Without innovation, how is one retailer any different than the other?
Success in retail and #retailgrowth requires constant #innovation. Innovation is hard, innovation is risky, and innovation is expensive… but without it, especially in retail, you are just four walls full of the same stuff lots of other companies are selling.
So how do you to it? You do it by building a culture of constant innovation.
Based on my experience from start-ups to multi-national global organizations, there are a few keys to successfully developing and sustaining constant innovation.
Meet the three “E’s”
Embrace
The leadership team must declare innovation as a core value and build it into key initiatives. If the leadership team is not aligned, innovation will not happen, especially in well-established organizations where the founder may no longer be involved. Maintaining the spirit of the founder(s) is crucial because innovation is what created the company in the first place.
Enable
Fostering innovation requires allocating the right resources, capacity and budget to support it. That means affording time and empowering the team to think about the long term. Breakthrough ideas are generated outside of “run the business”, and few leadership teams dedicate the time to accommodate the ideation that fuels “fast fail” flywheels.
Execute
For most, fear of fairly typically serves as a blocker to the execution of new ideas. Bottom line here – you miss every shot you don’t take. Line up the shots and make it happen! If you don’t – someone else will. Don’t be left in the dust!
Always be innovating. Successful omnichannel retailers are dedicated to it.
If you want to talk about building your own culture of innovation, I’m happy to have a conversation about your situation and make some recommendations.
