The 31 Flavors of Retail

What does a scoop of ice cream have to do with retail?

---

Photo by Crystal Jo on Unsplash

It is all in the flavors. I was passing a Baskin Robbins, and I thought about how retail today is represented in as many varieties as there are flavors at Baskin Robbins. And they all taste good.

Want a double scoop? How about 1 brick and mortar and social media? Or E-commerce and social media. Have a big appetite and go for a banana split with 4 scoops, banana, and all the fixins. Social media, pop-ups, e-commerce, brick and mortar, and then add all the accouterments of TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, Comment Sold, and FaceBook Live. There are also opportunities to seek out additional SCOOPS like experiential, social consciousness, and scrambled. There is also a movement, as indicated in several articles this Sourcing Report by Informa on sustainability.

There are many ways to do retail and they can all work and can work together. And the barrier to entry can be as fast as a few weeks thanks to fast fashion and aggregated marketplaces like Faire, and how quick it is to set up digitally.

It is an exciting time to exercise your creative juices and explore. Oliver Mak, one of the Co Founders of Bodega, a true pioneer in innovating on the creative and social responsibility side of retail, described it to me 5 years ago that retail was now in the era of the artist. It opened my mind to the possibilities that exist, and had never thought of retail oddly enough, in that way. Fashion is born out of creativity, and why not how it is sold?

There are really so many flavors of retail that can be integrated and married to your existing business. I like the ice cream example, as it reminds us of fun. When we stray from the fun we threaten the passion that motivates us to succeed. 

From that aha moment, I began to recognize that our very large and diverse client base is a lab of what can be created. We are very fortunate to have access to many of those “artists” and watch , observe and learn with them as they explore and uncover new opportunities and explore new and creative ways of being in retail.  I invite you to join us at our cocktail party at MAGIC to learn firsthand what two retailers are doing to push the boundaries of retail.. 

---

Looking forward to seeing you at MAGIC!

Onwards and Upwards,

Marc

---

Management One is committed to the independent retail community. We have built a new technology that is an AI - Merchant driven data platform to learn and understand new elements of demand and produced over 30 educational webinars attended by over 20,000 retailers and vendors. Management One created and vetted a host of tools to ensure Indie retailers sustain, thrive, and embrace change. We utilize synergistic partners that share our core values and share the same commitment to our community.

Currently, we plan over 3 billion dollars of independent retail business annually and update that data daily. We invite you to join us and reap the benefits of our educational and data-driven processes to boost profitability and cash flow so you can execute on your vision for the future.