The Gazelle and the Lion


In order to survive every day when the gazelle wakes up in the jungle he must run faster than the fastest lion. The loin on the other hand must run faster than the slowest gazelle. For a retailer to survive in the retail jungle they must first determine if they are the hunter or the prey. Are they constantly striving to stay ahead of the competition by embracing change or are they maintaining the status quo. The status quo is a benign position of acceptance and an acknowledgement of fear of change. Here are some questions and a list of things you can do to ensure you’re hunter and not the prey.

  1. Have you identified who your chief competition is?
  2. If you don’t know ask your customers
  3. Have you defined a set of metrics to measure your business?
  4. Do your review they metrics on a monthly basis?
  5. Do you continually educate your employees about your products?
  6. Have your trained your employees how to effectively upsell?
  7. Have your embraced Social Media as a tool to connect with your customers?
  8. Reach out to your technology vendors (POS, E-commerce, CRM) and ask them how you can better utilize their technology.
  9. Ask these same vendors for some “ Best practices” used by some of their other clients
  10. Establish as quasi board of directors, your account, lawyer, POS vendor or a good friend in another business. Meet with them quarterly to discuss your business challenges and potential opportunities.

And remember don’t invest in any new technology until you fully understand how you will use it and have a return on invest strategy.

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