Tomorrow I am speaking at the SHOP conference at the University of Arkansas on Design Thinking.  I will be joined by many executives from the retail industry, including Wal-Mart, as we explore Retail Innovation.  I am excited. I think the Retail Industry overall is ripe for reinvention of their experiences and I am excited to stimulate their thinking in this space and how Design Thinking might be of help.

Imagine if we reframe what shopping is or how we engage in it?  What might we create?  Imagine if retailers were interested in their shoppers enough to go beyond the data to understanding their lives deeply, with empathy, what we might see as opportunities to innovate the experience?  Of course, there are some retailers on the front edge of this opportunity making strides in imagining new ways to engage customers and technology is opening many doors. But, imagine if the industry decides to elevate its game on meeting human needs!

I guess I have one of those design thinking mindsets of optimism.  I feel like the conference tomorrow will be the start of something big.

Cindy

TAKE ACTION

Pay attention to the retailers you visit this week.  Practice your framing and empathy tools. What opportunities present themselves to you?

• If you are in the retail business, how do you explore and capitalize on these?
• If your business engages with retail customers, what aha might you share with them to stimulate their business?