Look externally, “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”

3-Level Strategic (Go-to-market) G2M Evolution

I like the saying " I never lose, I either win or I learn" from Nelson Mandela.

I think this must be THE attitude in anything we do. As you internalize this, you will probably win more and learn more how to win. A great vicious circle to be in. Same applies to strategy practice and activity systems in it.

Activity System is a strategic pillar of the S-Curve Strategy Framework that focuses on repurposed, more meaningful differentiation to create a competitive edge to be chosen by all stakeholders of the entity over alternatives.

One of the key aspects of this activity system is the Adaptive Go-to-Market, which involves a phased approach that utilizes three key value levels. The first level is the "Channel/ Fundamentals" level, where the entity develops its core competencies and identifies its potential opportunities to deliver functional value in the channel/s it defines as the primary way to access its target shoppers.

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The second level is the "Omnichannel/Experience ", where the entity maximizes its value potential by investing in its core competencies to provide a seamless shopping experience/journey in multiple channels – on/off-line. Finally, the third level is the "Arms reach/Personalized," where the entity differentiates its G2M operations and processes the most to stay ahead of the competition with creative and exclusive ways to reach its prospects anywhere and whenever they want to shop (i.e. on the go).

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For the majority of incumbent businesses, the value chain starts with the product, augments with marketing/communication, and then further expands with G2M value, catering to consumer value attributes first, then shopper and customer value attributes. Similarly, for incumbent businesses, G2M is usually an evolutionary process of expanding the addressable market by going after where the shoppers currently shop.

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Yet this is also up for disruption by start-ups that can choose to create the anchor value directly in a disruptive G2M innovation and cost by adopting an arm’s reach/personalized G2M model from their inception as the ultimate differentiator. Look at Dollar Shave Club, its disruption was not in product or communication. Its Direct-to-consumer low-cost subscription business (G2M) model made it have 8.5% market share in the US in a couple of years and be bought by Unilever for 1BN USD. ?Most of its being divested by Unilever recently does not change the fact of its disruption at the time. The failure needs to be looked elsewhere and can be the subject of another full article. Amazon is also an example of starting as a (arms reach/personalized G2M) DTC low-cost model and has thrived into what it is today. Or you can argue, off course, that G2M was THE product/service in these cases, not the products sold through it and the failure and success lies in the innovation of this very product/service. Fair enough.

S-curve strategy recognizes the need for flexibility and evolution as an entity progresses along the sigmoid curve in line with its capacity and capabilities. By following this adaptive approach, businesses can maintain their competitive edge and thrive in today's fast-paced and ever-changing market:

1. Channel Focus/Fundamentals Value Level:

?? At the inception stage, businesses often concentrate on establishing a presence in specific channels that align with their target audience's existing shopping habits. This could be direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales (physical or online), physical intermediaries (retailers, distributors, dealers), or online intermediaries/ platforms. The focus here is on building a foundation for growth by establishing the sales fundamentals of the specific channel as per the existing/limited capacity and capabilities of the sales organization better than others in terms of differentiation definition.

These are the channel's key business drivers, and execution of them will be what the shopper will decide on at the first moment of truth (FMOT). These fundamentals are about the product's availability, visibility, and being on the right pricing. Retail visibility may be about shelves, displays, and store promo leaflets; for online pure play, it may be having a high-resolution visual of the product on the site or coming at the recommended products by the site. We used to call them in Procter & Gamble DPSM (Distribution, Pricing, Shelving and Merchandising). The KPIs we were tracking was listings at retailers, products availability at the stores, compliance with the pricing strategy, shelf shares vs market shares, display and feature shares vs market shares. These were the most important deliverables of a salesperson’s scorecard.

2. Omni-Channel Focus/ Experience:

As the entity moves more into the extended growth phase of the sigmoid curve, an Omni-Channel focus becomes imperative to deliver further value with an impeccable shopping experience towards higher-level value attributes like convenience and ease of use. This stage involves providing a seamless experience both in terms of fundamentals and convenience for shoppers across channels where shoppers shop. Integration and coordination of sales efforts between online and offline channels become critical, ensuring a cohesive customer journey. At this level value is still being better than others with similar G2M models.

The category management and packaging attributes (efficient assortment and shelving) will drive convenience and the total category’s profitable growth in a physical store based on the shopper decision tree, whilst ease of searching and finding meaningful and comparable information about the product will drive it online both on top of fundamentals like DPSM of course.

At Procter & Gamble we were using Shopper Based Design and CARS concepts to drive this in-store and on-line e-commerce for each P&G category/brand/product. This was not only helping us to drive more demand for our products in those channels but also elevate our relationship with retail customers using our subject matter expertise to grow the total category value for both sides as category captains. ?

3. Arm-Reach/ Personalization Level:

This level of G2M requires maximum differentiation vs. alternatives either with a totally different G2M model, which the alternatives cannot or will not do (like in the case of Dollar Shave Club), or a similar G2M with unmatched levels of functional, emotional, and personal value created in execution with minimum cost at scale (like in the case of Amazon).

Looking at the best cases, you may think that businesses natively created for having the most differentiated G2M, like above, have the highest chance of executing this level of G2M; I think you are right, but this does not mean there are no opportunities for incumbent businesses not created like this as well through transformation and change management.

There is one underlying force to play this level of GTM at scale regardless of how your entity was created. 3 siblings of economic hegemony drive it, as we discussed before: Data, Technology, and Computing power, or nowadays, better their collective product GenAI.

Industries and companies are at different stages of maximizing the economic impact of these siblings. Data collection at GTM is not new to anyone. All DTC retailers are opening accounts for their shoppers to collect data and better personalize their G2M efforts through using these data in their CRM for personalized offers for a long time. Yet, using technology both to collect and utilize this data with more computing power (I do not mean only the server capacity here; I am talking about the analytics capabilities of the CRMs) for a hyper-personalized shopping experience is where the value difference lies days among retailers.

Amazon is at the forefront of this with its smart Amazon GO stores, where it recognizes its shoppers and maximizes the shopper value with unmatched levels of convenience and personalization experience combined with low cost in these stores. It is true that Amazon is natively created in the cradle of data, technology, and computing power yet you do not need to be to make the most out of the available data, technology and computing power.

You can leap using GenAI with the right alliances maximizing your data, technology and computing power inspired by the best cases of your or other industries. There is nothing wrong with stealing ideas and reapplying them as ideas are not yet patented, and they may work better for you and can even be associated with you vs the inventor (Mouse invented by Xerox yet associated with Apple).

Look externally, “stay hungry, stay foolish”.

May the force (of curiosity) be with you.

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Cheers,

C.Firat Caliskan?

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