Updated: Nov 28, 2022
Do you have business goals for your retail food and beverage organization?
And are you prepared for what might come next that could affect your Retail Profits?
Here are some tips on how you can help achieve the business goals and prepare for the future!
The biggest lesson to come out of the last few years for businesses was the value of constantly assessing operating conditions and adjusting plans in response to changing market realities. While most companies did not experience the dramatic drop-off in revenue that hotels, entertainment venues, and airlines faced, virtually all had to reassess their assumptions on a regular basis to manage through a once-in-a-century disruption
· The result was positive for most and leaders developed new ways to manage cash flow, stay open despite no customers coming to their physical locations, streamline their supply chains, and many more diverse ways of working to satisfy customer demands.
· Now that things are beginning to return to “normal” will you take your foot off the pedal and go backward? Or will you continue to drive innovation and find more efficient and better ways of working?
· My guess is some will return to the old ways, and they will be left behind. The business leaders that can see hope will continue to succeed.
Here are a few tips to be prepared for what is next!
1. Everything Flows from the Strategic Plan. Your months of planning throughout the last couple of years do not stop now. Your business should flow from a strategic plan that sets out goals for the next two to five years. Each major goal should have a plan of action that dictates how the organization will achieve the objective and how it will measure progress along the way. And each department in your organization should have a part in the plan and own it. And the plan should be followed up on regularly.
2. Customer Feedback Must Inform the Planning Process. There is no substitute for interacting with your customers to inform your business leaders of a continuous planning effort. Quarterly or monthly business reviews are often used in business relationships to ensure that customer needs are managed proactively. In highly volatile times, the frequency of reviews may go up, but the goal is the same: Learn what opportunities customers see in their businesses and how you can help.
3. Use Analytic Tools. Particularly for Scenario Planning When the goal is an assessment of plans and models, avoid spreadsheets. While they are a useful tool for many tasks within your business this is not one of them. Constructing a model and maintaining the flow of data into it works best with systems that can provide inputs without manual effort. Manual entries of data always have flaws and the information you get out is flawed. Putting your business in a circle motion never ends.
4. Synchronize Operational Plans. As you integrate analytics tools, various other parts of the business can both benefit from visibility into strategic and financial plans and inform and make those plans more accurate. Your plans need to include all departments within your organization, so you are all speaking the same language.
5. Adopt the Right Technology. To move toward companywide and continuous planning, you need a platform that utilizes the right technology for the industry you operate in. For example, you cannot run a high-volume retail store without the proper inventory and POS systems. Your customers would not come back, and you will have no idea what you have on hand or what you need to buy. I have seen this in my recent partnerships, and it is an upward challenge without being able to collect accurate data and capture customer data.
While companywide continuous planning and analysis requires a commitment across the organization, it brings together people, processes, and technology to understand changing opportunities and challenges.
The payoff is a significant competitive edge.
In recent years, figuring out how to constantly manage to change business conditions was necessary for survival. Now it is the key to growth.
We help executives in food and beverage retailers double bottom line profits, boost sales by 25%, and improve customer satisfaction scores from worst to first!
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Contact me today and see how I can help!
