How to Implement Innovative Ideas in Retail Operations

I’ve been a huge fan of Tom Fishburne for years since we were classmates at Harvard Business School. Tom started drawing cartoons on the backs of HBS business cases, which evolve to become his famous and insightful Sky Deck cartoons.  I was always on the lookout for them. I invite my connections across all industries to subscribe to Tom’s insightful newsletter. Last week’s issue particularly resonated with me. Tom highlighted that labeling an idea as polarizing can quickly kill it, as businesses usually avoid such ideas in favor of safer, more universally appealing ones. However, there’s power in polarization. Trying to appeal to everyone often results in appealing to no one. In a cluttered world, the last thing a company can afford is to create indifference. Several years ago, I was helping the innovation group of a large carrier and saw firsthand the graveyard of idea killers. Many innovative ideas, often originating from those in the field who directly experience pain points, did not make it past the first round of evaluation. To help this carrier effectively evaluate innovative ideas and develop a repeatable process, we implemented a few key strategies: 1. Idea Champion Program: We assigned champions to promising ideas to advocate for them, gather feedback, and iterate on the concepts. 2. Cross-Functional Evaluation Committees: We created committees with members from various departments to ensure diverse perspectives in idea evaluation. 3. Fail Fast, Learn Faster: We encouraged a culture where failure is acceptable as long as we learn from it quickly. Prototyping and piloting ideas in controlled environments helped us make informed decisions. 4. Customer-Centric Approach: We focused on ideas that directly addressed customer/staff pain points, involving these stakeholders early in the development process. 5. Regular Review Cycles: We established regular review cycles for all submitted ideas to ensure they received proper attention. By implementing these strategies, we helped the carrier create an environment where innovative ideas could thrive. This process not only brought new solutions to the market but also fostered a culture of creativity and continuous improvement. Remember, the goal is not to avoid polarization but to harness it. Great ideas often provoke strong reactions, and that’s where their power lies. By creating a structured process to evaluate and nurture these ideas, we can ensure that they have the opportunity to make a significant impact. https://lnkd.in/eWfV_a-t

This is a wake-up call to all retailers and brands CEO/CDOs/CMOs, you are going in the WRONG direction. Stop competing with commodity commerce sites like Amazon and Walmart and start innovating. You all “say” the right things at trade shows: “better customer experiences” “personalization” “real connections and brand engagement” Yet your actions are the OPPOSITE You don’t encourage your teams to take any risks or come up with creative ideas. You have teams of paper pushers. Everyone is looking to press a button or implement the newest Acme Company technology (yes, a Roadrunner cartoon reference). You are looking for the latest AI bot to do the trick Newsflash, consumers hate bots…no matter how smart they are You are cutting programs left and right, reducing customer service hours, getting rid of free returns You are being lazy You're playing defense not offense You need to do some real work, some elbow grease type stuff Case in point: When Domino's pledged to get you your pizza in under 30mins – that took effort and it worked. It was all about the customer experience. When Enterprise said “we’ll pick you up” – that wasn’t a push the button effort, it was a program and executed well. When my friends at Sweetwater promise you access to a real musician expert 1:1 to help buy the right products, that was a real effort (and it worked, driving their DTC to $1.7B) The biggest risk is the risk you don’t take. NEED Help? Here’s an example of an idea to inspire creative thinking – it may be a terrible idea but I want to get the point across on how you NEED to be dissecting the customer experience and coming up with creative solutions I call it Pizza Party - that will both drive conversion and reduce returns for apparel brands Hire fit models of varying sizes and body types near you warehouse For every new drop, have them try on the clothes and record their fit feedback Share that feedback on every PDP page Have fun with it, make your fit models ambassadors and show their personalities. 6 fit models $500/a day x 3 days of work = $7,500 1 Producer at $500/day x 3 days - $1,500 8 times a year = $72,000 Web manager to project manage this whole thing - $100,000 For $172K a year An apparel brand doing $50M GMV a year with 30% returns – that’s $15M in lost revenue + probably another $1M in return logistics A 2% drop in returns would recover approx. $1M in revenues Add another 2% conversion lift and that’s another $1M in revenues Net net - $2M gained for $172K spent Sounds like a pretty freaking good ROI to me any my CVR and reduction in returns #s are conservative  Plus you’ll get some amazing content, brand ambassador, etc etc That’s old school innovation stuff You get my point – start innovating.

Don't confuse past success with future security. If you stop evolving, your customers will move on....count on it!! Based on lululemon's recent performance, they are a good example of those who stopped, or at least stalled, evolving. Its U.S. sales have slowed, comps are down 4 percent, and customers are shifting to ALO Yoga and Vuori. Even loyal shoppers are broadening their options. Leadership admits its product mix became predictable, lounge and social categories are fatigued, and seasonal color choices missed the mark. International growth is keeping results positive, but the U.S. business has hit a wall. If your turnaround must stick, here's how I'd focus on deeper system changes. 📌 Build radical performance transparency: Publish goals and progress. Tie individual and team objectives directly to business outcomes and review them openly. 📌 Democratize ideas: Host structured twice-monthly innovation sessions. Empower all functions to submit, test, and rapidly prototype new concepts, not just product. 📌 Embed customer data: Integrate real-time customer feedback and behavioral analytics into every major decision, from assortment changes to store experience. 📌 Create diverse pilot teams: Staff cross-functional squads focused on rapid, measurable pilots for top business priorities. Include marketing, ops, and multiple customer segments. 📌 Reward active learning: Make continuous skills development, failure analysis, and agile project management part of core job expectations and compensation packages. Successful turnaround and continuous improvement starts by making learning, direct feedback, and actual change visible and non-negotiable at every level. #RetailStrategy #Leadership #InnovationCulture #CustomerFeedback #BusinessGrowth