Think Consulting director and former Supre international brand manager Catherine Taouk follows up her explosive take on Australian retail with tips to succeed.
The question is, knowing the issues raised in the first part of this series, what does a brand do to turn itself around?
In broad terms, here under is a step-by-step approach to start the transformation process – “transforming businesses from the inside out”:
· Rebuild the brand to what it was previously remembered for, the stories it told and the relationship it built with its customers.
· Reinvigorate the “business as usual” model.
· Update the business model to be in-line with local and global competition.
· Stay abreast of new and innovative technology – master end to end processes.
· Develop a strategic cost cutting strategy.
· Invigorating the sales strategy – the customer, create a sense of trust with consumers, bring back the fun and entertainment to the brand.
· Analysing the people in the business from the top down – are they the right team to carry the business forward?
· Create an exit strategy.
· Refine the business plan.
· Set clear and focussed business goals.
· Set sharp KPI’s to keep all team members accountable for the success of the business, and responsible for shortfalls.
· Systemise the buying process.
With many more Australian brands under pressure for varying reasons, it’s time that we stood up to our global counterparts and brought back our own Aussie buzz to the marketplace.
It’s our mission to create a movement of change in the fashion sector to nurture it back to how it used to be. There was hype, there was fun and there was an excitability and entertainment value in Australian brands.