How to reinvent a business model?
In the previous posts on the Business Transformation Summit, we mostly covered the subjects of business acceleration through digital and technology transformations. Today let’s make a leap into the past to see how this French company reinvented their business model.
In 2014, things were going badly for retailer La Redoute. The well-established company was losing 50 million euros a year and still relying on its shopping catalogue as a major sales channel. Eric Courteille – co-president of La Redoute and logistics company Relais Colis – spoke about these challenges at Cegos’ recent Business Transformation Summit. He says they had to take drastic action to transform the company and prevent it from collapsing.
To turn things around, they reinvented their business model around four pillars :
- Streamline the product range to focus on four of the best-selling categories
- Withdraw the ‘big book’ catalogue and invest heavily in the e-commerce channel
- Build an automated warehouse to increase efficiency and rely on fewer staff
- Invest in human capital development – change the company culture to improve morale and train people to perform better
In addition, management made sure they communicated their vision to the whole company, in a way that was inclusive and inspirational. In fact, Eric considers the ‘human capital’ pillar to be the most important. He for instance says the human factor should always come first and that you need to support your people fully if you want to reverse your company’s fortunes.
Watch this short video to find out how La Redoute created success from the verge of failure.
More insights on business acceleration
This video is part of a series from the Business Transformation Summit. They show the most compelling keynotes and insights. There are plenty of topics to inspire your business journey. For example the two posts below:
Training your people in Performance Learning is crucial if you want to successfully redefine your business model. If you would like to learn more about how Cegos can help visit this page and get in touch.