Retail Reset: Why retailers need a new playbook
Change Before You Have To
I’ve read that those who embrace and accept change as part of life are filled with an empowering sense of calmness, peace, and courage. That may be so, but at what point is too much change too much? The retail industry is about to find out.
“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”– Jimmy Dean
My penchant for change is instinctive but no doubt supercharged by a 30-year career in the retail industry. Like the weather in Texas, few things in retail are constant, yet my adrenaline-addicted colleagues and I can’t seem to get enough of it despite knowing that too much of anything will kill you. I’ve written numerous blogs about retail’s twenty-year technical tsunami, from the Internet Pioneer days to Retail’s Perfect Storm and, most recently, Customer Experience in the Age of AI. I’d already grabbed my surfboard and was eagerly heading out to the monster wave forming in retail’s sea of change when I spotted McKinsey’s latest quarterly report: Retail Reset – A new playbook for retailers. More change – seriously? As usual, their insight is solid, and their logic sound. I encourage you to peruse the report while resisting the temptation to question your board’s ability to ride this growing wave.
McKinsey Quarterly – July 2023
By: Steven Begley, Becca Coggins, Carson Green, Jad Hamdan, Dymfke Kuijpers, and Franck Laizet
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Steven Begley is a partner in McKinsey’s New York office;
Becca Coggins is a senior partner in the Chicago office;
Carson Green is an associate partner in the Washington, DC, office;
Jad Hamdan is a consultant in the Denver office;
Dymfke Kuijpers is a senior partner in the Singapore office; and
Franck Laizet is a senior partner in the Paris office.
