Retail Collaboration Is The Key To The Future

Retailers must recognize and embrace collaboration practices across all aspects of the supply chain in true partnerships in order to succeed in the future.  True collaboration requires transparency and a willingness to share ownership with key partners, including consumers. This requirement, or opportunity, has been growing for a while now as millennials have grown in number and power in the retail marketplace.  I believe the retail marketplace as reached the point of a perfect storm where the pieces and parts of tectonic change are coming together to fundamentally change the the way in which consumers interact with participants in the retail marketplace. This interaction is based on social network technologies and collaboration practices among equals to meet the changing demands of the consumer.  

Retailers are really no longer in control of the market and the sooner they embrace this new reality the sooner they will be able to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by collaborative interactions across the marketplace.  Collaboration is changing and as a result collaboration is changing the marketplace. Collaboration practices are changing because of consumers newly developed capabilities of choice and communications resulting from their embrace of technology in the first place and then the continuous improvements in technology in the second place.  This dramatic use of technology by consumers allowed them to take control of their shopping and purchasing practices and as a result has also promoted the consumer to a key stakeholder in the retail marketplace thus forcing retailers to fundamentally their attitude and their reactions to consumers.

This change in retailer reactions should be focused on development of extended collaboration practices that treat all participants as equal stakeholders.  This change in the use and execution of collaborative practices flattens the hierarchy and essentially eliminates the ability of retailers to control the types or the levels of collaboration.  This is a dramatic development in both collaborative practices and the retail marketplace and has far reaching implications that will dramatically change the marketplace and the consumer interactions with the marketplace.  Retailers must embrace the changes in order to remain a viable player in the retail marketplace and there is really no time for retailers to waste in embracing these changes. The sooner that retailers realize this change and embrace and participate fully in these activities, the sooner that retailers will be able to fully participate and have the opportunity to guide and form the collaborative practices.  

Collaboration is truly a key factor and tool for the success of retailers in the changing retail marketplace and this factor is not in the control of the retailers, which is at odds with the retailers standard practices.  This direction and change has been in the making for a long time and can be recognized by successful offerings and practices by secondary retailers. The sad thing now is that the retailers that can gain the most from these practices are also the same retailers that have been fighting, or more properly dragging their feet in supporting these changes because of the impact on their control, or perceived control of the marketplace.