With five flatline years behind us, and a high street littered with casualties, realistic NAMs should be finding it easier to factor in a further five years of the same....
If we accept that whilst politicians operate to a different agenda (re-election) and vocabulary (triple dip = flatline...) those of us still in business are here because we know that in times of zero-growth, any market gains have to be made at the expense of the competition.
This means always seeing our offering through the eyes of an increasingly savvy consumer that is unwilling to settle for anything less than demonstrable value-for-money, a consumer determined never again to outsource their purchase decision-making to marketers or retailers.
In these circumstances, it is vital to strip our offering back to the bare essentials, leaving a needs-based package that represents real value, measured by what people are prepared to pay, over and over again.
Using consumer need as the only real benchmark, realistic NAMs will assess the offering vs. what is available from competition, and will continue to cut until what remains represents true value, and more, to a consumer and ultimately the savvy retailer.
Achieving this level of confidence in our value means realistically factoring in politics, economics and banking into our business thinking, as we constantly strive to achieve acceptable financial rewards for risk in a market environment where the numbers do not appear to add up...first time.
In practice, this means realistically measuring all of our costs and being able to translate them into value that we represent to our customers, and being able to demonstrate our impact on their Balance Sheets and P&Ls...
In such unprecedented times, real opportunities exist in 2013 for those determined to be realistically optimistic, and are prepared to act decisively, while the competition await a return to the 'good old days'...
Meanwhile, a Happy and Positive New Year, from the NamNews Team!
No comments:
Post a Comment