Five Plus One: How It Started, How It’s Going, and A Few Things I Know For Sure
Six years ago in July, rekon Retail® turned 5 years old. (yes, it’s taken me an extra year to finish my five-year newsletter which is further evidence this was written by just me). If you’re doing the math, this company started in the middle of the pandemic: July of 2020 to be exact. At that time all stores that weren’t “essential” (basically grocery and pharmacy) were still closed and the ecommerce community along with VCs, analysts and even some “retail experts” were declaring the death of all physical retail. I didn’t buy it.
There’s no such thing as a “Retail Entry Playbook”
Every brand new to retail wants to be the Warby Parker of something. But there is no retail entry playbook that guarantees success if followed to the letter. What works are principles: listen more than you tell, don't let perfect be the enemy of good, build a team that is more than its leader, and remember that "evaluated failure is far more valuable than accidental success."