MMR: Mass Market Retailers, July 13, 2020
OPINION MMR New Priorities Are Safety And Omnichannel Allure By Jeffrey Woldt The COVID 19 pandemic is testing mass market retailers on two major fronts Target chairman and CEO Brian Cornell received a lot of attention recently when he spoke about how consumer behavior has changed since the arrival of the novel coronavirus in the U S and what it will take to get shoppers to feel comfortable about returning to stores During a National Retail Federation webcast Cornell said that coming out of the pandemic the new normal will require that the highest priority be given to protecting the health of people in stores along with strengthening omnichannel capabilities Theres going to be an even greater focus on safety he noted For years I talked internally that one of our goals is to become Americas easiest place to shop Ive now challenged our team to say how do we become the safest place to shop and how do we make sure throughout the shopping experience that were thinking about safety Cornell is on the mark regarding what needs to happen as states ease restrictions on business activity With the recent steep rise in COVID 19 cases however Target and other retailers should also heed his advice about offering a robust omnichannel experience Walgreens Boots Alliance shares that vision Building on the digital transformation strategy that vice chairman and CEO Stefano Pessina launched in January 2019 WBA is working with Microsoft and Adobe to create personalized omnichannel health care and shopping experiences for Walgreens and Boots customers in the U S and U K By providing a unified view of the customer the new technology and data platform beginning with beauty care in Great Britain and pharmacy in this country will in the words of Shelley Bransten corporate vice president for the global retail and consumer goods industries at Microsoft facilitate personalized interactions connected online and in store experiences and highquality customer service WBA Target and their peers are doing whats expected of great companies knowing their customers and evolving along with them Amid the uncertainty caused by COVID 19 and a host of other urgent issues that capacity is a prerequisite for continued success As Cornell said So weve seen kind of an ebb and flow every week From a leadership standpoint and from a team standpoint weve learned to be really adaptable and flexible and nimble because every weeks been different during the pandemic There are so many new dynamics that were putting a premium on being really responsive really agile really flexible Targets Chance to Make Amends By David Pinto There appeared recently an oped piece in The New York Times written by a presumably young mother of two carrying the headline Target Dont Tell Me You Stand With Black Families The article recounted the experience of this mothers two Black children one 13 at the time of the incident the other 10 as they shopped a Target store accompanied by their white caregiver The incident as the mother described it centered on the older child the 13 year old who was disabled with autism Big for his age the child had long been in the habit of hugging people a way to demonstrate his affection As the mother insisted he meant no harm by the gesture something most of the recipients of the gesture viewed as affectionate Not this time As he hugged a Target staffer the woman recoiled possibly concerned for her safety possibly merely taken aback by this unexpected show of affection by a total stranger The caregiver immediately voiced her concern over the incident apologizing to the staffer and explaining that the child was merely demonstrating affection The employee however was having none of it The childs caregiver recalls that the staffer responded to the effect that the gesture was wild as she pushed the boy and threw her arm out as if to strike him according to the mother Fortunately she continued she missed From there things got further out of control To summarize the caregiver escorted the children out of the store and into their car Shortly there was a knock on the window followed by the voice of a police officer asking the caregiver to step out of the car The two children understandably were terrified at the prospect of a police officer just a car window away Meanwhile the caregiver attempted to explain to the officer that the older child suffered from autism When the officer finished questioning the caregivers he turned to several store personnel who were waiting in the background asking them whether they felt the case should be pursued The staffers after contemplating for a time told the officer to let them go The officer did so after asking the caregiver if she was OK He never bothered to ask the children the same question Following the incident the childrens parents repeatedly attempted to reach out to Target to attempt to find some justification for this behavior The womans husband reached out to a Target supervisor who according to the mother appeared dismissive Following that she e mailed Brian Cornell Targets chief executive officer and other members of the retailers executive team requesting an explanation Eventually a Target employee named Amy she refused to provide her last name contacted the mother who asked the appropriate questions Amy responded that Target had done a thorough investigation and that surveillance tapes showed that the older child had put his arms around the employees neck as if to choke her The mother challenged her version of events insisting that a hug consists of putting ones arms around an employees neck Amy remained wedded to her story going so far as to refuse to share the video with the mother The conversation came to an unsatisfactory conclusion and no Target employee ever attempted to contact the mother again The point in recounting this very sad tale is not to place blame or excuse any possible insensitivities on the part of Target or its leadership and employees The woman who wrote the oped her name is Doreen Oliver and she wrote and performs in a one woman show Everything is Fine Until Its Not remains understandably distressed over this event which occurred in December of 2018 Its the cover up not the event thats harmful The point is however that this never should have happened Had Target been given the opportunity the company would certainly have responded more positively Brian Cornell a thoroughly decent and honorable person would just as certainly have reached out to Oliver to offer an explanation and probably an apology And Target would have taken steps to insure as far as possible that this kind of sad event would never happen again Its not too late to make amends As many people have pointed out through the years its not the event that undermines human behavior its the cover up The hope here and the very real belief is that Target will at last reach out to Oliver to reassure her that steps have indeed been taken and that an event such as this will in all probability never happen again Retails Future Is Not Just About Tech By Scot Meyer In his 2007 book Wheres My Jetpack A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future That Never Arrived robotist and author Daniel Wilson took readers on a tour of some of the revolutionary technologies that were supposed to change everything but didnt Consumer economics of convenience and cost are more important than ever Something like that has happened in the retail industry according to a new report from Deloitte which noted that pundits extrapolating from technological trends have variously predicted that brick and mortar stores would become obsolete transformed into showrooms or staffed entirely by robots The report The future is coming but still one day at a time acknowledges that some of those predictions may eventually come true to some extent but still fail as useful predictions because they dont give retailers a helpful road map to the future Many predictions based on the rise of a specific technology such as virtual reality mobile payments or drone delivery ignore such mundane concerns as the economic realities and regulatory hurdles that could keep such technologies in the same always future as the jetpacks in Wilsons book Deloitte aims to take a different tack by focusing on industry data economic trends and consumer insights as it looks at how the industry is changing and how surprise factors like COVID 19 may act as an accelerant Among the key takeaways E commerce is growing faster Year over year growth was up 68 as of April accounting for more than 40 of total retail sales But margins are elusive Convenience is critical More than half of consumers say they are willing to spend more for it Private label continues to gain In 2019 40 of consumers said they were willing to pay as much or more for private label products and COVID 19 has further boosted that trend Moving forward in the COVID 19 environment retail and consumer products companies should be vigilant to identify and react to the emerging disruptive forces and trends at play in the industry argues Bobby Stephens principal for retail and consumer products at Deloitte As the saying goes Think globally act locally This can also be applied to retail meaning retailers should be dramatically more granular in their understanding and operations While it may be tempting to prioritize gamechanging technologies the data tells us the consumer economics of convenience and cost are more important than ever JEFFREY WOLDT Editor in Chief Vice President Phone 212 699 2326 jwoldt@ racherpress com SCOT MEYER Executive Editor Phone 212 699 2312 smeyer@ racherpress com MARK BAUMGARTNER Senior Editor Phone 212 699 2334 mbaumgartner @ racherpress com LESLIE SELDIN Desk Editor Phone 212 699 2389 lseldin@ racherpress com DAVID PINTO President JOHN DIOGUARDI Publisher Phone 212 699 2361 johnnyd@ racherpress com MARK WOLZ Copy Editor Phone 212 699 2330 mwolz@ racherpress com BILL BUCKLEY Art Director Phone 212 699 2331 bbuckley@ racherpress com STEPHANIE THOMPSON Art Director Phone 212 699 2323 sthompson@ racherpress com JENNIFER DONNERUNO Executive Vice President Controller Phone 212 699 TKTK jdonneruno@ racherpress com ANDREA FALLIN EVP Strategy Phone 212 699 2321 afallin@ racherpress com PEGGY NAVARRE Production Manager Phone 212 699 2371 pnavarre@ racherpress com PAM VANDERNOTH Circulation Subscriptions Director Phone 212 699 2362 pvandernoth @ racherpress com SUSAN SCHINITSKY Group Publisher Published by RACHER PRESS INC 126 Fifth Ave 12th Floor New York N Y 10011 212 213 6000 Fax 212 725 4594 VOL 37 NO 8 July 13 2020 MMR July 13 2020 17
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