As a retailer, do you need to get over these 11 things too?

The title sounds harsh, but when we clicked through to this Inside Retail article, we discovered a practical guide for retailers in the modern age.

It isn’t always an easy pill to swallow, but sometimes a few `uncomfortable truths’ can be good to shake things up a little, innovate and adapt.

Here’s a couple we wanted to share;

1. You don’t own your brand – your customers do. (The idea of brand management is therefore an anachronism). At best you are a custodian, and custodians act very differently to owners.
2. If you don’t manage your data you don’t manage a business, you are playing shop.
3. You can’t have your cake and eat it. (You want to pay minimum wage, and you want great staff. You want the government to butt out of your business with less red tape, and you want government protection when the overseas competition arrive.)
4. Online is not going away. Ever. Embrace it or…
5. The landlord won’t reduce your rent because you are struggling, they will reduce your rent if there is a business case for them (not you.) They don’t run your business and they don’t have equity in your business.
6. No amount of marketing, PR, differentiation, service, et al will ever beat quality or competence. There is no substitute for products that work as intended and services that deliver what is promised. (You really can’t fool all the people all the time – especially now.)

Read more at insideretail.com.au