John Sanei talks forever profitable retail

John Sanei

Asking the right questions, knowing what forthcoming industry and consumer trends are coming as well as ‘unlearning’ the way we currently do things are just some of the many disruptive points he raised.

“Ask bigger, bolder questions about what your consumer wants, rather than what your shareholders want. Shareholders demand profitability each quarter and this does not leave room for innovation. It does not allow us to jump categories or breathe in a new world that requires innovation and experimentation. We need to start asking ourselves what else can we offer our consumers besides retail space.

“The world as we know is it fast evolving. Consumers are ordering items off their smart phones, technology is rendering traditional methods of shopping and business obsolete and automated transportation will soon affect almost every sector in big way. This new world we are moving towards can define us as either victims or architects. How we approach this new world is determined solely on the audacity, courage and boldness we have to ask new questions of how we stay profitable and relevant in this new world.

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How to evolve

Sanei touched on how businesses need to start rapidly evolving to keep abreast of the changing world.

“Asking better questions is the first step towards evolution. If you and your competitors are asking the same question, you will arrive at the same answer, this needs to change. If we look at Mercedes Benz as an example, it has come out as saying that BMW and Lexus are not its competitors; rather its competition has become Google and Apple.

"With this in mind, Mercedes Benz has announced recently, that it is aiming directly at Tesla because power is mobility and if it does not jump in on the power game now, then it will obsolete in the next couple of years. Mercedes has begun to ask better questions and unlearn the way it did business. If we don’t unlearn the ways we have done things that were once successful, we won’t be relevant in the future.

Rise of sharing economy and omnichannel

“What we are seeing now is the future coming at us at a really fast pace. Being a business person is becoming increasingly difficult. The world is changing. We are starting to see the collapse of capitalism. With the death of capitalism, we will see the rise of the sharing economy. We are starting to see that having a differentiator in a business is not enough currently. You need to be aware of the futures of your industry, your consumer, your staff and lastly your possible competitors.

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“Omnichannel platforms are the steps retailers need to take in order to remain relevant. What are landlords and shopping centre managers doing to educate tenants on omnichannel sales? How are we adding value to our shopping centres? Maybe create storage and dispatch stations to assist tenants carry out their omnichannel services to their customers. We have to learn how to seize the attention of the customer and ease the process of purchasing or paying for items,” he concluded.