If you’ve attended IMS Retail University, you’ve heard me say many times “get out of town.” To fully appreciate the nuances and best practices of retail, you need to go see different kinds of stores in other cities. It’s even better if you can visit retailers in other countries. One of my opportunities this year is to take Retail U abroad to many countries. While I’ve learned a lot in the Ukraine, UK, Brazil and Singapore, nothing quite prepared me for Morocco! If you get to the streets of Marrakesh, you will discover that the real roots of consumer experience are alive and well in the stalls of the market place.
Visiting one of the oldest cities to discover the roots of retail experience
It will definitely date me to say that one of my favorite songs about travel was the first Top 40 hit by Crosby, Stills and Nash, which debuted 1969. The song was written by Graham Nash in 1966 about his experience on riding a train to the amazing city of Marrakesh. It is worth borrowing a few of his lyrics to reinforce the need to step outside your “box” and comfort zone to gain new insights:
Sweeping cobwebs from the edges of my mind
Had to get away to see what we could find
Hope the days that lie ahead
Bring us back to where they’ve led
Listen not to what’s been said to you
Would you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express
While the lyrics are about Graham Nash’s experience on the Marrakesh Express train, they could just as easily be written about getting stuck in the ruts of organized retailing today. My trip to Marrakesh was truly one of rediscovering the power of consumer experience in the retail market place that dates back about 1,000 years.
Today’s Big Box retailers have lost much of their retailing roots & “soul”
Walmart is often thought of epitomizing big box retail. But, before Walmart there was Sears, Macy’s and other department stores. The advantage of organized retail was efficiency gained through volume purchases and supply chains. The end result for the consumer was convenience of merchandise variety at the lowest price. But along the way, the big box merchants lost their roots related to the consumer experience. Big Box retailers lost their soul, where merchants focused on the consumer experience by how they evolved to gain efficiencies:
- Bulk stacking merchandise on shelves and pallets
- Cramming more in the store and on shelves to broaden assortments
- Reducing staff to gain efficiency in turning the goods
- Packaging the product to prevent theft and make it easy to display
- Removing the consumer’s ability to touch and interact with products
- Taking orders online and removing the store interaction entirely
Don’t get me wrong … organized retailing is here to stay, and I spend most of my life working to make it better. But, after visiting the markets in Marrakesh, I have a whole new appreciation of the value of consumer centric interaction versus product centric merchandising.
Rediscovering consumer experience in the Marrakesh souqs
Marrakesh is a metropolis of 1 million plus people, located in Morocco located in northwest Africa. The city dates back to somewhere around 1062. Marrakesh has always been a cross roads of trade north of the Saharan desert. Today, it has the largest traditional Berber market (souk) in Morocco. A souk, or souq, is a traditional open air style market. The local market souq tends to be food based, like in open air markets in many cities across the world. But, the central souq is a more permanent place, where there is exchange of many kinds of goods.
What’s so different about a souq versus a store … let me count the ways:
- The merchandise is on open display … literally at your finger tips
- There typically is no packaging … you can touch, feel, try it on
- The merchant is at hand … literally handing you things
- No point of sale “signage” … this is hands on selling
- No fixed price or internet price … this is the art of engaging in the deal
- Market basket selling has achieved a high art from here … there is no end to what the merchants can stuff in your bag while feeding you and giving you tea!
Many westerners might find the energetic engagement in a souq daunting or a bit intimidating when compared to rows of silent shelves of products. But, as I watched the energy of the souq, there was no question that both the merchants and consumers were totally engaged. It is like witnessing a pure form of retailing with all of the barriers removed.
The Djemaa el Fna – Morocco’s top attraction of edu-tainment experience
I couldn’t find anyone who knew quite when or how this “biggest of markets” came into being. Describing it as a retail market is not accurate. The Djemaa el Fna is the most amazing place with a truly unique atmosphere. You will see everything from snake charmers to tooth pullers, as well as cures for all ills. At dusk, there literally is a “promenade” as people stroll into the square to see acrobats, story tellers and performing artists. By night, the area becomes a massive open air restaurant, with sights, sounds and aromas too compelling to ignore.
In short, what is so incredibly different about Djemaa el Fna and the Northern Medina is that the shopping “centers” literally come alive. There is no worry about “traffic” … the immersive experience makes this the place that consumers want to be. America’s malls would be the corollary as a central market … but they are ghost towns by comparison of energy of the consumers and engagement of the experience.
The point: Consumer engagement is both compelling and profitable
No, not many modern bricks and mortar retailers are going to turn their stores into open air markets. Yes, as retail stores become even more sterile places with racks of commodities at a price, retailers wonder why traffic to stores is declining. Indeed, gross margin % and even market basket attach mean nothing if consumers do not come and engage … and buy!
As I experienced the souqs of Marrakesh, it immediately occurred to me that someone from Wegman’s must have visited and captured the essence of the excitement and engagement. If you have not been to a Wegman’s supermarket, it is unlike any grocery store you have ever seen. Wegman’s has literally brought the concept of small shops and stalls within their larger store. Their stores are an American version of a souq under a roof has created incredible consumer traffic and loyalty. Wegman’s has become a retail case study of when, why and how consumers will engage and pay more than commodity prices.
The closing lyrics to the Graham Nash song are very apropos for modern retailers. It’s time to get on board that train to relearn retailing’s roots … now is definitely the time to create experience and engagement that transcends racks of products and static displays.
Colored cottons hang in air
Charming cobras in the square
Striped Djellebas we can wear at home
Don’t you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express
They’re taking me to Marrakesh
All on board that train!
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