Did you know that John Lewis saw sales for the Black Friday week surge 22% higher than the same week in 2014, and so gave it the highest weekly sale in its 150-year history!
Sales were up 5.8% year on year in the five weeks to 27 December. When new stores are excluded from the figures, sales rose 4.8%.
But total sales in Christmas week were flat.
In the five weeks, sales of electrical goods had increased by 6.8%, but actually fell 14.7% in the final fortnight. This, compared to a massive 41% increase in electrical sales in Black Friday week.
And as the Evening Standard pointed out on 5th January, Andy Street, CEO of John Lewis, explained that his main anxiety about Black Friday was that it would erode Christmas profitability for retailers (and that purchases made during Black Friday week would have been made anyway, and at a higher price). http://www.standard.co.uk/business/markets/chris-blackhurst-why-retailing-has-to-control-the-black-friday-monster-9958034.html?origin=internalSearch
Street did make a key point: if retailers do repeat Black Friday this year, UK retailing is potentially taking on a force that just could, eat away profits across their other product lines, especially Christmas goods.
This aside, what Black Friday did was show was how our fast our world is changing. HOW and WHAT we buy is also changing.
And to keep up with this, companies must change as well. Those that handle the change will thrive; those that don’t will struggle to survive.
Let’s not forget that at end of the day, Black Friday and Christmas sales aside, effective change in ANY company is ultimately all about the PEOPLE and how well they are managed to implement the necessary changes.
Take a look at these top 5 tips on how to manage change in a company and its impact on staff, effectively:-
1. Be clear
What kind of change is required? Is it a major shake-up (transformational change) or a moderate process improvement (incremental change), a slow or rapid roll-out?
Each involves different implications and so will affect your people in different ways.
2. Measure twice…cut once
Plan, plan, plan! Schedule and identify key steps that must occur: set out clearly defined objectives, milestones and responsibilities.
Attend to the detail; regularly review progress made.
Celebrate your successes as the milestones are met.
3. Get some traction
Avoid complacency and inertia.
Create an environment in which people are recognised for the changes they have gone or are going through.
Drive resistors out of their comfort zones. Reward the new ways, not the old ones.
4. Joined-up thinking
Deal with the domino effect – think of the other things affected by the change that need re-aligning to provide the necessary reinforcement e.g., reward, measurement, resources, budgets, structures, sign-off procedures and so forth.
5. Set your people up…to succeed
During any period of change, organisations typically raise the hurdles.
Tackle your team’s training and development to ensure your people have the confidence, ability and desire to clear the new hurdles that come with change.
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