In the last 2 weeks of our I.M.P.A.C.T Framework, we have looked at the external landscape of the retail industry which the brand finds itself in as well as an internal view of the current status of the brand. Today we want to put all of it together to address the next stop in our I.M.P.A.C.T Framework whose acronym stands for “Plan”.
Plan
Like any good meal; a certain amount of preparation needs to be done and over the last 2 weeks of following my article, you have done so in the “Investigate” & “Manage” phase. Now the time has come to put the it all together in the form of a written step by step plan and here are the parts that need your consideration.
1) What has the “Investigate” phase exposed about the external situation of the market?
Looking at the external scenario would have revealed what is the current state of both your competitors and your customers. Are your customers ready to purchase with you? If they are not, should there be other target customers which the business should be looking at to ensure its long term survival and growth. Are your competitors in better shape or worst off from this pandemic? How would they respond to your strategic movements to gain more market share? Would they be in a position to counter you should you move ahead with your plans to capture more market share?
2) What has the “Manage” phase exposed about the internal situation of my retail business?
Looking inwards has never been more important to your survival then it is now. If you are not in a good position financially then that would be the first item of business to look into even before you start drawing up other plans. In short, you would have to make some difficult decisions on where to cut back to ensure that you can free up some resources for you to move ahead with your plans. If you are in a good position financially, then this phase would have you evaluating whether you have the right people in place to drive your expansion and acquisition to capture more market share from your competition.
3) Pulling it together to move forward
Taking all the information you gathered from external sources and internal navel gazing, you can start to put your plan together. Here are some of the things your information should have clued you into:
1. Your target customer may or may not have changed after the effects of this pandemic. If you deemed that your existing customer is not right for your business, you need to target a new customer segment in order to survive and thrive.
2. Customers make decisions to purchase from you based on a number of criteria which is product / service range, product / service quality, customer service, ease of buying from you and price. The key unlock here would be to identify which combination of the above criteria would ensure that your customer will purchase from you and your business.
3. Once you have identified the right target customer and the correct combination of criterias, you will then use those to develop sales tactics and promotions to get the customer back to purchasing from you. Understand that this process takes time to yield results and a comprehensive amount of tweaking to get the right tactics and promotions which your customers will respond to.
Whichever way you look at it, creating your plan only serves one purpose, to move you and your brand forward. As such, anything that draws your attention away from this crucial step should be disregarded for the time being and dealt with at a later date. The key now is to ensure the business’s survival.
Tune in next week for part 4 of our I.M.P.A.C.T Framework analysis where we move on to the next part which deals with “Acquiring Strategic Partners”.
Should you have questions about the IMPACT Framework and how I can work with your retail brand to create your custom I.M.P.A.C.T plan feel free to contact me at connect@viscreative.com or visit this site to see what our clients have said about working with us.