%+ of e-commerce, and from mega-retail brands with expanding e-commerce platforms.

What strategy will your Chief Marketing Officer, Creative Director, Customer Service Director, and Chief Merchandising Officer implement to protect business that is increasingly going to shift to Amazon over time?

Discuss.



Issue #3: Branded Merch Impacted By Amazon

Businesses that sell the same merchandise at the same price as Amazon have inherent challenges. Why buy a sound bar from a store when you can have Amazon deliver it to your home, cheaper and faster?

What strategy will your Chief Marketing Officer, Creative Director, Customer Service Director, and Chief Merchandising Officer implement to counter branded merchandise that Amazon sells, or similar product that Amazon could knock off and sell cheaper?

Discuss.



Issue #4: Discounts / Promotions

Black Friday – Cyber Monday 2013 included discounting at previously unseen levels. JCP, for instance, discounted by up to 70% on Black Friday. Retailers will likely discount heavily in the future, in an effort to gain market share to compete against e-commerce, mobile (and ultimately, Amazon).

What strategy will your Chief Marketing Officer, Creative Director, Customer Service Director, and Chief Merchandising Officer implement to get customers to pay full price for merchandise in the future?

Discuss.



Issue #5: Demographics

Going forward, traditional catalogs belong to Judy (age 52 – 67), e-commerce belongs to Jennifer (age 36 - 51), and mobile belongs to Jasmine (age 20 – 35). We’re afraid to talk about demographics, because it forces us to acknowledge the limitations of our existing customer base.

What strategy will your Chief Marketing Officer, Creative Director, Customer Service Director, and Chief Merchandising Officer implement to either change the demographic profile of your business, or maximize the current profile? What would it cost to change the profile?

Discuss.



Issue #6: Customer Service

The urban customer will get free same day and free next day shipping from both retailers and from Amazon. The rural customer will get free, ten day shipping from catalogers. There is a growing dichotomy between urban and rural shoppers. This will impact future shopping choices.

What strategy will your Chief Marketing Officer, Creative Director, Customer Service Director, and Chief Merchandising Officer implement to either compete with retailers / Amazon in urban areas, or to take market share from catalogers with slow delivery options?

Discuss.



Issue #7: Vendors

In catalog marketing, the most important vendor (USPS) chose Amazon as a preferred partner (Sunday Delivery), while strongly considering postage hikes that hurt long-time catalogers. And Big Data vendors will exploit clients for their own personal gain, to protect their future (co-ops).

What strategy will your Chief Marketing Officer, Creative Director, Customer Service Director, and Chief Merchandising Officer implement to reward vendors who are client-centric? How will manipulative vendors be managed?

Discuss.



Issue #8: Mobile Selling

Only so much information can be shared on a five inch screen. While e-commerce was about selling everything under the sun, mobile is going to be about selling only what the customer wants at a specific moment in time. Hard work, don’t you think?

What strategy will your Chief Marketing Officer, Creative Director, Customer Service Director, and Chief Merchandising Officer implement to segment and market to customers who have specific interests at specific points in time that can only be solved with mobile solutions?

Discuss.



Issue #9: Distractions

Most of my clients have had the same 40% repurchase rate and 2 purchases per year for the past two decades, regardless of an explosion in technological sophistication, strongly suggesting that merchandise, and not technology, drive customer loyalty.

What strategy will your Chief Marketing Officer, Creative Director, Customer Service Director, and Chief Merchandising Officer implement to avoid distractions (Big Data, Social Media, Optimization)?

Discuss.



Issue #10: Merchandise

Our lust for technological solutions blinds us to the real reason customers buy from us – merchandise. Why can Apple sell an iPad on Black Friday at full price, but JCP must offer 70% off to attract store traffic?

What strategy will your Chief Marketing Officer, Creative Director, Customer Service Director, and Chief Merchandising Officer implement to increase new items, increase productivity of existing items, and develop a merchandise plan that combats Amazon, retailers, e-commerce only brands, and catalogers?

Discuss.



Your 2014 Strategy

Ask each department head to craft answers to each of the ten major issues in this outline. Don’t worry if the department head is not accountable for the solution to an issue, you’re looking for insights from your most valuable employees.

Given all answers, set goals and objectives for 2014 that provide a solution to the ten major issues described in this outline.

2014 is a major inflection point in the evolution of the customer. Have a strategy to combat our ten major issues.



Questions?

Kevin HillstromPresident, MineThatData

[email protected]

http://blog.minethatdata.com

mailto:[email protected]