Retailization (Brand Survival in the Age of Retailer Power)

Citation

Scrizzi, M. (2007), "Retailization (Brand Survival in the Age of Retailer Power)", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 60-60. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760710721028

The premise of this book is not diagnostic, but action‐oriented. It is based on the International Retailization Study 2005 (IRS2005) surveying 3,000 shoppers in the USA, UK, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Spain. While the study data provides valuable information the shopping experience, it not a worldwide study, as there are no Asian, or Mid‐Eastern countries/people involved in the survey. Many affluent shoppers who influence the shopping experience live in Dubai, Hong Kong etc.

This book focuses on the shopper, proclaiming that the shopper is king! Retailization is designed as a tool to help you create exceptional shopping experiences and to assist you in convincing shoppers that you are providing them with an exceptional product. Remember, it is the strength of your product, not the brand, that makes the shopper enter, buy, and try at your outlet.

The buy‐try approach put forth in this book is backed up by research in IRS2005. When asking shoppers to rank the most important factors for them when determining the quality of a product, the actual experience connected with buying the product came in at number two. Number one was trying the product (p. 48). One goal for retailers, then, is the buy me‐try me proposal put forth by this book.

It is interesting to note that the study shows that the majority of shoppers would NOT change stores or go that extra mile to get their favorite brand. In most instances a substitute would be okay, a point the authors drive home well.

The logistical sequence of the material in the book provides for interesting reading. When you read this book think of the 3Rs: rethinking, reimaging, restructuring. To assist you in these tasks the authors offer a Seven‐Step Retailization Process:

1. 1.

   The arena – the point of action – the place to take back control of your product(s).

2. 2.

   Competitive context – defining your opportunities‐who to steal sales from.

3. 3.

   The shopper – it's all about the shopper – he drives our sales.

4. 4.

   Product concepting – creating innovative products that create demand.

5. 5.

   Retail impacting – the buy me‐try me proposal, creating exceptional shopping experiences.

6. 6.

   Creating communication – creativity and communications are key to helping you provide that exceptional shopping experience. Retalization gives you sound applications/techniques on how to do just that. The authors point out that while creativity and communications are key, the point of contact still constitutes the biggest challenge to the retailer.

7. 7.

   Organizational enhancement – empowering your organization to think sales.

This book is an easy read for anyone in the retail business, marketing students, or anyone seeking to enhance sales and make their product stand out in a nebulous shopping jungle. It causes us to rethink age old questions like: Who is driving our sales? Where do we want to create our sales? Who owns the arena? Where do we play?

The retailization process focal point is achieving sales. Sales interaction helps build relationships with your shoppers to bring them back into your store to make repeat purchases as well as spreading “the good news” by way of mouth.

The authors suggest that for years marketing has taught the AIDA model backwards. They say it makes much more sense for the model to be ADIA: create a desire for the product first, and, then, develop a specific interest in the product.

Two of the most powerful statements in the book are “We are who we are when we shop” and “Whoever owns the shelf, owns the shopper”. If you take nothing else away from this book, learning how the authors delineate theses concepts is worth the reading.

In conclusion, this book gives retailers adequate data to use in determining who their shoppers are and how to reach them in the USA and Europe. It gives retail marketing students a clear understanding of where the world of retail is today and what characteristics, such as creativity, are needed to create the exceptional shopping experience. However, one cannot assume that the mid‐eastern shopper in Dubai, whose cultural norms are very different from Europeans and Americans, will think of shopping as portrayed in this book.