The retail trade industry has been quickly developing in Poland in the last dozen plus years. This impressive expansion was possible owing to (among other things) the simple operating model, which could be inexpensively and quickly copied on a large scale to any location in Poland. The model worked, and companies increased their revenue and the recognition of their brands.
The time for change
The turning point that necessitated a change of strategy were the deteriorating sales results of older stores. The decreased financial performance was partially due to the sustained deflation and corporate cannibalism, which was the natural consequence of market saturation.
Despite the increase of the nominal revenue (caused by the increased number of stores), many companies decided to introduce changes. This was a turning point in the history of the retail market in Poland. The strategy designed to maximise profit through aggressive expansion was superseded by the strategy based on the optimisation of the benefits of existing stores.
The mature consumer
The new strategy of retail companies goes hand-in-hand with the profile of a mature consumer. The increase of consumer awareness combined with the higher purchasing power of the average Pole have been a game changer. Price has ceased to be the only selection criterion.
Customers started paying more attention to the exhibition of the goods on the shelf, the wide range of available products, the queue length, the availability of product information, the shelf life, partner programs or even the possibility of online shopping.
Commerce 2.0
Optimising the existing business processes brings tangible benefits, e.g., increased sales, reduced stocks or increased consumer satisfaction. How to improve these key performance indicators (KPIs)? There are available solutions on the market that can be implemented to improve these KPIs, and the implementation of such solutions should be a top priority for Polish retail companies.
Over the course of its ten-year experience, Hicron has cooperated with clients around the globe on the optimisation of business processes: both the basic business processes and the processes characteristic to the given market area. Product lifecycle management, reduced stocks – these are only some of the projects we had the pleasure to implement.
See our case study on Hicron projects
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