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The New Law Of Average Essay

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Doug Stephens’ The Retail Revival highlights the fundamental challenges that today’s executives and entrepreneurs must manage to not only succeed but to continue to exist as “the fat and lazy era in consumerism is giving way to a lean, creative and inspired age” (Stephens 228). As large companies, digital giants, and e-commerce businesses become larger and larger, one may come to think that the day and age for retail is over. However, Stephens strongly disagrees with this notion and instead holds the belief that retail is entering an even more exciting and honest era. In the fifth chapter: “The New Law of Average”, Stephens polarizes the competitive playfield into two distinct categories: High Fidelity and High Convenience where the focus is on exclusivity and ubiquity, respectively (Stephens 95). Stephens emphasizes the importance of choosing one of these categories for striving for both is what he refers to as a “fidelity mirage” (Stephens 99) which leads a company into a downward spiral. A particularly impressive observation by Stephens is his stance on “customer experience [being] a result, not a competency” (Stephens 111). This perspective highlights the importance of treating the business processes, stores, and customer service as the fundamentals of a customer experience rather than just throwing around the term as to impress board members. The most valuable lesson from this chapter is simple, “there’s no room for cowards. The new law of average dictates that any

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