Preparing the next generation of Retail Leaders is taking on greater urgency
As we are putting the finishing touches on our annual Retailing Summit event, the theme and topics that a number of our speakers are planning to deliver served to remind me of a conversation I had with our leadership here at Mays Business School during my interview process for the role I now hold.
In short, our discussions contained the following question:
“What will the retailing leaders of tomorrow…our graduates of the class of 2025 or 2030…need to know to be effective as they enter the retailing careers of the future?”
My perspective during my interview was the same then as it is now; that retail leaders of tomorrow cannot have “siloed” skills tied to career paths in traditional brick & mortar retail or in eCommerce. The leaders of tomorrow would need to understand both digital AND physical retailing, whether they operated in merchandising, marketing, or supply chain roles within a retail enterprise of any size or type.
So…what’s changed since that conversation 16 months ago? The sense of urgency I feel for those of us in the retailing community to think about this topic now…not later. We’ve all heard that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated trends in our industry, increased consumer adoption of digital retail experiences across age groups, rewarded retailers who can connect their digital and physical store assets into a safe and convenient shopping experience, and how a number of retailers and retail centers will not survive to see a post-pandemic recovery.
Given this “new normal” all of us are now operating in, I’d like to engage my LinkedIn retail network in a conversation on this topic. I’d like to hear from professionals in traditional retail, from digitally native brands, from brands that sell direct-to-consumer or through retail channels. I’d also like to hear from firms that serve the retail community; digital marketing firms, retail consultants, SaaS software platforms that serve the retail industry, and consumer brands that sell through retail. Again…
“What will the retailing leaders of tomorrow…our graduates of the class of 2025 or 2030…need to know to be effective as they enter the retailing careers of the future?”
Now…given that I spent 35 years in retailing…and my “day job” is to lead a first of it’s kind retailing education program at a major university…you had to know that I was going to start the discussion by sharing my perspective…right? Of course I am!
My career as a buyer, as well as an eCommerce leader, has resulted in me being “wired” in a way that causes me to always be thinking about…what’s next? Good buyers are always students of trends and changes in whatever product category they’re responsible for. Good eCommerce leaders are always looking for new ways to use technology to impact the customer experience for the better, personalize the user’s product offerings to their needs and wants, and making the right product available at the right time in a seamless shopping experience.
That said, I believe the retail leaders of tomorrow will need to be educated in a combination of skills that are timeless, and emerging skills that are relatively new to the retail industry. Let me give you some examples of what I mean…
In our existing Retail Merchandising course, we provide our students with an understanding of the environment where buying occurs (i.e. trends in retailing), how buying decisions are made by leveraging market research, consumer insights data and internal sales data, how to source products and leverage buying offices as well as trade shows to find new products and learn about new product trends, as well as product life cycles and the role of private brands.
We also continue to provide students with fundamental retailing skills like forecasting, preparing buy plans, managing open-to-buy, developing assortment plans, planning and controlling inventory flow, building and managing supplier relationships, negotiation skills and managing pricing strategies. My strongly-held belief is that these foundational retailing skills will never become obsolete…regardless of retail format, channel or operating model. These skills are also useful to those that serve and engage in the retailing community…suppliers, product managers, software developers, analysts, and consultants…just to name a few. They’re also critical for cross functional partners within a retail enterprise, from marketers to supply chain leaders, planners to inventory managers, finance partners to store managers.
Having said that, digital retailing also requires skill sets that in some cases have up until recently resided only within the eCommerce team of a traditional retailer, or within pure-play digital firms. As retailing evolves, leading retailers like Walmart, Sam’s Club, Target and others are consolidating their teams in a single merchandising, marketing and supply chain team, replacing the siloed team structure of the past. Because of this, I maintain that the retailing leaders of tomorrow will have to be prepared to manage both a digital and physical retail business…not one or the other.
As we work to develop a Digital Merchandising curriculum, we believe the retailing leaders of tomorrow will need to be well versed in Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) and the skills of a digital merchant and marketer. Leveraging dynamic personalization toolsets to drive conversion, average order size and a more profitable sales mix will become more critical. Leveraging user-generated content such as ratings and reviews will not only drive today’s sales results, but will inform merchants, marketers, brand managers and store managers with detailed feedback on the products they sell, and the experiences they provide for their customers. A/B testing and consumer feedback tools will become even more important in improving the shopping experience across digital and physical storefronts. Shopping cart abandonment strategies will continue to be critical tools for merchants and marketers to capture potentially lost sales volume, and turn browsers into buyers. Item level content and digital shelf strategies with provide consumers with the information they need to make buying decisions for purchases that may begin online, but increasingly conclude with a store pickup order. Finally, understanding and harvesting web analytics data will not just be critical for user experience leads in a online retailer, but will serve to inform decisions made by merchants, marketers, pricing analysts and countless other roles within a modern retail enterprise.
So…those are my thoughts on preparing the next generation of retailing leaders…what about you? Regardless of your role in the retail ecosystem, I’d like to hear your thoughts and suggestions on what you believe are critical skills for the future of retailing. Change and adaptability are hallmarks of success in retail; what do you think we should be working on?
Finally, I’d like to challenge you to get involved in preparing the next generation of retailers. Our program here at Texas A&M welcomes guest speakers, mentors and is funded by our corporate sponsors. We also have resources for conducting retail-related research that can benefit your business while also providing you the ability to engage with the future leaders of retailing.
Our mission is focused on inspiring the future of retail; would you like to help us?
