Dixons-Carphone: Fingers crossed or uncrossed?

The morning after, opinion seems divided on whether Dixons-Carphone is a marriage made in heaven, or a countdown to divorce...

The issue revolves around a definition of show-rooming. In other words, is show-rooming a means of learning to buy by touching, or simply a way of accessing advice?

Historically, a shopper wanting comprehensive advice on anything more than operating the on/off button in Dixons has allegedly been left wanting… Indepth advice on any gadget is now more comprehensively, objectively and effectively accessed via the internet.

In the same way, category context i.e. a fully comprehensive range of products from which to focus shopper-choice is physically difficult to provide at store level, compared with browsing Amazon.

However, if the function of ‘gadgets’ stores is now intended to provide an opportunity to ‘buy’ by touch, then it is vital for a retailer to provide a seamless wifi instore opportunity for shoppers to complete their online product assessment in the aisle, and reduce prices to a point that makes the switch to online purchase less attractive…or provide an online facility better than Amazon…

Even if the shopper can be brought to this point without leaving the store (to await the delivery now due from Amazon?), Dixons-Carphone will require highly skilled floor-staff to then gently facilitate the completion of the purchase, without the anticipated tussle ref warranties…

All told, NAMs need strong customers and probably have high hopes of a successful merger, fingers crossed….

However, given the multichannel hurdles involved and their real-world experience, NAMs may decide to invest in alternative options, fingers uncrossed…

Dixons Carphone - why Walgreens-Boots is different...

The Dixons Carphone merger is the latest in a series of retail unions’ response to structural change in retail…

Key metrics
The £3.8bn 50-50 partnership to be called Dixons Carphone will result in a £12bn turnover company, made up of Carphone’s £3.7bn and Dixons £8.2bn.
In terms of stock market value, Carphone's market capitalisation is £1.9bn and Dixons' is £1.87bn
Carphone's 2,037 stores worldwide and Dixons' 947 stores will overlap and synergies will result in annual cost cuts of at least £80m within three years.

Previous retail mergers
Think about the troubled history of retail unions (see Alex Lawsons’ article in the Independent for details) so far:
- Abortive Carphone - Best Buy European joint venture in 2008
- Asda's doomed merger with furniture specialist MFI in 1985
- Morrisons’ takeover of Safeway in 2004 took longer than expected to bed in..
- The Co-op – Somerfield larger store sell-off
- Asda's acquisition of Netto in 2010, sell-off of 25% stores
- Kingfisher's troubled merger of B&Q with the French DIY retailer Castorama in 1998
- Kingfisher’s attempted a merger with Asda in 1999, resulting in Walmart bid

NAMs have to ask themselves if the Dixons-Carphone merger has enough potential to survive, or is even worth the effort…

Meanwhile, the Walgreens-Boots takeover appears to have a number of advantages
- Geographically complementary in that Walgreens is US only, Boots is rest-of-world
- Broadly complementary business philosophies and product assortments
- Potential synergies re retail expertise exchange
- Purchasing synergies already realising $154m

However, the real advantage over previous retail unions arises from the two-step deal (i.e. part–purchase in 2012, final takeover by 2016) which was designed to allow Walgreens and Alliance Boots to come together gradually and integrate, while continuing to drive their independent strategies in the first years of collaboration…

Sometimes slow is better, even in FMCG retailing…

Empty shop squatting - a high-street solution for a high street problem?

A new business has been designed to protect empty shops from squatters by moving in low-paying renters.

Intuitive Guardians’ new scheme aims to close a loop hole in 2012 legislation, which made squatting in residential properties a criminal offence but does not stop squats being set-up in commercial properties.

The business model has the firm supplying basic shower block and kitchen amenities, property owners paying as little as £50 a week to have their property secured while prospective guardians can get living space in Brighton and Hove at a heavily reduced rate of just £50 a week.

Apart from space protection, the key benefit has to be that local councils, businesses and shoppers become accustomed to a more 'lived-in' high street environment, and will hopefully lead to more creative use of a dying facility...

Life after a mega-merger – some pointers for NAMs

First, the basics…

Companies merge in order to release synergies and save costs. Anything other than a 50/50 split is a takeover, resulting in a faster rate of change and a little more bias in favour of the stronger party…

Logically, as a single, combined company they now need one head office and as much rationalisation of Production, Finance and Sales/Marketing as is feasible. Any obvious overlap of key staff will be eliminated, quickly or slowly, depending upon the new corporate culture. Depending upon the scale of the deal, government will interfere in any ‘vote-losing’ moves such as factory closures in high unemployment areas.

In the interest of abiding with competition legislation there will be an obligatory sell-off of brands that would otherwise result in dominance of a category in a manner that could cause issues with the government. This will result in windfall opportunities for brand acquisition by third parties…

The above description of the process may differ a little from the official press release at the time, but such is the nature of the real world…

However, from a NAMs point of view, the real issue is how to help retail customers to cope with the transition…

Action:

1. Avoid possibility of cherry-picking of best terms and conditions by strong retail customers.
2. It is vital to conduct a total re-assessment of relative competitive appeal for each of the company’s key categories.
3. Given inevitable changes to the overall portfolio, it can be helpful to re-visit ways of growing the business.
4. Helping the new company raise its share price via ROCE improvement provides a useful starting point for a pro-active NAM.

More details in the current subscriber edition of NamNews.

Now is the discount of our winter-tents?

Aldi have launched two ranges of low-cost camping gear - for adventurers and family campers.
However, to the undoubted relief of retail camping specialists, the products - ranging from head torches to satellite TV kits - will only be available at Aldi's UK stores for a limited period and once stocks have sold out they won't be replaced....

However, if this camp-gear approach to instore theatre makes an impact.....

NIVEA Child-minder App

The app that helps you locate your kids on the beach via a sunscreen print-ad cutout bracelet.

This app is a tool for you to monitor your kid’s location, designed by Nivea Brazil and their agency FCB. Detach the bracelet from the NIVEA SUN Kids print on Revista Veja (04/23/2014 edition), download this app and use the Bluetooth 4.0 technology to monitor who is using the bracelet up to a distance of approximately 30 meters.

You can set an alarm to sound at the distance you define, within an approximate range.
See the clip here

A no-brainer for beaches everywhere, but why stop at beach-applications when kids need watching 24/7...

Shop-window pulling power?

                                                                                          pic: Girls at Her.ie desk via Joe.ie 

GSCOP – The NAM’s opportunity to influence its application

Given that NAMs operate at the supplier-retailer interface and often bear the brunt of any breakdown in the relationship, they are probably well qualified to assess the extent to which joint business objectives are being hampered by Code-related issues.

NAMs are also best placed to benefit from any improvement in trade relationships….

GSCOP and the appointment of a Groceries Code Adjudicator were obviously steps forward, but this anonymous survey gives suppliers an opportunity to give their opinion on how the Code currently works in the real world, without the possibility of adverse reaction by their customers.

The survey is being conducted YouGov, on a site that is independent of the GCA, to preserve respondents’ anonymity.

Obviously the more people that complete the survey, the more influential will be its output. It will also give respondents a personal stake in the results that will be presented at the GCA Conference on 23rd June 2014.

Negotiating domestically against hopelessly uneven odds...

Ever wondered how your kids inherited - from the other household expert - and apply high level negotiating skills without ever meeting a buyer?

How they can up-the-ante in terms of the number of bedtime-stories on the evening you arranged to go to the game… How demand levels are even determined by the way you close the car-door on arriving home...

If in doubt, think of the innate skills and insight deployed by your domestic negotiators, by reflex, in beating you hands-down every time:
- A deep and abiding knowledge of every aspect of your character
- Seemingly infallible memories of even the most trivial of events, with word-perfect recall when required
- Infinite levels of sensitivity to your verbal and non-verbal behaviour
- Keen observation and monitoring of how you ‘negotiate’ with the other family experts
- Unashamed access to, and use of, every emotion in the ‘book’

However, the real issue is that we were all expert negotiators at the same age, but somehow (too many workshops?) developed the belief that something more ‘professional’ was required when dealing with ‘real’ negotiators…

In practice, deep study and playback of our domestic encounters might provide more insight and yield even more tools for your repertoire.

Come to think of it, why not explain ROCE to family members and let them flesh out subtleties and applications that you and I can only dream about…?

From an idea inspired by Jeremy Blain

Ambiguity in negotiation....(2)

“Oh! its you”

At least seven ways of conveying your feelings when answering a phone-call from the buyer…Why not try it?

In turn, practice will increase your sensitivity to the buyer’s reaction when you call…

You will hear more when you listen to the music behind the words in negotiation, remembering that the more you hear, the less you will need to give… 

Ambiguity in negotiation....(1)

"I never said you wasted my trade-investment...."

Seven levels of ambiguity, depending on which word you stress i.e. Always listen to the music behind the words in negotiation

Based on an idea in Ha! by Scott Weems

Michelangelo's David showing signs of weakness in the ankles..

Recent BBC reports indicate that the development of hairline cracks in Michelangelo's statue of David indicate risks of collapsing under its own weight because of strain on the sculpture's "weak ankles".

In fact, some would say that the statue has not been the same since its three month’s loan to the US for exhibition at Washington’s National Gallery of Art to open 'The Year of Italian Culture….'

Your supermarket needs YOU!

                                                                                                                                   Pic: British Library
You already give us:
  *  Retail margin: 25%+
  *  Free trade credit: 45+days
  *  Trade investment: up to 20% of our purchases
  *  Deductions: up to 7% of invoice value
  *  Advice, Innovation and ATL spend...

In the coming price war, ask not what you can do for your supermarket, 
Ask what we can do for you......

Saucy Fish David wins biblical injunction against giant Aldi

                                                                                                                              pic: Daily Mail

Supermarkets may be forced to remove 'copycat' products following the legal victory by a small British fish business in winning an injunction against Aldi, causing the retailer to remove its ‘Saucy Salmon Fillets’ from sale following complaints from the Saucy Fish Company.

This breakthrough injunction represents what appears to be a fundamental change in legal stance from ‘intent’ to ‘effect’ in the case of products attempting to take a short-cut into product recognition.

In other words, the legal spotlight moves from intent of the perpetrator in designing a pack description -difficult to prove - to assessing the effect on the shopper, which can be easier to measure in terms of volume of shopper complaints…

However, as all brand owners know, a complaint by a consumer represents merely the tip of a reaction-iceberg, so the negative impact of a ‘short-change’ issue should not be judged on the basis of the number of complaints that reach the ‘Customer Relations’ desk. Instead, a factor of 10++ might usefully be applied to try to guage the extent of the damage done to the wrongdoer’s brand equity…

Moreover, taking another lesson from the brand-owner’s manual, when a consumer gets more than they expect from a brand, they tell one friend, when ‘short-changed’ they try to inform 10+…  And given current levels of access to social media, the consequences are hopefully obvious…

Yesterday’s ruling represents a dilemma for retailers in that they still need to find a way of helping the consumer to recognise and position the product, without incurring the cost, risk and need to exceed ROI hurdle-rates of normal brand building.

Perhaps the way forward for retailers is to focus on a combination of heavy corporate proposition-building - a guarantee that you always get more than you expect - and providing a clear definition of category, and the retailer’s contribution to that category in terms of their own product…

In other words, the retailer is offering a product solution in the category that uses the retail ‘brand’ to provide reassurance to shoppers that need confirmation of a trusted retailer’s endorsement of what they have chosen to purchase.

This is patently easier in the case of normal private label such as Tesco/Sainsbury's/Asda/Morrisons’ brand, than with surrogate label products such as Smiths coffee for Aldi/Lidl, etc.

However, whilst a bad experience with a private label can reflect negatively on the retailer, disappointment in a surrogate label can be dismissed as resulting from a rogue ‘supplier’ that can be replaced with a product more in keeping with the retailer's norms…

Meanwhile, as always, given that it can be better to act before consumers demand change, retailers might be well advised to now ‘step back and look at themselves’, moving their perspective from ‘intent’ to ‘effect’ in making changes to their product packaging, before the consumer-shopper does it on their behalf…

Mega-mergers, the unintended consequences.....

Given the rising trend of companies combining forces to optimize scale, reduce tax and drive complementary R&D resources, it is perhaps useful to explore some of the unintended results of such moves.

The key issues with mega-mergers apart from economic have to be the impact on trading partners and also the political implications.

Because of competition legislation it is inevitable that the merger process will be delayed while the authorities explore the potential impact on markets.

For instance, the Publicis-Omnicon merger, announced last July with the deal's closing delayed at least six months because of regulatory issues, has already resulted in the loss of more than $1.5 billion of client work and they face a fight to retain billions more, including a huge Samsung contract, just as the two advertising firms struggle to keep their merger on track.

Client losses already include Microsoft, Danone, GSK, Sony, and Marks & Spencer.

Another consequence has to be the inevitable loss of talent, with the usual result of the best talent finding it easier to move...

Again, high US taxation is causing major American firms to combine foreign mergers with relocation of the combined headquarters to more benign tax environments, such as the Pfizer-AstraZeneca, Chiquita-Fyffes, and a host of other similar deals.

The immediate consequence will obviously be the inevitable moves as the US authorities attempt to apply international pressure to frustrate or delay such potential losses of corporation tax, resulting in more delays
Again the unintended consequence of good staff leaving to avoid career uncertainties in what is a short life, after all...

However, for those on the perimeters, opportunities abound...

In other words, apart from the new availability of good talent, such mergers will provide bargains in terms of brands that become a problem in terms of competition legislation, and a sell-off at any price becomes increasingly attractive...

Watch carefully...