Q&A talks retail strategy with Stephanie Fischer, president & CEO of the Global Retail Marketing Association.
Q: Let’s start out with the basics. What is the Global Retail Marketing Association? Who comprises its membership? What are some of its goals?
A: The GRMA is dedicated exclusively to addressing the strategic needs of retail senior executives for the purpose of sustaining profitable growth as well as “future-proofing” their organization. The GRMA mission is achieved through an annual executive leadership forum, which offers inspirational thought leadership, stimulating and candid peer idea exchange, and collaboration on-site to develop concrete and transformational ‘pathways’ for success. This is an intimate and invitation only event that has been conducted for eight years and typically involves C-suite retail executives from over 50 top-100 retailers as well as approximate 25 premier solution providers throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe in any given year. In total, there are no more than 125-150 in attendance. An ongoing community platform provides a continuous ‘dialogue’ for the membership year round.
Q: How global is your reach? Is retail marketing the same around the world at its most basic roots? Are the issues the same?
A: The GRMA membership is primarily in the U.S. and Canada with periodic attendance from Europe and South America. Yes, retailing and the external factors affecting retail are basically the same in terms of being customer centric, investing in customer enabling technology on and off-line, driving profitable sales, long-term brand differentiation, etc. However, local culture differences and governmental regulatory demands create a need for being local in how companies go to market.
Q: Granted, you’re a global group, but where does the GRMA stand on the issue of regulating Internet retailing? Should states be allowed to charge sales tax on online goods? Should there be regulation of Internet sales this way?
A: It is very important that if the government is going to be involved with commerce at all that it creates a fair playing field to do business across state lines so as not to give unfair advantage to out-of-state online retailers, especially since free shipping is so prevalent.
Q: The eighth annual Executive Leadership Forum took place recently. One of its components is an exchange of best practices. What are some of the best practices that have been suggested at past forums?
A: 1) Greater emphasis on a process of test, learn and rapidly deploy for competitive edge.
2) Move toward making the employee your #1 priority so that they can be positive brand ambassadors.
3) Have one view of the customer across all channels.
4) Invest in technology, analytics and customer behavioral analysis that allows the retailer to be both ‘hyper real time and hyper local’ simultaneously.
Q: One of the sessions was entitled, “Forces That Will Move Global Markets in 2013: The Geopolitics of the 21st Century.” What do you think some of the forces are that will move global markets and why?
A: The economic impact and leveraging of global commerce is now upon us and is affecting the local mom and pa as well as the multination conglomerates. New market opportunities will demand cultural and regulatory exploration and analysis for incremental profitability with internal structural changes. (Changing) requirements for different skill sets and securing and training future employee talent will be issues.
Q: Marco Bertini addressed the topic of dumb promotions. Are European and Asian car dealers using giant inflatable gorillas to sell vehicles? Are there universal dumb promotions that consumers reject across the globe?
A: Bertini postulates that an insufficient analytical bent of what works and what doesn’t from a pure profitability standpoint as well as not focusing on the shifting customer behavior, is producing promotions that are consistently ‘dumb’ and are eroding market share and opportunities for sustainable growth. The JC Penney current situation is a prime example. The theory wasn’t all together wrong but why not test, learn, analyze and deploy with facts versus not first “consulting” with the customer and then vigorously analyzing results.
