Retail, Consumer & Technology Trends

This is a 2-part presentation that has been a best seller with companies and associations in every industry, ASICS, Honeywell, Harley-Davidson, Coverings Trade Show, The International Council of Shopping Centers, to name a few. Every year we gather new data on the main global and national trends that shape the retail industry and the business world in general. Market, economic, political, demographic, consumer lifestyle trends are all part of this analysis and the purpose of it is to understand how things are changing and get ready for those shifts. Because running a successful business is not about reacting to changes but anticipating them and even shaping them. That is what Apple, Amazon, Google and other market leaders have been doing all along with exceptional results. Could you be like them? Yes, and this presentation will teach you how. Learn what consumers are doing now and may be doing next. Find out what are the ten or more trends that are going to change the way we do business with consumers. Learn what companies or brands are already capitalizing on those trends and with what results. And, most importantly, learn in the 2nd part of this presentation how you can do it in your day-to-day operations. This presentation is powerful and a real winner with companies in search of not just inspiration but also concrete solutions to their need for growth.(This combo presentation can take up to 3 hours. It can also be condensed to one hour or less with a brief consumer and market trends intro followed by the tactics presentation, or, viceversa, it can focus on trends and have a brief overview at the end on tactics to capitalize on them. As well, the 2 presentations can be delivered separately. Each would take a minimum of 45 minutes to deliver.)

In economies of abundance (and yes, even if this is a down economy, it is still an economy where there are a lot more wants than actual needs) it is all about shopping for experience & excitement. You may not be able to own a category but you can own an experience that will excite your customers. So even if big box retailers, large discount chains, the internet, catalog companies, and soon interactive TV are crowding the field, you can still win the game by learning how to focus on what will make you a winner. Not low price, it would be a race to the bottom and you would lose the game, anyway. But rather learn how to excite your customers with better service, better product, better/hotter assortments, better store ambiance, better customer education, better gathering place, better ongoing relationship with your customer and a lot more.

The economy is a rollercoaster, one day is up, the next day is down and, as many like to say, consumers have been forever changed. Have they? Yes and no, although most consumers have gone down the hierarchy of needs (i.e., financial safety and security issues pushed them there), their memory has never been long term, and soon, as all this turmoil will be forgotten, they will return to their old ways of spending maybe not as lavishly as in the past but still doing it. Plus, expectations have not changed at all. If anything, expectations have increased. Because there are companies out there who didn’t stop their march to higher levels of service and product offering excellence and with consumers casting their vote for them even with their wallets in ‘shrinking’ mode, they raised the bar for everyone else. So, what did these companies do right and what do they know about the ‘changed’ state of the consumer that you also need to know to win? That there are many different ways to be relevant to your customer and none of them will require any major financial commitment, just a clear focus on what matters most to the consumer today and in the future.

Sustainable retailing is not a fad. It is a reality that more and more companies are embracing. Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, Lowe’s, Whole Foods, Abt Electronics (single store operation) are leading the movement and just like with every other business practice, they are setting the bar for everyone else, whether you think you can or cannot follow. Because if you think you can’t because the price to do it is too high, think of the price you will have to pay when the consumer sees you lagging behind. This seminar will give you a compelling overview of sustainable retailing efforts across the retail industry. Learn how retailers can impact the environment and how educating customers is a critical piece in solving environmental issues. This seminar comes packed with case studies and examples of retailers large AND SMALL who successfully managed to turn their company and stores "green" and save money by doing it.