By Doug Stephens<\/p>\n

Retail is simple.\u00a0 You take widgets, you put them on a sales floor, you put a sign outside that says \u201cwe sell widgets\u201d and people who want widgets come and buy them.\u00a0 That\u2019s about as complex as retail should be right? <\/p>\n

Then why has retailing become so complicated?\u00a0 Why are there so many articles, books, blogs, gurus and consultants (present company included) trying to unlock the mystery of great retail?\u00a0 Why are people like Starbucks\u2019 Howard Shultz or Lululemon\u2019s Chip Wilson revered like Gods?<\/p>\n

Because retail isn\u2019t simple.\u00a0 In fact it\u2019s very difficult.\u00a0 As the saying goes, \u201cretail isn\u2019t rocket science.\u00a0 It\u2019s much<\/em>, much<\/em> harder.\u201d\u00a0 Here\u2019s why\u2026<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to sell widgets until someone else comes along selling widgets at half the price – damn Chinese-made widgets!\u00a0 They\u2019re even pretty good quality widgets and frankly consumers don\u2019t seem to care that they\u2019re not made here.<\/p>\n

Then down the street they open Widget Depot, who carries 2036 varieties of widgets at everyday low prices.\u00a0 They\u2019re not big on service but if you want a certain widget, they\u2019ve got it.\u00a0\u00a0 To make matters worse they advertise like crazy on the W Network (the Widget Network), so when people think of widgets, they think Widget Depot.\u00a0 They\u2019re also open every day of the week until eleven p.m..\u00a0 Who would have dreamed that people would go widget shopping at that hour?<\/p>\n

Then across town, The Widget Experience store opens.\u00a0 They know more about widgets than anyone else.\u00a0 Widgets are like a religion to them.\u00a0 It\u2019s actually a little creepy but they serve cappuccino and they play really cool music that enhances the widget-buying experience.\u00a0 They even offer free WiFi!\u00a0 Their widgets cost four times the average but somehow people are willing to pay it.\u00a0 Go figure!<\/p>\n

Then widgets.com starts up.\u00a0 Now people can buy widgets anytime day or night without leaving the house!\u00a0 They ship fast and often charge less than the local widget store.\u00a0 In fact, online widget sales are skyrocketing.<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t forget WidgetBay, where used widgets are auctioned off at a fraction of the price of new widgets.\u00a0 In fact, there are over 3,000 listing for used widgets right now!<\/p>\n

The fact is, nowadays people can buy widgets anywhere and everywhere!<\/p>\n

And therein lies the reason that great retailers become great.\u00a0 They are wise to what is by far the most important retail lesson of all. That it\u2019s not about the widget.\u00a0 And it never has been.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What makes great retailers great? Not their widgets…that’s for sure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15,16,17],"class_list":["post-1870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-retail-marketing","tag-retailing","tag-small-business"],"yoast_head":"\n