Retail Transformation Briefing – 14th August



Hi Reader,

The Olympic Games have finished and we saw huge product placement during this year's spectacle. From Louis Vuitton medal trays and torches to Samsung's medal-winning selfie phones, plus golden Coca-Cola bottles and Celine Dion and Lady Gaga performances decked in Dior.

The Olympics is traditionally nervous about excessively commercial partnerships and sponsorships. But this year's Games saw alternative ways of getting the world's biggest brands in front of the world's biggest audience.

Listen to the latest episode of The Retail Show to explore if this is a good or bad thing, plus why this is only the tip of the iceberg. Find the episode in your podcast app now or on TheRetailShow.uk.

Also, each podcast episode dives deeper into the various news headlines featured below.


Retail transformation news headlines

πŸ‘ John Lewis has been working on a major suite of changes to boost customer experience in stores. Changes include a package of flexible multitasking, mobile POS/checkouts, mobile printers and colleague communications headsets. The common thread to link these changes together is a focus on driving better customer experience in stores.

🍚 Ocado is trialling a new reusable packaging solution which has been specifically designed for online groceries. The trial is only on rice and pasta initially (expanding to washing detergent and fabric conditioner later on) and will test the flow of reusable and refillable containers.

πŸ“¦ Amazon is expanding its returns options for brands and retailers using its Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) services. This includes options for grade and resale, product support, returnless returns and donating returns to charities and people in need.

πŸ₯³ Card Factory and Just Eat are collaborating to offer a quick commerce solution for greeting cards. A range of 200 items will be available for rapid delivery, starting in 19 stores and expanding further soon.

πŸ“ˆ Deliveroo have switched to profitability as it continues to increase its platform and partnerships with other retailers. They're growing market share of larger baskets and working with grocers and non-food retailers to help scale revenues and margins.

πŸ›‚ Tesco are deploying digital product passports (DPP) for clothing items from its F&F brand. Look out for more DPP coming soon as well as explore the opportunity to engage customers.

πŸ₯• Morrisons announced a new aspect to their retail media network - in-store sampling. Brands can schedule specific stores and times for promoting new products and brands. This forms part of the retail media network which really adds customer value and helps develop the shopping experience. .

πŸ’³ Amazon and Barclaycard are collaborating to release a new credit card with benefits for shopping with Amazon. Customers can earn 1% of purchases as rewards for shopping at Amazon, and get bonus cashback during promotional events like Cyber Monday and Prime Day.

❌ At the end of this week, Aldi is stopping their online order click-and-collect service. The initiative launched in the pandemic but is counter-intuitive to their core operating model and priority.

βš–οΈ Avon is filing for bankruptcy following tough financial performance and in the face of impending lawsuits related to links to cancer. There are 386 claims that talc used in its products has caused major health issues and is likely to lead to significant settlements.

πŸ›Ό And finally, an old disused John Lewis department store will be repurposed into a massive adventure park. Flip Out is transforming the Watford store to include dodgems, trampolines, laser tag and much more alongside food and drink offerings.


New on the Retail Transformation Show podcast: Avoiding transformation failure - #307

Transformation efforts are often fraught with risk, and research shows that many initiatives end in failure. But failure isn’t a single, uniform outcome - it’s a multi-dimensional challenge that can strike at different stages and in various forms. In this episode, we’ll dissect the three different dimensions of transformation failure and explore strategies to avoid these pitfalls. Whether you’re leading a major transformation or a smaller-scale change, understanding these dynamics is crucial for navigating your journey to success.

Listen to episode 307 of the Retail Transformation Show and discover:

  • The four types of transformation failure and why you need to recognise them.
  • Why and when failure is a good outcome to celebrate.
  • Five tips to help avoid transformation failure.

Plus, check out these recent episodes:

​#306: Stay up to speed with The Retail Show​

​#305: Winning at continuous improvement​

​#304: The fragile digital world: lessons from the CrowdStrike outages​


This week is a more concise version of the Retail Transformation Briefing and there is more detail, analysis and opinion that you can explore about all of these stories in the latest episode of The Retail Show podcast.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this new streamlined view.

Keep transforming better,

Oliver

Oliver Banks of OB&Co

Oliver helps retailers to change and transform their business and operating models. He's the host of the 'Retail Transformation Show' podcast and author of 'Driving Retail Transformation: How to Navigate Disruption & Change'.

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