No ordinary times
Democracy, economy, politics, and governance are four global mega-trends impacting our lives.
The near collapse – the attempted overthrow of the US democracy is still playing out.
The Failure of Brexit – Britain has paid a high price for misinformation and fake news about Brexit. Rejoining the EU is the likely outcome.
The trigger is widespread poverty, lack of education, opportunity, hope and essential services – like clean water for many in the USA.
The last 30 years have seen the USA and many other countries, after-tax after inflation, take-home pay with little growth for most.
Australia’s last decade has seen a fall in real wages after tax and inflation for the majority,
McKinsey reports that the number of households with flat or falling income from wages and capital before taxes in 25 advanced economies is over 70% of residents.
The recognition of the problems has been hidden mainly over the last thirty years by
- falling real prices of goods and services as a result of China’s industrial complex – often selling below the cost to manufacture,
- below the long-term average – very low-interest rates, making cars and houses more affordable,
- long-term disinterest in politics, the economy and democracy across most Western world countries,
Covid changed how people see the world.
With time on their hands during lockdowns, people started to focus on the real and significant issues of our time.
In the next few years, we know that there will likely be
- shortage of capital,
- the cost of money will remain elevated,
- inflation will remain higher than the long-term average,
- governments will need more taxation income to balance their budgets and reduce borrowings,
People – buyers, customers, clients, and voters – have worked it out – and are now very engaged in the big picture.
The Lyst Index is a quarterly ranking of fashion’s hottest brands and products. Lyst is a fashion technology company and premium shopping app used by more than 200 million people each year to browse, discover and buy items from brands and stores.
Lyst’s Q1 latest hottest brands and products index ranks and measures premium products using social media mentions, user searches, and product sales.
In global premium fashion, the hottest-selling product is a $20 shoulder bag.
The hottest brands list
- Prada,
- Miu Miu (part of the Prada group)
- Moncler Brand Skims,
- Diesel,
The hottest products
- A $20 Uniqlo shoulder bag topped the hottest products list,
- Rick Owens sunglasses,
- Bottega Veneta earrings
- MSCHF Big Red Boots,
What is going on in premium fashion retail?
Katie Thomas, Kearney Consumer Institute, noted an increasing mass casualisation movement in consumer purchases across many categories, including clothing and accessories. People want products to be accessible yet unique.
Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand Skims hit Lyst’s hottest brands and products list – is a classic positioning of brand accessibility and uniqueness.
Skims are not cheap, but it’s not designer luxury prices. The Brand’s ability to build revenue through constant collaboration with celebrities from the cast members of HBO’s White Lotus – takes influencer marketing to a new level.
Skims’ focus is on more than just new products.
It’s about being faster with the right influencers for their campaigns.
What is the new growth playbook?
The fastest-growing businesses win more revenue and market share through consistency and communication familiarity – their marketing and revenue operations know precisely where they are going and how to get there based on best practices.
Many buying and franchise groups are yet to catch up on the turn in the market – leaving their stores stranded for new faster revenue and profitability growth.
Many have changed little since the 1980s – 2000 super growth period – now stranded with a natural long-term decline in revenue.
The rules for boosting performance and competitive advantage have changed – but many still need to be more interested in earning more revenue and profits and preferring to keep the same, in many cases, their parent’s initial investment strategy of twenty and thirty years ago in tack.
Leading businesses have cracked the code for faster growth in more challenging times, delivering dramatically superior growth compared to businesses still playing by the old rules.
The problems with the old playbook include
- An inability to move away from continuous poor business case outcomes, poor marketing and revenue operations,
- An over-reliance on significant and high-risk expenditures that often fail to achieve the business cases,
- Cumbersome execution of strategy, along with poor integration with specialist vendors,
- 74% of business leaders surveyed believe their business is implementing cookie-cutter solutions when precision custom solutions are needed,
- Nearly 70% of leaders surveyed say their business needs to execute digital transformation programs better,
The opportunities
- Recognition that they lack the capabilities—the talent and processes—required to access above-average market growth and gain an advantage with AI and other technologies; their futures are likely bleak.
The changes needed,
- To outperform, to be more resilient to shocks and disruptions, and to exploit innovation faster,
- To widen the gap with their competitors,
- A clear evidence-based blueprint for how to grow faster,
- Strengthen their business’s competitive advantages,
- Leadership and the group in alignment,
- Implementing a clear people advantage to attract, retain, and develop the best talent,
Implemented correctly, this delivers a classic flywheel effect—they can reinvent, deploy, and adapt more quickly and with more significant impact than their competitors can – delivering above-average growth.
What is your business approach to building higher performance across the three horizons, now – six to eighteen months and eighteen months to five years?
Working across all three horizons presents many strategic advantages.
More newsletters that may boost your demand generation today, tomorrow and in years to come.
Regards
David
