Concept: Dilution vs. Evolution
So you’ve got your concept solidified and executed. Unfortunately, you’re not done.
And this is where it gets tricky.
In today’s fast-moving retail environment, concepts get old and stale rather quickly. It’s critical to know when it’s time to change or adapt your vision. Trends spring up overnight. Tastes change. The economy gets better - or worse. Competition increases. Populations shift. There are hundreds of valid reasons to evolve.
How do you know when it’s time?
It could be due to an unexpected, yet major milestone event: competition moves in across the street or you lose your chef. It could be that traffic and sales are declining despite all reasonable efforts, indicating the market may have grown weary of your offerings. These events necessitate changes to ensure continued success.
The best time to take a hard look at your concept and vision is at the peak of success. When things are going as well as you could ever imagine, it’s time to evaluate how to best evolve to meet the needs of tomorrow’s fickle consumer.
A healthy small business is always looking at the next step or it might go the way of the great city clubs of the past. Remember them? City clubs opened decades ago as places for businessmen (yes, men) to gather, network, be seen and conduct business meetings punctuated with sizzling steaks, scotch and cigars. They were generally located in a downtown neighborhood on the top floor of a prestigious office tower. Their target audience was just a short walk or an elevator ride away.
Companies paid annual dues for membership plus a monthly fee for which they received solicitous service and recognition. Membership in a city club was the hallmark of prestige in certain business communities in the latter half of the 20th century. But things changed. Companies began moving to suburban locations to save money and reduce commuting time for their employees. Food trends changed. People began experimenting more with ethnic cuisines and the trend of lighter, healthier eating began to take hold. More women entered the executive suite and in the early days, weren’t as comfortable or, in some cases, even welcome into these dark, mahogany good old boy clubs. There were a thousand changes going on in every community but the city clubs turned a blind eye.
The final nail in the city club coffin was the recession. Club memberships were slashed from budgets as companies struggled to stay in business or desired to appear sensitive to the financial struggles of their employees. Memberships were viewed as unnecessary luxuries and city clubs began closing their doors across the country.
Here’s what’s so interesting about this story. Covid changes or not, there are still business people in every downtown, right? They’re still eating lunch somewhere, right? And there’s still very much a segment of the market that values a members only environment. Was there really any reason for these clubs to close? If they had paid attention to what was going on in the world and evolved with the times, there’s a chance many of them would still be here today.
Just because something works for a long time, doesn’t mean it’s going to work forever. And stubbornly holding on to a vision can mark the death knell for a business.
Do you watch Project Runway or Top Chef on TV? These shows are definitely my guilty pleasures. I’ve watched both for years and definitely learned about competition by doing so. There are a lot of similarities in the two shows and the personalities of the contestants who compete and are eliminated week by week.
The participants are selected not just for their talent, but for their unique points of view. At the end of each show their designs and dishes are critiqued by the judges. The winners, and those who go the furthest in the competition, generally receive the criticisms gracefully and the really smart participants take the comments to heart and try to make improvements in the next rounds. But there are always one or two contestants who fight back, saying something like, ‘This is my vision,” or “I’m not going to stray from my vision.”
They shout about their “vision” endlessly in the confessionals. They hold on dearly to what they believe to be right. It is these very contestants who get eliminated fairly early in the season.
Why?
Because they are not even considering the fact that their visions may be lacking or inadequate or just plain wrong. They’re not taking responsibility for the fact that maybe the judges are right. They’re not even thinking that perhaps, with just a little tweaking, their vision could be extraordinary! In the case of retail, your customers are the judges. Maybe they’ll like your offerings. Maybe they won’t. But one thing’s for sure, if people aren’t buying what you’re selling, you need to listen to them. You can stubbornly stick to your vision or you can modify it to create a solid retail success and make it to the next round. Which would you rather do?