Zombies are the fictional ‘living dead’. A zombie business model is one that might still be alive, but may as well be dead, unless there is radical surgery undertaken.
Blockbuster was a zombie model, happily making money while Netflix emerged from its cacoon, to kill it in a few short years.
Blockbuster’s then CEO John Antico recognised the problem and instituted a solution that would probably have saved them, but fell victim to the entrenched view of the Blockbuster model held by his board. His replacement blew some temporary life into the zombie, but missed the opportunity to rebuild, and shortly after, Blockbuster died a rapid and ugly death.
Many bricks and mortar retailers find themselves in a similar position. They know what they sell, but have no idea to whom they sell it, and whether or not the price at which they sold maximised their margins. Meanwhile, Amazon knows what they sell, to who, at what price, when, and the details of their location, and a host of demographic and behavioural data gleaned from their big data sets. Who is the zombie in that mix?
I note that this morning Lowes announced the closure of 51 North American stores. Can somebody please ask the former Woolies MD what it was like being in bed with a Zombie!
