Distribution Dominance
Robin Lewis
Summary by Daniela DeSimone
“In the land of excess, the consumer is king”, exclaimed Robin Lewis, whose life revolves around strategic business planning and forecasting. Retailers must know their target market and be aware of the demands of consumers, who chime in saying, “don’t just fulfill my needs; satisfy my dreams!” This is the only way retailers will survive in the ferociously over-competitive retail world, where it gets harder and harder to make a buck every single day, according to Lewis.
The dreams of consumers can be satisfied by having vertically integrated retailers that focus on creating an “experience”, rather than just a “lifestyle”. These types of retailers are dubbed “brandscendentalists” by Lewis. They effectively control the space and location of their store as well as the aura and minds of the consumer. In addition, they have excellent supply chain management, high productivity, superior marketing and advertising, creative innovations, clear value proposition, and a dominant brand. Most importantly, these types of retailers are pre-emptive, perpetual, and precise in their distribution dominance, which trumps all other retail strategies.
Retailers must also be aware of the six trends prevalent in the industry currently, known as the “6D’s” by Lewis. These trends are the declining share of wallet, decelerating retail growth, devastating retail expansion, deflating prices, dead retail sales, and the demographic downside concerned with baby boomers being more interested in directing their money towards adventure as opposed to purchasing apparel. In order to compete with these trends, retailers must work hard to be the first to target a consumer. They must also be the fastest and the most frequent retailer to target prospective consumers.
Lewis paints a dim picture of the retail world, by adding that “we have too many stores and no one business can do anything about it”. The only hope for retailers is to become vertically integrated and take on characteristics of the “brandscendentalists”, since they have the greatest chance of satisfying the dreams of consumers, who rule the world of retailing.