BrainTrust Query: Marketing Simplification

The key is to realize that the goal is not to simplify shopping—the goal is to simplify shopping for a particular shopper. The mistake we may make is assuming simplification at the shelf is simplification for the shopper, and that's not the case. In that sense, Amazon has the best model because it is simplifying (or trying to simplify) my experience, which will be different from Joel's experience.

Dr. Stephen Needel, Managing Partner, Advanced Simulations

"Keep it simple" is usually (but not always) a good philosophy, whether it applies to assortment planning, branding and sales promotion, or other elements of the retail mix. One exception to the rule: JCPenney, where the effort to simplify the pricing message was communicated and executed poorly with well-known results.

It's no accident that some of the best-performing retailers (from Aldi to Costco) are working on a much narrower SKU base than many of their competitors, making the store experience and supply chain process both more efficient. And it's also no accident that many of the retailers with the best results in 2012 preached "simplicity" in their pricing message, from high-end retailers like Nordstrom to the off-pricers continuing to gain market share from promotional department stores.

Dick Seesel, Principal, Retailing In Focus LLC

I think this simplification of touch points for shoppers is actually a natural evolution. It is happening due to consumer demand and competition. All of the examples in the article are great ways that shoppers are capitalizing on the ease of access to goods and services.

As time goes on, we will see a steady migration toward the most effective programs and followers will solidify the winning "formats."

Ralph Jacobson, Global Consumer Products Industry Marketing Executive, IBM

Marketing approaches that make navigating stores easier and save time for harried consumers will be winners. Retailers want consumers to spend more time navigating stores so they will make impromptu purchases, but this is antithetical to consumer desires.

Brand marketers strive to capture self space and share of mind through limitless line extensions. Consumers crave simplicity (remember when there was only one type of Crest toothpaste), but are faced with seemingly endless choices, all requiring time and research to decipher.

The solution for retailers is not simple, but by putting consumer needs and desires first, a pathway towards the solution will become clearer.

Max Goldberg, Founding Partner, The Radical Clarity Group

We had an interesting lesson that builds on Dick's comment about SKU rationalization/simplification. I worked for a company that was considered buying a number of stores from a competitor in a market where our newest concept stores were being built. We knew that we had about 15% of the SKUs that they carried and wondered our offer appeal to their shoppers.

As part of the purchase process we did some consumer research to determine how the consumer perceived our stores and theirs. There were several notable differences, one of which was the ease of shopping. While we carried fewer SKUs, we were perceived as having far more than we did. By drilling down into the research, we learned that we carried the items they wanted purchase, enabling a grouped purchase occasion resulting in an easier shopping experience.

Steve Montgomery, President, b2b Solutions, LLC

Simplification should be THE mantra for retailers now, but it's certainly much easier said than done. SKU rationalization is a key factor that helps marketers across the board, but not necessarily within their realm of control (unfortunately), thus making their jobs more difficult.

Some basics to think about:

• simpler graphics: less said, more understood
• better sales staff: let staff explain more vs clutter the store
• clarity of color: what is the single, most powerful brand color
• SKU rat, more / better spacing on the sales floor (do you need 100 pair of the same jeans out?)
• digital enhancements: how can new tech work at retail

Overall, simplification is very hard to do. It takes a lot of discipline and in my mind, a genuine "overlord" of the brand who has the power to make the calls necessary. If you think about the companies that do simple well, that is always the case: one-eyed vision.

Lee Peterson, EVP Creative Services, WD Partners

When we are in a store and throw up our hands thinking "there has to be a better way," by "better" we often mean "simpler" so marketers and product manager should always be looking for opportunities to keep it simple.

One undercurrent in Joel's article that's important to note is that in an omnichannel shopping environment, simple is highly correlated with consistent. Merchants that allow you to buy anywhere and return anywhere and that align their pricing, promotions, and assortment across channels are making shopping simpler for their consumers.

Martin Mehalchin, Partner, Lenati, LLC

For how many years have we heard that consumers have too much choice? Decades, certainly. And the response has always been to add more choices. Consumers don't seem to be too concerned about that. The idea that choice leads to "Complexity [and] frustration, anger, and people making bad choices that make them feel stupid" is bogus. Certainly researchers can get consumers to complain—which is their nature—but actual purchase behavior and the voracious use of new shopping technology belie the complaints.

M. Jericho Banks PhD, President, CEO, Forensic Marketing LLC

Amazon is changing the retail model. They started from a different point and continue to disrupt with a consistent focus on the individual customer.

In today's world "simple" is very personal.

Established retailers have legacy approaches and structures (silos) that make it very hard for them to execute consistently and simply for individual customers.

There are still too few retailers who know and treat their customers as individuals; most still operate at the "average customer" level or at best for broad proxy segment levels.

Matthew Keylock, Senior Vice President, New Business Development and Partnerships, dunnhumbyUSA