住院治疗
Another day, another retail business in trouble. For reasons I can only ascribe to nostalgia as I grew up with the brand, Pier 1's US Chapter 11 filing makes me both sad and angry.
Sad to see a yet another massive brand fall from glory, and angry because they knew better and they should have seen it coming. Among other things, they were late to the game with ecommerce and they – like so many other other retail brands – underinvested in digital.
It’s becoming a depressingly predictable tale.
Where are the digital skills?
I’ve met with so many retailers who don't see the scale of change needed. These retailers know one way of doing things and they don't invest in leadership at the very top. Even today, how many of these companies have digital skills at the board level?
Back in 2016, just 5% of board members in non-tech companies had digital competencies. In a more recent report, only 33% of digital leaders said they felt truly supported or resourced by boards. Around half (half!) believed their boards lack “real understanding of the meaning and scope of digitization - especially in terms of business model transformation.”
How is this still the case?
Why is digital so important? It's all about the customer. There is (almost) no element of the customer experience that isn't influenced by digital in some way – whether it's research done online before going to a store on the high street, or collecting an online order, or following a brand on social media, having a robust digital infrastructure is a basic hygiene factor today. It's not negotiable.
Yet even as companies are spending more of their capital and operating expenses on tech and people to support this new way of doing things, the question remains: who is championing digital skills in the business at the highest levels?
Who on the board embodies a company culture that places a premium on customer insight, analytics and user experience both offline and online?
It's not that hard. Get some people on the Board who are doing the job now, who have current skills, who know what it means to manage cultural transition and serve the modern customer. Recruiters need to work smarter, Chairs need to go out of their comfort zones, and potential NEDs need to speak up.
And let's hope Pier 1 can live to sell a few more funky plant stands.
Fashion & Luxury Management Consultant
5 年Great article Gabrielle! I agree that businesses - particularly fashion brands - are digitally semi literate at best! Part of the challenge is that the people in the sector are hard to assess and measure since usually the decision maker/interviewer knows far less about the subject than the candidate.? Also in most other sectors experience usually means seniority, competence and therefore value. However in digital experience counts for little. Who cares if you are great at XML and know exactly how to sell on MySpace! This means brands don't have the data points and experience to accurately assess the quality of the candidate. They subsequently make poor hiring choices which curtails their growth creating a self fulfilling prophecy that digital engagement is either some kind of magic, or a waste of time! What they need are great consultants to guide them through the wild west that is ecom....I wonder where they can find those????
CEO, Non-Executive Director, Board Advisor, Keynote Speaker
5 年Great to see Pier 1 already making changes by employing an ecommerce manager. Let's hope Oscar H. Castro gets the board support he needs!
Sr. Solution Sales Account Executive
5 年Great stuff Gabrielle.? I'm waxing nostalgic a bit too. Folks of my vintage?? We all had one of those papasan chairs in our small apartments!?
Director of Communications at Theirworld.org
5 年It's staggering to me how many retailers aren't even getting their most basic e-commerce experience right. Digital natives obsess about bounce rates etc and constantly optimise. Seems like some traditional brands just check a box that they have "done digital" and never visit it again.