Berry L L
Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, USA.
Harv Bus Rev. 2001 Apr;79(4):131-7, 170.
Despite the harsh realities of retailing, the illusion persists that magical tools can help companies overcome the problems of fickle consumers, price-slashing competitors, and mood swings in the economy. Such wishful thinking holds that retailers will thrive if only they communicate better with customers through e-mail, employ hidden cameras to learn how customers make purchase decisions, and analyze scanner data to tailor special offers and manage inventory. But the truth is, there are no quick fixes. In the course of his extensive research on dozens of retailers, Leonard Berry found that the best companies create value for their customers in five interlocking ways. Whether you're running a physical store, a catalog business, an e-commerce site, or a combination of the three, you have to offer your customers superior solutions to their needs, treat them with respect, and connect with them on an emotional level. You also have to set prices fairly and make it easy for people to find what they need, pay for it quickly, and then move on. None of these pillars is new, and each sounds exceedingly simple, but don't be fooled--implementing these axioms in the real world is surprisingly difficult. The author illustrates how some retailers have built successful operations by attending to these commonsense ways of dealing with their customers and how others have failed to do so.
尽管零售行业现实残酷，但一种错觉依然存在，即神奇的工具能帮助企业克服消费者多变、竞争对手大幅降价以及经济波动等问题。这种一厢情愿的想法认为，零售商只要通过电子邮件与客户更好地沟通，利用隐藏摄像头了解客户的购买决策方式，并分析扫描数据以定制特别优惠和管理库存，就能蓬勃发展。但事实是，没有快速解决之道。伦纳德·贝里在对几十家零售商进行广泛研究的过程中发现，最优秀的公司通过五种相互关联的方式为客户创造价值。无论你经营的是实体店、邮购业务、电子商务网站，还是这三者的结合，你都必须为客户提供满足其需求的卓越解决方案，尊重他们，并在情感层面与他们建立联系。你还必须合理定价，让人们轻松找到他们需要的东西，快速付款，然后离开。这些支柱都不是新事物，而且每条听起来都极其简单，但别被误导——在现实世界中实施这些原则出奇地困难。作者举例说明了一些零售商如何通过关注这些处理客户的常识性方法建立了成功的业务，以及其他零售商又是如何未能做到这一点的。
