Steve Dennis - Remarkable Retail: How to Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Digital Disruption

PRAISE FOR REMARKABLE RETAIL

Remarkable Retail is a great read that provides a crisp and useful overview of the recent history and current state of the retail industry. More importantly, Dennis offers valuable suggestions for how brand and retail executives, as well as investors, should be thinking about the interplay between stores and e-commerce, and the ingredients that make a brand or store memorable.

Jim Gold, former president and chief merchandising officer, Neiman Marcus Group

In Remarkable Retail, industry thought leader Steve Dennis dovetails his practical experience with original, visionary, and honest frameworks for strategically and tactically breaking through the real-world challenges retailers face in the modern era. Thoroughly peppered with industry examples and supporting data, the book is a must-read playbook and catalyst designed specifically for retail leaders to gut check their companys vision, create organizational alignment, and properly define the role of technology in ways that will help them meetand even exceedthe ever-rising expectations of todays digitally savvy consumers.

Brendan Witcher, vice president and principal analyst, Forrester Research

Remarkable Retail is the definitive guide for thriving in a shifting retail environment. If you read one book to prepare you for the future of retailread this one!

Blake Morgan, bestselling author of The Customer of the Future

Dennis cuts through all the excuses many retailers offer up for their mediocre performances and lucidly offers a framework for developing a game plan for success in the e-commerce era.

Phil Wahba, senior writer, Fortune Magazine

Wise, witty, and pragmatic, Steve Dennis has written an indispensable guide for succeeding in the fast-changing world of modern retail. The book is simultaneously timely and timeless.

Bridget Brennan, CEO, Female Factor, and author of Why She Buys and Winning Her Business

Too many books on retail reflect trendy ideas that, at best, fade away over time or, more often, lack any validity to begin with. Remarkable Retail is a shining exception: the insights here are grounded in reality and reflect enduring patterns and principles that no retailer should ignore. Steve Dennis has been a leading-edge retail expert for many years, and this book will make his legacy permanent in the industry.

Dr. Peter Fader, professor of marketing, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Dennis compellingly argues that retail playbooks of the past are no longer effective and proceeds to offer a comprehensive playbook for the future of retail. Remarkable Retail is full of pragmatic advice from a true practitioner that every retail executive must read.

Jason Retailgeek Goldberg, chief commerce strategy officer, Publicis

Excellent book on what it takes to be relevant and stay relevant in todays rapidly changing retail landscape. A must-read for all of us seeking to understand the future of retail.

Rafeh Masood, chief digital officer, BJs Wholesale Club

Steve Dennis is always a great read. He brings a rare combination of on-the-job knowledge with a unique historical perspective on the trends that are here to stay versus what is just a fad or a flash in the pan. His Eight Essentials framework cuts through the hype and focuses in on what retail will always be about.

Chris Walton, CEO, Omni Talk

With a world changing as rapidly as it is, Steve Dennis is on the pulse of what retailers need to implement in order to resonate with todays consumers. Dennis understands what it means to be human-centric above all else in todays digital age and delivers a road map on how to deliver transformative experiences.

Melissa Gonzalez, CEO and founder, The Lionesque Group

In a retail industry undergoing seismic shifts, Dennis provides the stable ground of understanding. His book is a definitive guide to whats happening, why its happening, and what it means for retailers. It is a blueprint for success from someone who has first-hand knowledge and experience. Any retailer that wants to be remarkable needs to read it and act on it!

Neil Saunders, retail analyst, GlobalData

When it comes to retail, there is no time to look backwardonly ahead. Steve Dennis offers clarity on what merchants need to consider as they move forward in their retail goals, ultimately pushing aside any clutter and chaos that might be in their way and, instead, delivering a road map to what can help them reach success in their unique retail journeys. An informative and inspiring read for online sellers and brick-and-mortar merchants alike.

Nicole Leinbach Reyhle, founder and publisher, Retail Minded, and author of Retail 101

Remarkable Retail is a remarkable book that begins with an in-depth, serious, and outright scary analysis of the current threats facing retailers around the world but concludes with a brilliant set of strategies for dealing with these threats. I was mesmerized! If youre a retail executive, offline or online, you need to read this book today, before your competitors get hold of it!

Don Peppers, author, speaker, and CX expert

Remarkable Retail is full of insights and ideas to help you succeed by humanizing your business. If youre on a mission to sell more by caring more, then Denniss book will show you how.

Bernadette Jiwa, bestselling author and storytelling strategist

Copyright 2020 by Steve Dennis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a license from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For a copyright license, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.

Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada

ISBN 978-1-928055-71-6 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-928055-72-3 (EPUB)

ISBN 978-1-928055-73-0 (PDF)

Editor: John Paine

Cover design: Naomi MacDougall

Interior design: Paul Dotey

Author photo: Chris West, Video Narrative

Published by LifeTree Media Ltd.

LifeTreeMedia.com

Distributed in the U.S. by Publishers Group West and in Canada by Publishers Group Canada.

For Claire and Elena

CONTENTS

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CHAPTER 1

An Epic Revolution

Like art, revolutions come from combining what exists into what has never existed before.

GLORIA STEINEM

Physical retail isnt dead. Boring retail is. You have likely read the stories about how online retail is taking over the world. And its true that the ability to have virtually any product delivered digitally has largely eliminated the need for stores that were once piled high with merchandise, their shelves lined with cardboard sleeves, cellophane, and plastic: books, CDs, DVDs, game cartridges.... Lets take a brief moment to mourn Borders, Blockbuster, and all the others that faced the brutal reckoning of digital disruption during the past decade or so.