Entering 2017, the global rise of digital commerce and online grocery has shifted the agenda from perpetual scenario-planning for the “If and when” on to “What now?” and “How?”
More than ever, these questions need executive focus.
Investors and shoppers no longer award credit for what retailers and brands say they will do to compete with the relevance, selection, convenience and value of “digital native” players – only what is actually done.
Defining and measuring digital success
As the executive agenda shifts to making decisions and acting, too many organizations have yet to even clearly define success.
Is digital a sales channel? A marketing platform? An opportunity to restructure the value chain of suppliers, wholesalers, and retailers? A chance to pursue a high-potential new business model or enter an adjacent category with significant leverage?
The short answer: Yes.
Leaders should think broadly and openly about the opportunities and challenges digital creates, decide what it is expected to do for the business, define the measures of that success and communicate these clearly to the organization.
This process of defining and measuring success has been perhaps the greatest challenge for brands grappling with an industry in transition.
What is the right balance between growth and profitability for a business model on an exponential trajectory, but with new and very different economics?
Is “fair share” realistic in a retail environment that helps new brands emerge, perhaps even giving them structural advantages?
Is it better to focus an organization on desired outcomes, or on the specific activities that lead to those desired outcomes?
Think carefully about the incentives created by new metrics, and be intentional about deploying them across the total company or for specific business units or functions.
An organization in transition needs confidence that it knows its mission and how it will tell if it’s winning.
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