So here are a couple of quotes from a new chief executive of a company that is one of the most successful in the world – and yet, he is talking reinvention:
“There are so many new ways to serve customers. Technology, data, and information are opening new doors for us to lead through. Our purpose of saving people money will always be relevant, but we’ll do it new ways.”
The source? Walmart’s new CEO, Doug McMillon who is taking an entirely new approach to a business model that has been exceedingly successful.
Yet, McMillon recognizes that change is in the air, and that his company must adapt to it. He notes that Walmart is testing new concepts of interfacing and serving customers. These include a smaller format of a Walmart store that is a basic gas station and 5,000 square foot convenience store version of one of his larger operations.
Another experiment involves choosing groceries online, and then picking them up at a nearby Walmart. As McMillon points out, “Time is a currency, just like prices is a currency.”
Disruption, increased competition fueled by technology, and a changing consumer impact every business in America – from Apple to Walmart. And a spirit of innovation and experimentation – driven by research and development – are survival tools that every company must employ.
These are the kinds of quotes we’d love to read from radio executives, as we continue to learn more about the changing mood and habits of our audiences.
As McMillon and the Walmart team know, many of the givens that once applied to big box retailing are changing, forcing his company to adapt and innovate. The same holds true in the radio business where many age-old assumptions are being rocked by our changing times:
- Consumers wake up with clock radios playing our morning shows
- We have a monopoly on car dashboards, competing only against CD player and other AM/FM stations
- Every home and workplace has multiple radios
- Radio has always been a portable medium
- When those Millennials get jobs and settle down, they’ll come right back to AM/FM radio
While Walmart had a record revenue year in 2013, there are signs of trouble on the horizon. The company has experienced lower store traffic, profits, and net income. As McMillon (a former Walmart “associate”) realizes, his mega-brand is going to need new ways to succeed and serve a rapidly changing customer.
Even from a position of strength and ubiquity, innovation and reinvention are mandatory.
In every business and industry.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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iPhone can wake me to sounds, to songs, but not to a live stream … seems simple enough, what team at Apple does radio industry need to bribe?
Actually, our apps at jacAPPS have always had that ability. No bribes necessary. http://www.jacapps.com
Your apps look killer, but larger battle is having “wake to stream” integrated directly into the operating system, so radio can maintain it’s position in the “center stack” of the connected home.
Hey, it’s a process and one that we can only hope will get less clunky and smoother over time. Thanks for hitting me back.