claiming upwards of 30 percent of the market. This new fringe behavior was gaining critical mass, and Homeplus saw a chance to answer the question of how consumers would respond to a fresh take on internet grocery shopping.
Homeplus chose to be optimistic about the future of grocery shopping in this new world by framing e-tailing as an opportunity, and to be curious about how to accelerate it even further. This was a stark contrast to most retailers’ desire to halt the progression of online grocery shopping for as long as possible. Standing back from the daily realities of their business, Homeplus executives challenged deeply held industry assumptions by asking a very important question. Instead of considering ways to dissuade shoppers from going online for groceries, they asked, “How can we remove barriers to ordering groceries online and take the lead in online grocery sales?” We suggest that solving this question became Homeplus’s edge of disruption in 2011, and it was the perfect place to bring together its understanding of the market, its enthusiasm for technology, and its interest in the shopping experience.
The company’s executives pulled together a team of partners that included their ad agency in Seoul, which came forward with an idea for making orders much easier for time-pressed consumers. The team hypothesized that consumers were reluctant to take the time to get out their computers, log on to a grocery site, and scroll through static lists of products to find what they liked to buy. It was all too much bother; worse, it didn’t make sense in either the traditional model or the emerging model. To make headway with consumers online, Homeplus had to engineer a new kind of online shopping.
The team looked to cultural norms and technology trends in particular for insight. South Koreans relied heavily on public transportation to get around their highly urbanized country. As they waited for the subway, they liked to pull out their phones— maybe to do something important, or maybe to surf, check social media, or play games—it didn’t matter. For Homeplus, this was a potentially disruptive way to engage.
The company invested in a dedicated app and outfitted train stations with images of grocery products. This allowed commuters to use their smartphones, stroll along the train station with its walls plastered with images of products just as they would a grocery store aisle, and capture the products they recognized and loved on their phones. With the help of their ad agency, Homeplus was able to mimic the visuals of a grocery store’s aisles, with items displaying QR codes shoppers could scan with their phones.4 As items were selected, the app added them to the consumer’s shopping basket. Assuming payment details were filled out in advance on the app, a single click would allow the customer to make a purchase. During the campaign, online sales rose 130 percent.5 Clarence Saunders would be proud!
Imagine for yourself the kinds of questions you need to ask, the assumptions you need to challenge, if you want to completely reconstitute your customer interactions. These market-facing, customer-impacting moments are rich and generative places to look for your edge of disruption. You may want to ask your customers, but remember that they likely will struggle to envision something different as well, so don’t stop there. Ask your employees, talk to people outside your industry, and understand the cultural changes that are affecting your business. Take a good look at your assumptions and test yourself. Are you pushing out of the echo chamber of your own business far enough, or are you stuck on the model as it is known today? It is tough to do on your own—collaboration is great for brainstorming as you define your edge of disruption. Bring in outside voices; industry watchers, customers, board members, employees, vendors, technology experts, consultants, and others will help you to really focus on where you can create the greatest value for your organization and your customers.
If you feel like defining your edge of disruption is a little overwhelming, you are right where you should be. If it feels like it may change the fundamentals of your business forever, you are on it. Don’t worry—once you get there, you will have the ability to stay there, while continuing to look forward and to push your customers, your industry, and your markets in new directions. But first, you need to learn about the three things required to get there.
When we looked at companies that have succeeded on the edge of disruption, that are delivering the highest value possible to customers, we observed that they brought three things to the journey. Every person and every company you meet in this book has these three things in common, and you need to find them for yourself if you wish to become the obvious choice in your market. The three things you must have are the courage to challenge your assumptions, the ability to take an optimistic stance about the future of your industry and your place in it, and a desire to explore the unanswered questions, to know more about the world around you. Let’s consider each of these in turn.
HAVE THE COURAGE TO CHALLENGE ASSUMPTIONS
First and foremost, when you set out to define your edge of disruption, you absolutely, unequivocally must have the courage to challenge your assumptions and deeply held beliefs about your industry, including how you make money and provide value. You must step out of the container of your immediate environment and be willing to stretch your imagination and your understanding of possibilities.
Let’s take a minute to flash back to 1916, and imagine what might have been on Clarence Saunders’s list of assumptions. We’re willing to bet “The highest level of service is to serve someone yourself” was on there, along with “Customers like to make a list of what they want,” because it was assumed that browsing around a store was no way to spend precious time!
Take a good look at your assumptions and test yourself. Are you pushing out of the echo chamber of your own business far enough, or are you stuck on the model as it is known today?
What about GHX? According to Bruce, in those early days plenty of industry players assumed no one would ever really be willing to share their data. They suggested that manufacturers would bias the exchange for their own benefit, or that providers would not be willing to participate, fearing a loss of influence over their suppliers. Everyone seemed worried about losing control of their data, which was a big assumption, given that many of them actually didn’t have much control over their data when it was managed in-house at the time. Some leaders in the founding companies even admitted later to not believing GHX would succeed. Thankfully GHX did succeed, and it did in part because it was willing to challenge these assumptions head-on.
It would have been no different for Homeplus. You can hear critics saying, “People prefer to buy fruits and vegetables in person, carefully selecting their own.” Another assumption might have been, “Growth in apps for phones isn’t relevant to buying groceries.” Whenever you are getting close to the edge of disruption, the assumptions become louder and harder to ignore.
Do it for yourself right now. Pull out a piece of paper and write down the five most irrevocable truths that you believe about how you do business. Truths that, when you are honest with yourself, may in fact be blinding you to opportunities that are right in front of you. Opportunities that the insular world of your industry and your organization are hiding in plain sight. Embedded in the results will be pointers to your edge of disruption—the ideas that are too precious to challenge are the very ones you must examine. Hang on to that piece of paper while you read this book; use it as a bookmark if you have a paper copy. You may feel the need to come back to it time and again.
We know it is hard to challenge your assumptions, but you must do it because those sacred beliefs and unconscious biases blind you to the opportunity that is hidden in plain sight all around you. You can challenge your assumptions about how you do business and what makes you special—what you believe about yourself and about your competition. You can also orient around the customer perspective and examine assumptions about what they expect from you. It may be necessary to tap into outsiders to gain access to thoughts on industry convergence, legislation,
