Hi Reader,

The terrible collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, coupled with the ongoing tensions and attacks in the Red Sea, continues to intensify supply chain pressures. These events represent significant disruption for product businesses, impacting delivery schedules and spiralling costs upwards - hitting both customer experience and financial health hard.

In this climate of heightened uncertainty and persistent global challenges, a company's ability to flex and adapt is not just a competitive edge, it's a necessity. Retailers and brands are finding themselves at a crossroads: managing stock flows and availability and communicating transparently with customers while also implementing both immediate response plans and considering more strategic, long-term transformation.

As we navigate these turbulent times, the question of transformation readiness must come to the forefront. How do we identify the most pertinent transformations that align with our current context and future aspirations? How do these plans sit alongside the wider, global context? More importantly, how do we ensure our initiatives are not reactive to short-term headaches but genuinely resilient and agile enough to withstand the unpredictability of our modern world?

It's essential to consider the transformation appetite of the organization and investors, at both a group and individual level. I wanted to explore this topic when I was invited to share an extract from Driving Retail Transformation for the LinkedIn Book Club.

If you haven't yet grabbed your copy my book, Driving Retail Transformation: How to Navigate Disruption and Change, you can find it in your usual bookstore or click here.

Retail transformation news headlines

🚛 Shein is launching a new "supply chain as a service" business model, which follows similar B2B propositions from companies like Amazon and Walmart. The service is not yet officially launched but was mentioned by the Executive Chair, Donald Tang. It's expected that this will include access to Shein's network of factories and the upstream materials supply chain as well as the international logistics for delivery to customers. This could represent a major democratisation of product-based businesses and brands, and with new AI tools, could make it possible for anyone to quickly launch their own range of clothing, or any other product category, with or without a background in that sector.

💊 Amazon Pharmacy is launching same-day delivery medicines via bike couriers in New York and Los Angeles, and in under an hour via the existing drone trials in Texas. To enable these timings, Amazon is leaning into robotics and automation along with a simple and convenient customer buying experience. Orders can be placed quickly to ensure that customers don't run out of their essential medication. This represents a major shake-up for the healthcare world as Amazon look to expand this proposition to many other locations this year. Healthcare has been a focus area for Amazon for a while now and this is a major step forward.

👕 Depop is looking to boost the supply of pre-loved items and is changing its business model to drive increased circularity. They are removing the 10% seller fees and will introduce a new 5% buyer fee. They have also been developing their customer experience through improved search functionality, more relevant recommendations, faster customer service response times, and a faster product listing process.

📺 M&S is looking for new fashion design talent, and their search will be documented in a new TV show. The show will chart the progress of 10 candidates as they compete to win a permanent role and the opportunity to have their designs launched into the M&S range. The candidates will be judged by senior leaders, celebrity guests, and famous fashion designers. The TV show will air on ITV and is expected to be released in the Autumn.

🏆 Meanwhile, Shein announced the winner of its own design competition, Shein X. Eleonora Falcone from Italy has won the global competition and her design collection, along with products from the other 9 finalists, will be made available on Shein soon. The competition included over 1000 submissions and included several rounds, including judging panels and public votes.

🌍 In the UK, ASOS, Boohoo and Asda have agreed to clarify more details about their sustainability claims going forward. The Competition and Markets Authority is clamping down on ambiguous terms like "eco", "responsible", or "sustainable" unless there are more specific claims made alongside, such as showing the official percentage of recycled fibres.

🥊 Chinese businesses are complaining about TikTok's latest rules for their Shop functions in the US, driven by regulations. The new rules require entities to be 51% US-owned and chaired by a US passport holder. Chinese business owners are complaining that they will lose prominence to US-based businesses on the platform. TikTok has been under increasing pressure to ensure that their app can still be used in the US. It will be interesting if other major marketplaces like Shein and Temu also follow suit, and if this does result in promoting more local businesses in the search or algorithm results.

💰 In Korea, Coupang are investing over 3 trillion won (approx $2.2 billion) to expand their "rocket delivery" service deployed nationwide. The initiative will see 8 new fulfilment centres as well as other delivery investments. Coupang is Korea's largest ecommerce company but is facing aggressive investments from Alibaba's Aliexpress brand as well as Shein and Temu. In other developments, the Korean government are looking to clamp down on a spike of consumer complaints about poor quality and fake goods being sold on these marketplaces.

🏙️ And finally, in Thailand, a major new development is bringing together retail space, community space, residential areas and office space into one location. "One Bangkok" is due to open at the end of the year and includes five premium office towers, five luxury and lifestyle hotels, and three luxury residential towers alongside public transport to connect to the wider city. The retail offering connects them together and will include 900+ stores, a live entertainment venue and open spaces for community use, including art and culture experiences. This is a progressive development which reminds me of the 15 minute city concept. Could developments like this show how cities will develop over time?

New podcast episode: Why the change is not realising the benefits - #287

Imagine this... A transformation’s business case shows a glittering alternative to the status quo of today. But after implementation, these benefits are never realised. They either don’t exist or they can’t be quantified. What happened? Was this a mirage? Were we being overly optimistic? In this episode of the Retail Transformation Show, join me and explore the reasons behind initiatives that can’t or won’t show the realised benefits.

Listen to episode 287 of the Retail Transformation Show and discover:

• The reasons that lead to benefit realisation challenges.
• Why you need to critically assess your outputs and outcomes.
• The root causes of low utilisation for your change.
• What to do when you realise that the benefits can’t be realised.

Also, check out these recent episodes:

​#286: The department store’s predicament ​

​#285: How technology is changing the role of people​

​#280-284: Driving Retail Transformation - Book Launch Special episodes​

One last thing... if you're heading to the UK's Retail Technology Show (24-25 April, London) then look out for some exciting news revealing soon. Also, please do let me know if you're going to be there - as part of the magic of retail - it would be great to connect with you in real life!

In the meantime, keep transforming better,

Oliver