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Winning at Retail Review

Page history last edited by Jr Galang 15 years, 4 months ago

Book Review                                                                                 Chapter 1 : “Est : A Compass to Avoid Retail’s Black Hole”

Book: Winning at Retail

Library Reference: HF 5429 A65 2004 : Learning Resource Center Extension (LRC-E)

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Winning-At-Retail-Developing-Sustained/dp/047147357X

Quote: “No retailer is immune.”

Learning Expectation: A new theory to whine about – maybe, just maybe.

Review:

                I was looking for a retailing book to read for my VERTSOL class down at the Bro. Fidelis Learning Resource Center (LRC-E) of DLS-CSB (De la Salle – College of St. Benilde, our school for the uninitiated). A lot of titles were pretty much dull, “Retail Management”, “Strategies for Retail”, oh, but one stood out, “E-Commerce.” Yeah, it stood out because I thought the term is pretty much used (and abused) in our class, but, well, when I started to read the book: BORING. So browse again, and then something really intrigued me: WINNING AT RETAIL. I had the premonition that it’s a good book to make a review and criticize later on, so I took it, went to the borrowing section, attended a few classes, and went home (well, I went to some other places, but to make the long story short). My initial thought of criticizing the book with its fancy new theory (well, for me that is) was fun at first, but reading through the first chapter converted me: it doesn’t contain the same foolishness other lame theories offer, it contains facts! And to prove that a theory works, you need facts! And I love the way the book presented it so!

                Chapter 1 talks about Est as a compass to avoid Retail’s Black Hole. Black Hole, as the book states, is the point where businesses can no longer recover from losses, and in a short while will state Chapter 11, also known as Bankruptcy, and some pretty much goes to Chapter 22, business restructuring per se, but bottom-line is that they still go to Chapter 11 anyways.

                The chapter assumes that the reason behind this bankruptcy or the business’ failure to continue its operations is when it tries to be best at everything, best being the root of Est that is. Montgomery Ward was well exemplified having this case. Starting as a mail-order delivery of dry goods, Montgomery Ward became one of the successful retailers in the industry. But, as it tried to be best at everything, creating retail stores to reach to different one-time short-time customers, it lost its strength and went to its downfall. Of course, it’s currently known as an e-commerce site when someone bought its intellectual property, but nevertheless, it’s no longer there.

                Thus, the chapter introduces Est as a theory for retail success. It implies that for a company to succeed, instead of being best in all aspects (which pretty much leads to the black hole), it must have a direct positioning statement that focuses only on one aspect. These aspects are well-simplified by the theory as the following: Cheap-Est (being a store that positions itself as having the cheapest prices), Hot-Est ( being a store that positions itself as having plenty of stocks of the latest trends), Big-Est (being a store that positions itself as having the largest number of selections for its customers), Quick-Est (being a store that positions itself as having the fastest service and biggest savings in terms of time consumption for its customers), and Easy-Est (being a store that positions itself as having the proper combination of products and services that makes shopping easy).

                Wal-Mart, a big company worldwide, is used as an example to better differentiate the relationship between being Est in one aspect and the internal positioning of the business itself. Wal-Mart’s indication of “Always Low Prices” and “Everyday Low Price” is considered to be not just an advertising niche, but a display of the firms’ positioning to the public as well. Through this, Wal-Mart wins with customers on price, and thus it is considered to position itself on the Cheap-Est aspect of the theory. The theory then dictates that no one can be good at all aspects, and when companies decide to do all that their customers want them to do without filtering these desires, they fail. Selectively addressing customer wants and relating it to the company’s positioning is key to effectively direct the company to success. Wal-Mart, by being able to successfully filter these wants and position itself only on being the firm to offer the cheapest prices, gains for itself competitive advantage to firms who are still finding clues on to what they really want to prioritize into.

                The chapter further supports the Est theory by providing facts and figures of companies that applied the theory and improved its sales and income as well as its operations after having applied the theory. The hassle-free ability of the Est theory to be flexible and easily modified to suit the needs of each enterprise in a particular time, whether good-times or hard-times, makes it feasible as well to these firms. The changes occur, but the underlying theory stays intact – which is to be best in one aspect and one aspect alone. But, how companies increase their incomes to a consistent 15-percent through the years is definitely the most eye-catching part, indicating that, well, for my personal side, this is no theory to criticize and whine about after reading deeper into this book.

What I’ve learned:

                I’ve pretty much learned a lot, considering that this is a first chapter. I mean, who would’ve thought that I’d pick a book out of the expectancy that I’d be able to criticize it afterwards, and have its first chapter prove me wrong dead-on the spot! Now that is something!

                The theory of the Est is pretty interesting as it offers a different insight into retailing success. Disregard the market studies, the business propositions – it starts within the firm – and its brilliant! I mean, this one’s pretty exciting to read because it talks sense! Why do marketing research and product differentiation and all the rest of the business models when you can’t even position yourself to your target customers? I believe in the fact that books that makes sense instead of models doubles the reason to why it makes sense in the first place!

                In conclusion, I believe that the first chapter of this book ennobled me. Never could I have thought that books with titles like these still makes sense – and it pretty much makes a lot of sense! I would love reading this book from beginning to end, whether it’s a requirement or not – because books like these make requirements not only do-able, but love-able as well. Once I read more, then more can be expected with my reviews! Yahoo!

 

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