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Hello!

Welcome to the 18th edition of Always Be Convenient, your guide to maintaining a convenience strategy in a digitized world. The archives have all past issues.

Last week was a late-in-the-day newsletter, but no one seemed to mind (as we discussed on LinkedIn). This week it is coming through even later … but maybe you’re still cyber shopping. E-commerce sales are expected to peak between 8-10 pm tonight.

Today is ‘Cyber Monday,’ a term coined in 2005 by the National Retail Federation. Adobe Analytics is forecasting a record $13.2 billion in e-commerce sales today – that’s up 6.1% over last year. And in-store shopping? Mastercard SpendingPulse tracked in-store retail sales up just 0.7% on Black Friday.

I don’t have a special deal for you today, but you can buy me a coffee (or two!) if you’d like to show your support for this newsletter. ☕

Thanks for giving me time and space in your inbox!

Conveniently,
Mike

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Your unique value

It’s easy to look around and see what everyone else is doing. It’s even easier to copy what you see and put the same thing in front of your customers.

This was the early game of fuel prices – copy and paste – and it went on like this for a long time. 

Stores would set a fuel price locally, then have managers or district leaders go out and survey the market. Inevitably, at some point a competitor would make a change to match or beat the price, thus forcing the whole cycle to repeat itself again.

Things have evolved a lot since those days.

Fuel teams have gone from paper tracking and phone trees to now using centralized pricing strategies with data-driven forecasts and AI-backed pricing models.

HR teams have gone from job fairs and open interviews to AI-assisted candidate screening and flexible working arrangements.

Merchandising teams have moved from every store managing their planograms and promotions to orchestrated multi-zone pricing that maximizes elasticity and profitability. 

But a few things have also stayed the same.

Today, just like back then, what works for one brand may not work for you. And quite frankly, you don’t know if it’s working for them either. 

One thing I heard in my past would always make me wince: “If they’re the best, and that’s how they’re doing it, they must be doing something right.”

That could be true, but it could also be dead wrong.

That’s part of the challenge in a competitive market: you’ll never really know what’s driving the decisions made by your competition. 

And that’s all the more reason to back your decisions with your own facts.

As you see similar promotions in market, or feel you’re being pressured to offer something because ‘everyone else is doing it’ – take a moment to think through the why.

When creating promotions for your brand, here’s what I recommend:

1. Validate your value

2. Set your schedule

3. Find your fans

Value is defined by you and your customers. And your finance team. But you’ve got to find something that is workable. If the promotion isn’t sustainable, it isn’t going to last.

Holidays and small-idays create natural opportunities for promotions. But even a day of the week can become ownable if you build a long-term play around it.

You have all sorts of stakeholders to appease – management, partners, buyers, and more – but your promotion should be built for your customers. Connect with them and you’re on the right path.

Resist the urge to copy and paste. It may seem like the convenient choice, but it’s likely to undermine your long-term relevance with customers.

Your customers are choosing you for you. Be you.