9 Steps to Successfully Overcome Competition in Retail

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Should we still talk about competition nowadays? Or it is more about cooperation?

February 2020. The entire world has been changed. Entirely. People’s lives has become
uncertain. For a long time.

So, could it still be competition a problem? Isn’t actually the competitiveness an enemy right
now? Nothing depends anymore on what the other does, but especially on what and how it is
done together, to survive this context and to still be able to pay salaries and to satisfy the
customer.
Not in vain it is said that the customer is the master, right?

1. CUSTOMERS NEEDS SHOULD BE A PRIORITY!

This should be a first step in successfully overcoming competition in general, but mostly
when talking about retail business.
What does it mean? Communicate!
To know how to communicate has always been important no matter the context but
particularly in times of crisis! Any crisis like COVID stirs a lot of anxiety among people and
retailers should take much time to understand people and observe and memorize their
challenges.
Positive and optimistic communication means hope for the customers, and help them to cope
with the situation, by keeping in touch with them constantly.

HOW?

2. Develop the e-commerce solution

It may sound opportunistic from retailers’ point of view, mostly if they communicate
discounts, but if done softly, customers will be pleased.

Absolutely, now, retailers must develop their technology! Their Artificial Intelligence (AI),
more specific. People can not leave their home as easily they could in the past and online
platforms are actually their best friends nowadays.

3. Analytics!

Retail analytics solutions are a very important tool, that can provide information about
competitors and market trends and further retailers can accordingly play with the prices and
products. Accurate data-driven insights is a ”trust tool” retailers can confidently use during
these pandemic situation.

4. Adopt dynamic pricing and optimize price

By adopting dynamic pricing, retailers will be able to acquire new customers, increase the
loyal customer satisfaction, increase sales (how much the context allows), and of course, their
brand image.
McKinsey found that retailers who adopted correctly a dynamic pricing strategy, increased
their sales from 2 to 5 percent and increases of 5 to 10 percent in margins.

5. Not to forget about stocks!

To stock up on FMCG, is a strategy to avoid the customers move to other brands due to out-
of-stock products. People want to know what’s hot and what’s not, and this issue help them
build experiences the customers will want coming back for.

6. Optimize variety and inventory

It is very tricky to keep a winning variety, especially during this crisis. But that is why
technology is here, to make things easier!
Focusing on variety is key solution nowadays and developing an AI strategy to build product
varieties that customers want and need to buy, is a very good measure to help retailers attract
customers to their online store.
Despite a smart solution, like variety, retailers should also rethink their supply chain and
decentralize manufacturing to ensure they have a continuous supply of inventory despite
market chaos, as seen during the global Covid crisis.

7. Watch the competition!

Retail range is a war right now and competitor insights are very very important aspects for
retailers. Competitor analysis is an indicator which make retailers understand how they should
act, in relation to competitors promoting & pricing strategies. Thas is why analytics is crucial!

8. Recovery plan

It is very hard to talk about recovery, as each day is so uncertain… It is actually one of the big
challenges retailers face in the present moment because retailers confront in the same time
with closing stores, plan and/ or events cancellations, demand fluctuations, as more and more
people have lost their jobs, and so on…
One of the McKinsey research show us that many retail executives declare it will take
months, if not years, for this situation to come back to normal. Also, from the same study it is
showed that executives predict a 6 to 13 percentage-point increase in online penetration
compared with pre-pandemic levels.
Flexibility is a key characteristic the retailers should have by now, to immediately adapt to
these moments, by adopting a digital strategy.
If the retailers already have an ecommerce website, focus should be on the online sales,
channeling in-store inventory to online stores and ensuring supply meets demand.
If they don’t already have an ecommerce platform, they should make it their priority to be
able to cope with the recent retail disruptions.
By understanding the market in real-time and getting accurate data-driven insights, retailers
can confidently take the next step and thrive even during these difficult times.
COVID-19 has disrupted lives and economies throughout the world and its aftereffects will be
felt for a long period by now, meaning years...
It influenced consumer buying behavior, demand patterns, and shopping trends, the entire
economy… accelerating the need for a unified, common solution to thrive in the highly
competitive retail environment.
Retailers must pay attention to the digital bandwagon first of all, to keep the most of the
rapidly evolving retail market and win the war on retail.

9. Make team with your competition!

Last, but not least, as written at the beginning of this article, competition should be your
friend! It is mandatory to keep an eye on them, on their strategy, to see how they do it and
further how you do it, but when there are more, the power is bigger, right! So, establish a
meeting, keep your decisions, but try to make team with your competition! Maybe a new
platform, a common cause, anything!
People like beautiful stories! Very much! And the pandemic situation is a great story
everybody wishes a happy end for!
Look for win-win! Listen to people! They will always tell you what to do, when to do it and
how to do it!
Customers remain the most important aspect of every business, indeed!