New skills and technology are key

To be sure, success isn’t guaranteed. Providing financial services requires different skills and technology than retail, as well as compliance and operational expertise.

Ball says startup costs are high, and “it’s easy for retailers to become distracted from their core merchandising businesses.”

The arrangements most likely to succeed might be partnerships between retailers and financial services firms, Ball says, “with retail providing access to an expanded customer set, along with its traditional capabilities in product and distribution, while financial services (firms) retain their traditional role as the facilitators of commerce.”

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by, our partner, Evan Gold of Planalytics

Over the past several decades, tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific oceans have experienced an increase in terms of the overall occurrences, as well as size and intensity. Combine this with the number of retail stores (and population) who live in hurricane and flood prone areas, and you will note the significant risk and exposure that retailers have from extreme weather events.

While we can not control the weather, there are a number of things retailers can do to proactively plan for, and react to extreme weather events.

• Measure First, then Manage. The first step is to have a foundational understanding of the risk and exposure to weather. Analytics can help quantify the financial impacts weather has on product demand as well as store traffic across all markets and time periods. This ‘single version of the truth’ will serve as a baseline to proactively put plans in plans.

• “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining”. This quote by John F. Kennedy is apropos for retailers who are looking to proactively manage the impacts of extreme weather. Once the weather exposure has been quantified, the next step is for retailers to define and communicate plans for their stores, facilities, personnel, and supply chain. This occurs well before any individual weather event occurs. Each storm represents times when retailers are executing to that plan.

• The Forecast Being Wrong Isn’t Necessarily Wrong for Business. Consumers have constant access to weather forecasts on TV, radio, web, phones, tablets, smart speakers, and more. When it comes to extreme events, shopping patterns are influenced by the forecasted weather as much as it is by the actual weather that occurs.  Typically there is a spike in need based purchasing before an extreme weather event occurs, driven on the forecast. The ability for a retail chain to successfully tune their business before a storm hits is as important to how they react and respond once it passes.  Of course, after the storm passes, the execution of a well defined plan will allow the most nimble retailers to recover quickly.

Weather Can be a Reason, but Never an Excuse

While the extreme weather is what makes the headlines, it is the day in and day out weather that has a greater economic impact. Many retailers typically see 2-8% of their total annual revenue affected by the weather. At the category level, highly seasonal products can experience up to 40% of weather-based swings annually. Planalytics and The Grayson Company have collaborated to help retailers plan for this volatility. This enables retailers to make sure they are prepared to execute in situations when their customers are counting on them the most, leading to increased loyalty as well as higher profitability.

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• Using digital audits, we capture and process millions of data points using artificial intelligence applications like text analytics and machine learning to extract meaningful, actionable insights from unstructured text in social media

TGC Social Listening —- CLICK HERE

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Please view the commercial

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TGC shared insights about the state of Consumer Brands and Retailers, along with very important weather based planning commentary from Fred Fox of Planalytics and Retail Real Estate forecasts from Neill Kelly of CBRE.

pictured above from left to right:  Steve Goldberg (TGC), Fred Fox (Planalytics), Neil Kelly (CBRE) and Susan Anderson (B. Riley)

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Target creates an extraordinary Design “Class Union”

~~ By:  Steve Goldberg

On Saturday, Sept 14^th, Target unveiled their “20 Years of Design” Shop that highlighted product capsules from the most extraordinary fashion and home designers of our time; each had collections at Target in the past.

We rushed to Target to hopefully see the presentation at its best, given that past Design Capsules have sold out so quickly. Target Did Not Disappoint!

Each presentation represented the truest DNA of each designer, sometimes updated for today’s silhouettes and functionality. The products were well made and represented exceptional price / value.

And, while the collection was quickly picked over, especially on-line, Target has made a great effort to replenish wherever possible. Some of the most popular items that sold out on Monday were back on line today!

Equally important, Target told the backstory of each designer on its website, creating a wonderful and educational Customer Experience

Well done, Target!

Visit the site and be inspired before it’s gone :

Click here to visit the site and be inspired before it’s gone

https://www.target.com/c/categories/-/N-u0yur?lnk=DontmisstheAnni

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The Octavian Forum is a highly curated community of global leaders and thought leaders that some refer to as a “Davos” based in New York City.

In the past, the Forum featured political leaders including heads of state and ambassadors, investors, economists, Pulitzer Prize winners, artists, influencers and senior executives from across multiple sectors.

For sponsorship information, including participation in the Forum, and/or the Octavian report, please contact Jim Erlick at jim@erlick-group.com

Click here to watch video for more information

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Click here for HFN’s article

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Retailers and Brands have long acknowledged that changes in the weather can significantly affect their sales, often pointing to Mother Nature when discussing disappointing or better than-expected results. Weather volatility is a reality that makes it challenging for retailers to plan effectively and keep inventories, operations, and resources aligned with shifting consumer demand trends. In fact, no other external variable has the ability to shift consumer buying behavior as frequently, directly, or meaningfully as the weather.

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