Losing our posties is a long line of casualties that digital change drives and certainly raises the question as to whether there are other industries that need to look at their team attrition before they are forced to offer redundancies.
ANZ New Zealand, the country's biggest lender, boosted its annual cash profit of $1.44 billion in the 12 months ended Sept. 30 from $1.29 billion a year earlier, the bank said in a statement. The cost cuts came in a period when it shaved 10 percent from its workforce to 7,400 full-time equivalent positions. Surely the plight of so many bank workers should get others looking at their business operations.
And what about Fairfax… their cutbacks have been well publicised as there's nothing surer than declining physical subscriptions and increasing digital engagement meaning less people needed and lower returns generated. The shift towards digitisation of modern publications is necessary, but it also leaves the employees at the print-based periodicals of Fairfax Magazines in a precarious position. The end-of-year financial results, released by Fairfax on 22 August, further accentuated the need for cost-cutting measures. Across the group, Fairfax revenue suffered a drop of 8.2 percent, while New Zealand fared slightly better but still dipped by 4.7 percent.
The fashion industry itself which is largely made up of physical retail sites in shopping malls and on strips is also having to face this reality. Those that have failed to react to change at any level and have no digital reference as yet are simply no longer relevant.
It’s not just the domain of the younger generation. Internet shopping is here to stay and just as the baby boomers have embraced Facebook, they too are loving the huge selection of product that is available 24 hours on the digital platforms.
Fact: there's not a lot that is easier than shopping digitally.
Even for self-professed digital dummies return policies are fluid and freight is free unlike our physical retail counterparts.
I now know why so many small retailers are finding it so hard to compete or are considering closing up shop.
No longer are their customers interested in shopping in their underwhelming, under stocked and poorly staffed environments. Wake up retailers! Skimping to ensure your survival will now be your demise.
A couple of months ago my 70-year-old mum asked me to take her shopping for a red coat with a wool mix as she feels the cold.
“Really mum? Shopping? I'll show you how to find exactly what you want by using the internet.” I got her to key woollen red coat into the Google search engines and see what came up.
Yep, she found one. And right on our doorstep in Morrinsville at the local Caroline Eve store and guess what - it was part of a 50% off sale.
The perfect result. Mum is now a total convert of internet shopping. Imagine how long it would have taken to find this coat as part of a shopping day that she had planned to execute and drag me along… the one daughter she has that hates shopping. Success was at her finger tips and will always be going forward.
Let's face it - why would you spend time determining the location, braving the weather, navigating the city’s parking spaces, being attended or not by disinterested store assistants and finding the selection lack lustre In your size and taste when the internet offers a total and extensive choice and overnight delivery.
Single cell retail stores on local shopping strips have a lot to do to keep up with the change. At the very least an engaging digital eCommerce website is now required alongside some very active social media sites that drive engagement with authenticity.
No longer can you hold onto the fact that there's still a demographic that will not make the change digitally for the next few years as they have made it. Google is the new business card. You need to be able to be found and transacted with on digital platforms.
To ignore what is happening will mean early extinction. To get involved and look for ways to drive these new platforms into your business will, I suspect, open up new doors and exciting opportunities.
Rather than burying your head in the sand, start driving the change.
Look at what causes pain for a customer and work your business model to remove it. One of our solutions was the conception of the Birds of a Feather collaborative store models; large sites that were all about inspiring and engaging the customer and getting them back into retail. These sites are being run by incredibly capable women that are a perfect fit for my brand. They offer a shopping experience as they are also trained stylists. You can read more about this concept in my latest book, Rock the Boat. Available from http://www.annahstretton.co.nz/shop/Shop+Online/Accessories/Bags+Belts+Homewares+Other/Rock+the+Boat.html
As well as the collaborative product offerings these new platforms of retail are able to accommodate events introducing a totally new demographic to my brand. For me it was simply thinking differently around traditional business models.
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