Monday 3 March 2014

A Retail Fable

Once upon a time, there was a High Street and 3 little pigs who owned shops there.


One day, word came that a big bad wolf was coming to town to open a big new store on the edge of the town. The local newspaper reported that the big bad wolf was a nasty person who’d eat everyone and anyone nearby so the little pigs all went back to their shops to make plans.


The first little pig covered his shop with paper leaflets trying to scare the local people about the big bad wolf. The leaflets were full of confusing numbers with no explanation as well as the word “local” spread all over them despite the fact he sourced stock for his shop from a 100 mile radius.


The second little pig added foreign sounding words to all his products, bought some second hand wooden tables and decided he would only worry about the rich people who lived in the town.


The third little pig, who’d always had had the best kept shop with the best customer service and the best choice of products, did nothing but carry on doing what he’d always done.


The day of the Big Bad Wolf’s opening came and the people of the town talked loudly as they walked to the big new shop.


They walked past the shop covered in leaflets and said loudly “Glad I don’t need to use THAT shop anymore – he never used to say a word when I went in and now it feels like I’m being lectured”.


Then they walked past the posh shop and said “I can’t afford that place anymore”

As they walked past the 3rd pig’s shop, they waved at the little pig inside “We’ll be back in a bit”, they said. And, after they visited the big bad wolf’s shop, they did go back.


Today, only one of the little pigs is still running his shop.


The moral of this story is if you have to wait for a big bad wolf to come along for you to make an effort with your shop, you’re letting your shoppers down. And when that big bad wolf comes along, they’ll remember and then let you down.

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