Adaptive Retail Is Sometimes an Oxymoron

By John Malmo

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkno/local-wkno-936832.mp3

Adaptive Retail Is Sometimes an Oxymoron, by John Malmo

Memphis, TN – One so-called expert says there are two kinds of creativity in business. Innovative creativity, he says, involves breaking new ground. The Apple iPhone is an example. The other he calls adaptive creativity, which, using the iPhone example, are the improvements made in iPhone since its creation. All of which is just a different way to say that even innovative products die if creative adaptations are not made to keep them new.

Tide Detergent was born in 1943. P and G made twenty-two improvements in the first twenty-one years, and dozens more since. Some businesses, though, don't lend themselves to adaptive creativity. Could Blockbuster video have remained successful by adaptive creativity? I wonder.

The franchise structure of the brand and the brick-and-mortor investments of both franchisees and the corporation complicated things. If Blockbuster had beaten Netflix to the internet or Red Box to the sidewalk, could it have staved off bankruptcy? What do you do with the franchises? The real estate?

Blockbuster was a viable business for almost twenty years after experts predicted its doom. Starbucks experiments with adaptive creativity to put the shine back on its brand as we speak. Adaptive creativity is a lot tougher in retail than it is in an R and D lab.

John Malmo is a marketing consultant who concentrates on helping business owners grow their businesses with effective marketing. To reach Mr. Malmo, hear and read more of his commentaries, or ask him a direct question, go to askmalmo.com.