What’s your endgame for 2022?

 We’ve spent the past two years buffeted by existential challenges and huge changes in consumer behaviour - in many respects, change has been forced upon us.

2022 feels like the year to re-take control and  chart a course for sustainable growth; to become the architect of what changes next...

Do you have a clear vision of where you want your business to be by the end of this year?

Harnessing ‘Jolt’ Growth 

McKinsey’s report ‘The CEO Agenda 2022: Harnessing the Power of Growth Jolts’ states that the resulting innovation and behavioural changes from the pandemic have the ‘potential to deliver jolts of growth and prosperity—if business leaders respond strategically.’  

2022 will present new challenges, and opportunities for the retail sector - are you ready to get in front of them?

Experimentation

To grow, you have to be curious and willing to experiment. Studies have shown that businesses who do experiment are twice as likely to see an increase in profits. Not just small experiments with marginal gains, but statistically significant tests with major roll-out impact. 

Have you prioritised what to test next?

Alignment 

Are you and your management teams aligned? Can you encourage teams to think differently and collaboratively? During the pandemic, the most adaptive boards were those that collaborated effectively with their management teams.

To achieve this alignment and break down siloed thinking, you need a common language and set of KPI’s that directly link customer performance to business performance. This is a topic we explore in-depth at our leadership Teach-In sessions.

Get ahead of Shopper Behaviour 

During lockdown, home furnishing and fashion purchases increased and in 2022, we’re expecting to see a spike in travel and social events. There's a handy interactive trend report covering most categories here: https://thenewnormal.is/

Customers should be at the heart of everything you do so, even if trends suggest a decrease, you are confident in your marketing. Is it attracting new customers, retaining loyal ones and making meaningful connections? What more can you do to make sure you deliver excellent customer experience both in store and online? 

Give tangible value to customers who share their data 

Apple IOS changes in 2021 and upcoming changes to Google’s cookie handling are giving consumers greater control over brands they actually want to be visible to and engage with. Your name will be among them if you successfully articulate the benefits of your customers ‘opting in’. 

In 2022, brands will continue to offer more sophisticated personalised experiences across all touch points to demonstrate this value. We will likely see more experimentation with loyalty schemes, options to book consultations, personalised offers and other incentives to encourage customers to both set up accounts and share them while in-store. 

Having a Sustainability Strategy is Table Stakes 

With an increasing focus on sustainability, consumers expect companies to be taking steps to becoming more environmentally-friendly. They are making more mindful purchasing decisions based upon the sustainability credentials of the product or brand.  

In 2022, companies will introduce more initiatives and innovations around ethical sourcing and supply chain, greener/less packaging and efforts to reduce carbon emissions through the entire operations. We liked Boden's recent customer email entitled 'Repair, reduce, restore' which explains how to extend the life of your clothes and their 'take-back' scheme for donating unwanted clothes to those who need them. 

The new year is always a good time to re-evaluate. When it comes to your 2022 plans, can we help you do things differently to stay ahead of the new normal? We often start with audits or benchmarking to help you quantify the opportunity.

The more2 Teach-In, our virtual workshop for retail and D2C leaders, is the ideal environment to reset your bearings and challenge received wisdom - click to reserve your place.

At more2, we partner with over 100 brands to help them grow sustainably, make confident decisions and improve their marketing campaigns. If you’d like to find out more get in touch below.