Winning at Retail ─ Developing a Sustained Model for Retail Success

Praise for Winning At Retail "Winning at Retail offers the most effective strategies available for retailers. At McDonald's, the 'Quick-EST' model is crucial, because being close and convenient to where our customers live, work, and shop helps us create maximum value. If you want to harness your company's strengths to become a leader in your category-and stay in tune with what your customers want-this is the book for you." -Jim Rand, Senior Vice President of Business Development, McDonald's Corporation "Winning at Retail provides a thoughtful approach to retail differentiation. Ander and Stern warn of the 'treacherous middle' into which retailers too easily drift. They inspire us to avoid this peril through case studies of retailers who have assumed leadership through courageous choice." -Robert L. Price, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Wawa "In a difficult retail environment, this book provides crucial guidance for staying on top of your competition-by taking the customer seriously and leveraging your strengths to provide experiences that increase customer loyalty. Will Ander and Neil Stern elegantly argue that you can't always be the biggest, fastest, and trendiest place on the block, but it takes only one of these 'Ests' to be a category leader. Businesses big and small can benefit from the carefully distilled lessons in this book." -Bernd Schmitt, Professor of Marketing, Columbia Business School and author of Customer Experience Management

WILLARD N. ANDER is a Partner with McMillan|Doolittle, a global retail consultancy with clients around the world. He consults on strategy, new store development, and retail best practices with such clients as General Motors, Publix, Lands' End, McDonald's, Best Buy, The Great Indoors, and BP/Amoco. He is a graduate of Stanford University and a former assistant professor at the University of Houston.
NEIL Z. STERN is a Senior Partner with McMillan|Doolittle who specializes in the strategic planning and development of new retail concepts. His clients include Safeway, Procter & Gamble, Harris Teeter, Wawa, Radio Shack, and Chevron/Texaco. He is the Editor of McMillan|Doolittle's Retail Watch newsletter and is a graduate of Columbia University.

Preface.
Acknowledgments.
Part I: The Theory.
Chapter 1: Est: A Compass to Avoid Retail’s Black Hole.
Chapter 2: Customers Are #1—Now It’s Time for Retailers to Start Treating Them That Way.
Part II: The Practice.
Chapter 3: Cheap-Est: Winning with Price.
Chapter 4: Big-Est: Winning with Dominant Assortments.
Chapter 5: Hot-Est: Winning with Fashion.
Chapter 6: Easy-Est: Winning with Solution-Oriented Service.
Chapter 7: Quick-Est: Winning with Fast Service.
Chapter 8: Putting Est to Work.
Part III: The Future.
Chapter 9: Est Isn’t Forever: Retail Is Tougher Than Ever.
Chapter 10: Developing Tomorrow’s Hot Ideas.
Chapter 11: Putting the Customer in Control.
Chapter 12: A Glance at the Future.
Notes.
Index.