What do Tomatoes, Peppers, and Cucumbers have in common? 

One of the hardest-to-find items in retail right now is a chief executive.

It's a 'holistic' world for consumers, so all companies have to think 'holistically' or die.

A number of high profile companies including Gap, Diesel, and the parent of the North Face and Vans are operating without a permanent chief executive officer. 

And thanks to a contraction of management training throughout the industry and the need for a rare combination of skills to navigate this tumultuous period, filling those leadership roles is perhaps more difficult than it has ever been.

Given the rockiness that retail companies expect to face because of slowing consumer spending, pricing challenges and a possible recession, that’s a problem.

Then there's the huge shift in D2C that's seeing brands that were once your supplier choosing to go direct to the consumer, and where 90% of those consumers say they are more than happy to deal with them - todays supplier is possibly tomorrows competitor.

Who in your 'Change Making' team are focused on answering the big question around 'how we deliver a true multi-channel' experience?

If the answer sits just with your marketing team then I'm afraid you're already fucked!!!

Many years ago when eCommerce was in its infancy we took our lead from the west, in particular from the good old US of A......but no more!

We have become used to all the effort and investment to drive 'traffic' towards our eCommerce websites.....but no more!

China leads in the area of 'Social Commerce' way ahead of all of Facebook's acquisitions and so called innovations. If this is fact do you and your team have an in-house working group who are really looking at what 'social commerce' is other than something to just post your latest 'offer' or 'promotion' - is today's customer tomorrow's competitor?

"The past few years have required chief executives to adapt to a retail landscape they weren’t trained for and learn a wider array of skills to help their organisations navigate the exhaustive list of disruptions brought on by the pandemic". NYT

For decades, retail executives have been expected to be expert sellers, knowing what people wanted, how much of it and how to get them to buy it. 

Now, top executives are also expected to understand how many resources should go to e-commerce operations compared with brick-and-mortar stores, how to troubleshoot issues in global supply chains and when to invest in emerging technologies like the metaverse.

Retail has always had to work hard at getting people through the doors, this is equally true for all online retailers. In particular with the rise of 'social commerce' which is diverting traffic that would at one time have gone to your website, or that 'marketplace' you chose to sell your goods through and they kept the customer.

Today's digitally savvy and not so loyal consumer are firmly in the driving seat, it's they who get to choose when, where, and how they interact with us. 

So if you're stuck in a mindset that is saying 'let's incrementally improve' then your simply kicking the can down the road.