Retail companies have quite some challenges with the way the world is (rapidly) changing due to digitization. That’s why Belgian retailer Torfs & Duval Union Consulting have worked together to set up a strategy to master the digital transformation of Torfs.
In the following case study, we discuss the current market situation and disruptive trends in retail based on our seven Drivers of Transformation.
It’s fundamental to understand what is going on at the moment in the retail industry, where it is going and identify critical threats when constructing a digital strategy towards the future.
Need help with your transformation?
Do contact us: through a series of workshops, we help you to understand digital disruption and offer you a model to shape your own future.
2. Duval Union Consulting
Duval Union Consulting is a consulting company for a new digital world. We help our clients with
their long term Digital Transformation, yet also provide them with all the necessary strategic advice
to deal with Digital Strategy, Social Media and day to day Marketing challenges.
Duval Union Consulting is based on the foundation of DearMedia and Youmen. DearMedia was
created in 2009 by Jo Caudron & Dado Van Peteghem. They grew the company into a team of 8
consultants and in 2015 they decided to become the heart of the Duval Union ecosystem.
Youmen, founded by Frederic Vanderheyde & Carole Lamarque, was integrated in the Duval Union
Consulting company soon after, to grow the Innovative Marketing expertise.
DUC on LinkedInDUC on Facebook DUC on Twitter DUC on YouTube Our Blog
jo.caudron@duvalunion.com - dado.vanpeteghem@duvalunion.com - carole.lamarque@duvalunion.com - frederic.vanderheyde@duvalunion.com
More info: www.duvalunionconsulting.com
3. Duval Union Consulting
A consulting company for a new digital world
Through a series of workshops we help you to
understand digital disruption and offer you a
model to shape your own future.
GET MORE INFO > DUVALUNIONCONSULTING.COM
Need help?
Digital Transformation Modeling
A model to master digital disruption
A book on digital transformation for you to
understand and act upon digital disruption. Through
the book we share our vision and approach.
BUY THE BOOK > DIGITALTRANSFORMATIONBOOK.COM
4. Belgian retailer Torfs and Duval Union Consulting worked together to
design a digital transformation strategy for the company to master
disruption by new players like Zalando.
When setting out the (digital) business strategy for the future of your
company, it’s key to find answers on the following three questions:
1. What is happening right now in the world and in retail?
The world is fundamentally changing, and so is the retail industry.
Knowing what causes these evolutions is fundamentally important, the
same way as it is to measure the impact of the disruption on your
business.
We’ve summarized the biggest trends in retail for you to evaluate your
current position and the impact of digital disruption on your business.
2. What will happen in the coming years?
Once you know what is happening, you need to plan ahead by
describing possible future scenario’s and the position of your company
in these storylines. For Torfs, we’ve written 4 possible scenario’s and
labeled the ‘most wanted’ and ‘most likely’ ones.
3. What are we, as an organization, going to do?
In this phase, you’re going to conduct a plan or strategy to master the
threats alongside your way: You need to describe the transformation
mission, vision & strategy, which will be your guide towards the future
and the best way to validate any (digital) business idea.
But it doesn’t stop there.
To ensure that your organization survives the digital future, you’ll really
need to implement ‘digital’ in the core, develop digital leadership and
constantly monitor future trends.
It seems like there’s a lot to do, and there is. But this is not
insurmountable. Start today, give change a chance and disrupt yourself.
Before somebody else does.
Mastering disruption in retail
“The internet is not a friendly place. Things that don’t stay relevant
don’t even get the luxury of leaving ruins. They disappear.”
- Facebook’s Little Red Book
5. 1. Schoenen Torfs
“Substance, approach and especially style made Jo Caudron
and his team the perfect fit for this project with us.”
- Barbara Torfs,
Director of Marketing & Communication Torfs
Torfs is a a Belgian retailer in shoes. The
organization has more than 70 stores in Belgium.
The company originates from the end of World War
II. After a period of selling shoes on
the marketplace in Mechelen, founder Karel Torfs
decided to start Schoenen Torfs in 1948 and opened
four stores together with his wife. The company went
from father to son and in 1986, Wouter Torfs (son of
the third generation) came in play.
Under his charge the family company grew out to
become an established retailer in Belgium, best
known for its family values and motivated
employees. Therefore, Torfs has been elected Best
Employer & Best Workplace in Belgium several
times.
6. 2. Challenges
Retail companies have quite some challenges
with the way the world is (rapidly) changing due
to digitization. That’s why Torfs & Duval Union
Consulting have worked together to set up a
strategy to master the digital transformation
of Torfs.
On the following pages, we discuss the current
market situation and disruptive trends in retail
based on our seven Drivers of Transformation.
It’s fundamental to understand what is going on
at the moment in the retail industry, where it is
going and identify critical threats when
constructing a digital strategy towards the future.
Waves of Digital Disruption
After 20 years of online activity, the world is realizing
that digital technologies are changing the way we
do business.
1995+
Music
Photography
Video Rental
…
2010+
Print Media
TV
Travel
HR
…
2015+
Banking
Healthcare
Automotive
Retail
Education
Telco
…
2020+
All Safe
havens will
be subject
to digital
disruption
…
7. Retailers need to become more transparent
towards consumers. There is a high demand
in taking greater responsibility.
The distance between consumer & company
is getting smaller and these consumers
demand a greater responsiveness
of retailers.
Communication with clients
happens bi-directional due to social media,
resulting in the thriving of humanized
organizations.
At last, authenticity has never
been more important than today.
2.1. Glass House // Retailers are becoming glass houses
8. 2.2. Package // Providing experience is becoming the norm
Competitors are ‘unbundling’ or ‘rebundling’ their
supply. New players are attacking traditional
retailers and we see a tendency towards
’appification'.
There is an immense long tail in retail due to the
widespread digitization.
We see that people want more personalized
products and that ‘buying’ in general has become an
experience.
Speed is elementary: not only did it become a
differentiator but it raised the overall expectation of
consumers. We just want things here & now.
Price is still a big differentiator, offline and online.
We see that disruptors also bet big on (self)-service.
At last, traditional players lack the scalability that
new players do have.
9. 2.3. Frog // The entire value chain is changing
Bypassing is a strong disruptive force in the retail
industry.
All the elements in the value chain are switching
places rapidly: We see manufacturers building their
own sales channel, retailers becoming producers and
even consumers becoming shops themselves.
Traditional (offline) services are becoming more
virtualized in an online environment.
Customers have far more options because of the huge
fragmentation of touch points.
The human factor will always remain important,
but the combination of online & offline top experience
is becoming the standard.
If you can sell expensive cars online,
you can sell anything online.
10. 2.4. Gatekeeper // New experts are taking it up a notch
Not only traditional partners are
becoming bypassers: New gatekeepers
are changing your position in the market
as well.
We believe that ambassadorship
marketing is the way to go, also for
retailers: employees and customers are
important (and probably the best)
ambassadors for brands in retail. Never
forget that people tend to buy what is
being recommended by peers.
We’re seeing a ‘good is good enough’-
attitude growing amongst your clients.
Snapchat for instance: communication
that is good, real but not perfectly
crafted!
TRADITIONAL GATEKEEPERS
Crowd-sourced opinionsPeers as news distributorsAutomatic algorithmsNew “experts”
+ + + +
11. 2.5. Traveller // Mobile shoppers are smart shoppers
The ‘location of retail’ is shifting vastly from local
towards online & mobile. Smartphones make the
process of consuming much easier.
People are becoming an empowered self due to
mobile technology: e.g. testing the product in-store
& buy it with their smartphone on Amazon.
We’ve always wanted instant gratification, but with
the mobile evolution, everything has changed rules:
We want everything here & now.
Besides that, we see a new way of working: for
your employees and your customers. And mobile
ecosystems are introducing contextual awareness:
A mobile shopper is a smart shopper.
12. 2.6. Participant // Harder to drive retention in a Peer 2 Peer Economy
Communities have always been valuable for
retailers but it’s only now that brands
acknowledge their importance: it’s a great way
to drive loyalty. That’s why we see
gamification being introduced in retail.
Digital technology is making it easier for
consumers to collaborate amongst each other
and/or with their favorite brands.
But we also see that new players are using the
(financial) power of the crowd to kickstart
their ideas and that the sharing economy is
changing the world forever. As digital we’ll
get, ‘human’ will always remain important -
but in a digitally facilitated way!
13. 2.7. Cyborg // The long tail is hurting the retail industry
On the one hand we’re seeing that
retail is becoming smart(er) because
of the Internet Of Things, but this
could bypass the traditional players
on the other hand (e.g. sensor-based
passive buying).
Wearables are becoming more &
more mainstream and are making
people quantified selves, which
consume in a different way.
Robotics are improving (the efficiency
of) logistics in retail, smart ‘big data’
is playing a bigger role than ever in
retail and consumer monitoring is
being implemented at light speed.
The future is near. Don’t you think?
14. RETAIL
2020
OFFLINE
& ONLINE
PROXIMITY
FRAGMENTATION,
UNBUNDLING &
NEW FORMULAS
NEW BUSINESS
CONCEPTS
OFFLINE
& ONLINE
EXPERIENCE
PERSONALIZATION,
AUTOMATIZATION &
BIG DATA
BRANDS NEED
RETAILERS
RELATIONSHIP
WITH
CUSTOMERS
The retail industry is moving towards a world…
… where online retailers explore the offline world &
vice versa.
… with a lot of fragmentation, unbundling & new
retail formulas.
… where brands still need retailers to effectively
reach consumers.
… where retailers are providing customers with
online & offline experiences.
… where new business concepts of retail thrive.
… where retailers can maintain & reinforce the
relationship with the customers.
… where digital players invest in automatization,
personalization & big data.
2.8. The challenges for Torfs & other traditional retailers
15. 3. Solution
To kick off the digital transformation of Torfs, detailed insights and understandings about what is
happening in and beyond the world of retail today were needed. This phase of the transformation
was inspirational and opened the eyes of the stakeholders of the company.
An impact analysis of the Drivers of Transformation on Torfs was conducted to assess the possible
change to their business as triggered by digital transformation.
We then predicted future scenario’s for the Key Transformation Areas of Torfs to understand the
possible futures and making them visible for all stakeholders.
Together with Torfs, we’ve brainstormed about business ideas for the company considering the
designed scenarios and the (position of Torfs in the) future of Retail and mapped them on a realistic
digital roadmap.
After any digital transformation project it is needed to monitor all new trends and keep our eyes on
the possible scenarios to make sure that Torfs is able to change course in a fast but well thought way,
which is aligned with the business strategy of the company.
3.1. Our approach - Digital Transformation Modeling
16. 3.2. The outcome of the Digital Transformation Modeling approach
LONGLIST BUSINESS IDEAS
does it contribute to our
own strategy?
does it solve real
problems?
is there a
business case?
launch on the
mothership or
start a zodiac?
SHORTLIST VALIDATED
BUSINESS IDEAS
DIGITAL AGENDA
Every new business idea passed ‘the digital transformation
funnel’, which we have created together with Torfs, to ensure
that it will contribute to the strategy of the company’s
transformation and solve a real company/market problem.
If the proposed project did fit in the digital strategy and
potentially solved a real problem, business cases were set
up and decided whether the innovation should be set in
place by the company or a corporate startup of the
company.
The validation process led us to a shortlist of business ideas,
which were then prioritized and organized:
the digital agenda of Torfs was designed.
17. 3.3. The future of Torfs
Looking at the trends, learns us that Torfs already has
built up some strengths over the years. The
organization has always been doing well in terms of
being transparent, accountable and a human company.
Combining these elements of The Glass House with
offering a great service, results in a strong network and
a good relationship with the customers.
Despite these upsides, we’ve found that Torfs is still
facing numerous challenges to compete with new,
digital (and disruptive) players in retail such as Zalando.
The company will need to take relatively big steps,
however we see that Torfs will be able to make the leap
forward and transform successfully towards a hybrid
company where digital innovations and traditional
values meet each other halfway.
Offering digital experience & the traditional values
in the offline world and a top-notch user
experience in the online webshop is the way to go
for Schoenen Torfs.
18. 3.4. Torfs on Digital Transformation Modeling
“Starting today, everything will change. All colleagues -
regardless of levels, departments and structures - will work
together in new and different ways. Open, forward-looking,
no-nonsense but keeping both feet on the ground.”
The best is yet to come!
- Barbara Torfs, Director of Marketing & Communication
“Duval Union Consulting managed to align the members of the entire management
team in our digital transformation. This project was a unique experience, which resulted
in a shared vision of the management.
Initially only a handful of believers truly led the digital transformation project internally.
Because of the workshops, however, the transformation mission has secured and gained
widespread support throughout the company. We’re fully convinced that this support is
an absolute must to really set things in motion.”
19. What’s your move?
The time is now…
Digital and online services are evolving at an unseen
speed. After 20 years of online activity, digital
technologies have fundamentally changed the way we
live, work and play. And this is merely the beginning. All
of these evolutions have a huge impact on our lives.
And on the way we do business. Digital is disruptive.
Unfortunately several industries and companies didn’t
anticipate the digital transformation and “lost the
game” along the way. Most companies lack a solid plan
of ‘defense’ to cope with the digital transformation. And
we’re running out of time.
In order to stay ahead of the new players and to keep
up with the transformations in the market, traditional
businesses need to get prepared in a structural way.
We have reached a stage where ‘digital’ and ‘online’ are
no longer a gimmick at the sidelines of the business
activities. Digital is actually transforming the very
essence of business. It moved from the sidelines to the
core, from online tactics to business strategy.
Because disruption is happening so fast, we believe
that the time is now for organizations to transform their
businesses for the digital age.
What’s your move?
“Everyone has a plan, until they get a smack in the face.” - Mike Tyson