VIEWPOINT
Declaration of Independents
K EV I N CO UPE FOUN DER MOR N IN GN EWS BE AT.COM
Hate to say it, but not all grocers are created equal Some have more financial resources than others. Some have better human capital than others. There are grocers with better imaginations than others. And, let’s be honest, there are some who somehow remain in business for reasons unclear to you and me. But so it goes. I’ve been thinking about this lately, especially when it comes to traditional/ conventional independent retailers. We’ve all seen the statistics, about how there are fewer of the breed than there were a decade ago, suggesting that obsolescence is at hand. We’ve all heard the doomsayers, prognosticating about the possibility/ likelihood that the biggest retailers simply have so much power and so many resources that it may be almost impossible for smaller independents to survive.
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I don’t think that’s true. At least, not necessarily. And not everyone. Sure, there will be independents that, because of circumstances beyond their control or operating methods that are not up to the moment, will not make it. But there also will be plenty, I believe, that will not only survive the competitive tsunami that threatens to swamp the industry, but will thrive – because they understand the power of creative differential advantages. In the interest of both quantifying and qualifying some of those advantages, I’ve composed what I am calling a Declaration of Independents – eight things that I think retailers can say and do to plant their flag and establish their viability and credibility in the marketplace.
1. We will focus on doing things that bigger competitors cannot do or will not do. 2. We will establish a culture in which a primary tenet is that “everything we do will bring us closer to the customer, not distance us from the customer.” (Outsourcing of certain tasks and technologies is okay, as long as it is within that framework.) 3. Each fresh department will have at least one totally unique item that the competition does not have … and will be charged with creating at least one new completely unique item each quarter. No exceptions. Total employee participation will be not only encouraged, but rewarded. (One additional priority here: Henceforth, we only will use the term “fresh food.” Never “perishables,” because perishables rot.) 4. We will work diligently and tirelessly to eliminate friction from every part of the customer experience – whether in the physical store or online. Friction gets in the way of the shopper-shopkeeper connection. It is intolerable for the customer, and ought to be intolerable for us.
