A USEFUL PATH

March 29, 2017

When examining the challenges of the future, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. After all, every business needs to consider the many options on how to proceed, and there’s no sure direction for success.

But there are tools that can help. Judy Spires, CEO of Kings Food Markets and chairman of the Coca‑Cola Retailing Research Council of North America, believes the newest council report contains many of those tools.

Speaking in a new podcast about the study — Surviving the Brave New World of Food Retailing — Spires cites two key areas of the report readers should focus on as they go into strategic planning for their business.

The first is the scenario of how the consumers will shop in the future. As Spires says, it paints a perfect picture of how shoppers can blend in-store and online shopping in pursuit of a single need. That’s a type of shopping experience she is seeing increasingly occur these days.

And that’s why Spires considers the self-diagnostic tool included in the report as a fabulous resource to help other retailers examine their current capabilities and consider what directions to take next.

“The tool helps you step back and look at the key areas of focus. It gives a really good understanding of what this looks like … without scaring you off technically,” Spires says.

The report can be accessed for free at www.ccrrc.org, and the podcast is available for listening and downloading below. Check back in two weeks for the next installment where we discuss how retailers should analyze shoppers’ behavior to meet their needs.