#543 subtract

I was reading my Sunday newspaper inserts and for a moment thought I was confused about what I was seeing.  One ad featured a turkey and all the trimmings, and another showed a bed, sheets and a beanbag chair.  One flyer was from a grocery store and the other from a department store so that made sense -- except that it was Target promoting the food and our grocery selling sheets, blankets and beanbag chairs.  Huh?

Why do retailers today feel that they have to be everything to everybody?  It's not just shopkeepers who are afflicted with please-everyone-itis.  Schools, hospitals, entertainment venues -- everyone is trying to expand and offer things that deviate from their core.  

In efforts to try and offer everything, I think they dilute it all.  I can't find the brands of food I want at the grocery because they have allocated space to hair dryers, scent warmers and sherpa throws.  Target cut out aisles of "hard goods" to squeeze a mini-grocery store in the same square footage and now neither carries a robust selection.  

Don't succumb to the temptation to follow their lead.  What you don't do speaks volumes.  Saying no is often the most strategic answer you can give.

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com

@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com