The future of retail stores

Stockmann in trouble

The iconic Finnish department store chain Stockmann is in trouble. The Stockmann Group's problems are mostly the same as every other Finnish department store chains problems, caused by financial crisis, recession, the dawn of online shopping and the Ukrainian crisis punishing Russian Ruble. According to Helsingin Sanomat, Stockmann does worse than an average department store and is losing market share fast. Not surprisingly, Stockmann is working on a new strategy. The dismissal of many employees in recent times are not enough.

According to Stockmann's Chairman of the Board Kaj-Gustaf Bergh, in the same time as these reforms are made it is essential to hold on to tradition and premium quality for which the chain is famous for. Bergh talks about "omni-channel retailing", which means that consumers make purchases with their smartphones or computers online.

Online shopping has eliminated the need to go to an actual department store, as the same premium brands are available online with competitive prices.

But according to Professor of Marketing Outi Uusitalo of the University of Jyväskylä, actual department stores aren't dead. In her opinion, what's remarkable in Stockmann has been its ability to make itself important to its customers. Although Stockmann has always represented quality and it has always been considered expensive, it has always been accessible to all Finns despite their economical status.

One opportunity for regular, physical department stores is what researchers call "social shopping": It means that customers want shopping to be an experience they can share in social media, for example sharing pictures in Instagram. Screenshots of webstores are rarely as interesting as pictures taken in historical department stores such as Stockmann in Helsinki.

Source:

http://www.hs.fi/talous/a1405134873073

THE WORLD MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES BY FORBES

http://www.forbes.com/innovative-companies/list/

Rank	Company	Country	12-Month Sales Growth (%)	5-Year Annualized Total Return (%)	Innovation Premium* (%)
1	Salesforce.com	United States	35.6	24.1	75.9
2	Alexion Pharmaceuticals	United States	46.7	46.2	71.4
3	ARM Holdings	United Kingdom	14.8	37.7	65.6
4	Unilever Indonesia	Indonesia	12.0	26.6	65.1
5	Regeneron Pharmaceuticals	United States	43.6	67.0	64.7
6	Amazon.com	United States	22.3	19.5	62.4
7	BioMarin Pharmaceutical	United States	20.2	25.7	58.9
8	CP All	Thailand	71.6	33.7	57.8
9	VMware	United States	15.0	17.6	57.6
10	Aspen Pharmacare Holdings	South Africa	-	31.3	57.1

Ajankohtainen uutinen Sokoksen suunnitelmista

”Kuluttajat ostavat monia Sokoksen valikoimissa olevia tuotealueita nykyään luontevammin Prisma-ketjusta, jonka valikoimissa Sokoksesta poistuvat tuotealueet säilyvät jatkossakin. Tavarataloista haetaan yksilölliseen palveluun perustuvia muodin ja kauneuden merkkituotteita, joihin aiomme Sokos-ketjussa tulevaisuudessa panostaa entistä vahvemmin. Myös kodin osasto säilyy tärkeänä osana Sokosta", Sokos-ketjun johtaja Antti Laakso kertoo.

http://www.kauppa.fi/ajankohtaista/uutiset/sokos_tavaratalot_keskittyvat_jatkossa_muotiin_ja_kauneuteen_24128

The 5 best books on Innovation EVER

Source: http://scottberkun.com/

1. Innovation and Entrepreneurship, by Peter Drucker.  Drucker is profound, clear, concise and memorable. He puts modern business writers to shame with his clarity. This short books encapsulates all of the theory you need to think about starting a business, and what it will take to find, develop, launch and grow product ideas. (Also see,  The Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki, and if you work in the tech-sector,Founders at Work is a must-read)
2. Thinkertoys,  Michael Michalko. There are many books with exhaustive lists of methods for generating ideas. This is one of them. The misconception is that idea generation is the hard part, which it rarely is. But for those looking for games, tactics and methods to generate ideas this is a great place to start. (Also see, Are your Lights on?, by Gause and Weinberg).
3. Dear Theo, By Vincent Van Gogh (& Irving Stone).  Before you dismiss this one, consider this: what we call passion in the business world, is passion for profit. What if there was no profit motive? How much passion would our heroes, like Edison and Jobs, have had for the ideas alone? To learn about the deepest commitment to ideas you have to study artists. There are no better stories of passion than great artists pursuing their creative visions against all odds and Van Gogh’s letters are a fantastic encapsulation of commitment, vision, dedication, brilliance, work ethic and madness, all traits any creator or entrepreneur should understand. (Also see, The Agony and the Ecstasy, for a similar book about Michelangelo).
4.  They all laughed, Ira Flatow. History is biased in that we retroactively inject purpose and narrative structure into stories of invention, so that they make more sense to us in the present. But the real history of invention and discovery is messy, weird, frustrating and surprising. This book documents how frustrating it usually is to have a great idea in a mediocre world. (Also see, Connections, by James Burke –all episodes of the documentary based on the book are free online).
5. Brain Rules, John Medina. I’ve read many books about intelligence and neuroscience – they’re mostly pseudo-fluff, filled with the latest theories and shocking claims, but lead to no tangible improvement in how you use what’s between your ears. Brain Rules is the book to read about how to use your brain to better use your brain. While it’s not strictly about creativity, show me a creative person who didn’t use their brain well (See my full review of Brain Rules here).