The Myth of Uncertainty
By Marc Weiss - CEO, Management One
All stores measure their business against LY. As we begin to compare against last year, with its closures and disruptions, a better argument can be made to compare performance against plan. The plan is built on achieving results that include and reflect updated costs of doing business and evolving market conditions. Below is my argument that a plan is the best benchmark, that it can be accurate even in turbulent times, and is thus a great guide for you and your business.
Some Indie Retailers chose to surrender to the uncertain world of the Covid-19 pandemic. Conversely, we chose to measure, as we have for the last 32 years. To learn, to understand, and perhaps incorporate Werner Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle that Christopher Hitchens describes,” whereby the act of measuring something has the effect of altering the measurement.” What we discovered is that as we measured, our outlook was altered, with not the promise of control, but the result of gaining control of the outcomes.
Retailers that maintained a continuous relationship with us delivered superior results compared to their counterparts. The great experiment of 2020 has proven without a doubt planning that is thoughtful, interactive, and based on the rigors of science can guide you through the most uncertain of times. What we knew, told us what we could do. So, we constructed new models, and listened, and learned. We looked at data daily and made informed decisions. We adapted and we won.
The results quite frankly astonished me. Over the last 8 months, Management One™ has planned almost a billion dollars of Indie Retail revenue. Over that period the difference between plan and actual is 0.41%. We excluded our highest volume and highest performing clients to normalize the data. We also looked at the standard deviation to determine how close most locations were from the plan. A lower standard deviation means that most locations planned were close to the mean.
We heightened our collaboration with our clients and Retail Experts this past year. The results of marrying our science with this interactive process garnered outstanding results. This was despite the second wave in November, ongoing supply disruptions, and a Presidential election year.
Accuracy of your projected volume provides exceptional peace of mind and the ability to manage your expenses with confidence to ensure growth and ongoing cash flow. We dispelled the false belief that planning cannot be accomplished in uncertain times. Frankly, the opposite turned out to be the case, as on-demand data allowed our community to act with certainty and confidence, capturing market share, sustaining, and often thriving.
Onwards and Upwards,
Marc