The Christmas Countdown has started, here's what you need to do today
Christmas can make or break a retailer - are you on top of all your ecommerce projects? If not, you need to start prioritising today or your business will suffer later
Posted by Andrew Sykes, 19th September 2011
It may seem shocking and it may be unfashionable bordering on distastful to mention it aloud, but there's a familiar autumnal chill in the air already and the old Christmas Goose is rapidly piling on the pounds. That means it's time for retailers to start turning the screw on ecommerce projects.
Many projects' commercial basis will assume that they have an impact of the lead up to Christmas. Failure to hit this deadline can seriously undermine or even negate the commercial rationale for the investment.
With many retailers experiencing seasonal variances that can equate to several times their usual turnover rate, failure to deliver at Christmas can mean that a project expected to deliver ROI in two months takes six, eight or more.
This is a problem, because it means that forecasts for the coming year will be down; the knock on is less cash to invest next year. With the economic backdrop as it is, that could easily mean this Christmas could turn out to be your last!
What to Do Today
But, enough doom and gloom, it's not too late to avert disaster.
For mid-sized retailers, all but the most lumbering, behemoth projects are probably redeemable. If you don't have a clear view of progress, find someone who can give you that and do it sharpish. Don't settle for airy percentages with little link to anything tangible; if your reports look like this, be afraid!
Think about where the upcoming value lies. If you don't have a quantitative list of expected benefits already, create one today. Don't settle for intangible benefit; if you're expecting tangible results from intangible benefit statements this side of Christmas, look for a better investment. Once you've established clear quantitative benefit statements, try to map the elements of your project to the benefits. If 80% of a benefit can be delivered by focusing on 20% of the project, you'll know what to do! If no one can articulate the quantitative benefit of a project, then you either need help with the benefit statement or a change of project.
'Be Radical!'
Be radical: this is your last chance to put the project back on track, so it's no time for half-measures. Don't compromise any remedial action based on emotional upset or bruised egos; nothing will leave as lasting a mark as a P45 in February. In other words, be cruel to be kind.
And if all else fails and the project is beyond redemption, now is the time to "can" it and work out how to recover. It will be a lot harder to do this after the peak trading period has passed and you've burned three more months of investment!
Today's the day to make the change!
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