When Fahrenheit 212 published an article in MIT Sloan Review, we thought the strategy group might wish to test their suggestions.
Event Details
The authors suggest more businesses need to confront three truths.
The idea that e-commerce presents a competitive threat is over 20 years old, especially when you realize that Amazon dates back to July 1994. Retail, particularly traditional bricks and mortar distribution channels, however, continually struggle to find their footing. Few investors seem to bet against digital technology and its growing grip on consumer behavior, and yet the expected arrival of a completely digital marketplace remains decades away.
Recently published research by Chicago Booth faculty within the retail sector found e-commerce accounts for only 5.8% of $1.8trillion US sales in 2016, though 90% of the smallest category (music) at 1% of total sales is fully digital. In all other categories, even Amazon's platform dominance fails to best bricks and mortar. (See optional article for the complete academic analysis.) The competitive realities across the extended supply chain and function driven responses prove difficult to analyze and project. They also introduce additional competitive dynamics, and disrupt long established expectations and relationships.
Join us on Friday April 21 7:30 am -8:45 am at Lockton Company 500 W. Monroe St.
Read the following articles and explore some of the changing market dynamics at work in the retail sector. Guarantee you will walk away with new insights and/or lessons to further strategic growth in your own industry.
Register Here*, as seating is limited. Remember to read the articles listed below in advance.
*Note, if you registered and your plans change, please contact Rachel Kaberon (rkaberon@arkaysolutons.com) the organizer, and she can give your seat to another.
ARTICLES
Reframing Growth Strategy
Sloan MIT Review
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/reframing-growth-strategy-in-a-digital-economy/
Contrast in transition: Sears and Macy's
https://centricdigital.com/blog/digital-strategy/how-sears-and-macys-are-transitioning-into-an-improved-digital-strategy/
Macy's relationship trouble with Luxury brands
https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-08-11/macy-s-earnings-relationship-trouble-with-luxury-brands
Five Trends driving traditional retail towards extinction
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jjcolao/2012/12/13/five-trends-driving-traditional-retail-towards-extinction/#11487bd51efd
OPTIONAL for Quants
Ali Hortaçsu and Chad Syverson . "The Ongoing Evolution of US Retail:A Format Tug-of-War". Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 29-4.
http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/chad.syverson/research/evolutionofretail.pdf