who's your partner?

small and big business's alike ponder over whether to invite a partner into their business. that is only the first question, after that come who, what percentage ownership, exit strategy and many more...

there is one "partner" that is often overlooked.

...the shopper...

there are many businesses where customers or potential customers are included in the business. in some theatre productions the audience even scripts the plot as the actors act it out.

so what about retail...

there are two remarkably successful companies and one upstart that come to mind - ikea, zara and let's dish

firstly ikea - their mantra is to provide the the cheapest (well designed furniture) available. their method is to do 50% of the work, and outsource the rest to the shopper, therby ensuring the price is kept low. ikea's 50% is design and maunfacture. the shopper's job is shopping, delivery and assembly. they realise that the shopper doesn't have a truck and that is where flat-pack furniture comes in (part of the ikea 50%). this model is so entrenched that to buy online from ikea costs more than in stores - why? because they are doing the delivery which is the "shopper's job" and so the price has to go up.

next zara - they have built one of the fastest (if not the fastest) clothing supply chains in the world. it takes just over 21 days from concept to store. this allows them to interpret the latest fashion from catwalks and red carpets around the world, and put them in front of the shopper in-store very quickly. in the next stage, store staff feed shopper observations, opinions and insights back to the designers at head office, effectively including the shopper in the design team. the super fast supply chain is then used to fill the stores with up-to-date fashions that the shoppers actually want!

lastly let's dish - here the 29 store retailer provides a venue, ingredients and recipes for home cooked meals. the customer books a two hour session in store and prepares a month's worth of meals which can be frozen and re-heated when needed. they obviously play on health, fresh ingredients, no preservatives etc. but let's dish are effectively a ready meal manufacturer where the labour is provided by their customer.

who best to have a vested interest in your success than your shopper? this besides the fact that people love to belong and to contribute...

is your shopper part of your business model? if not, how would you include her? if yes, tell them, it's worked for these three...