New York – The keynote address at the National Retail Federation’s annual convention may have been titled “The Company of the Future,” but the recent retail past was very much on attendees’ minds. There was no getting around what NRF president/CEO Tracy Mullin referred to as “the only issue in the room.”
“We’ve all had a tough Christmas,” said keynote speaker H. Lee Scott Jr., president/CEO of Wal-Mart during Monday’s opening session. “We all know what it’s like out there for our customers and suppliers.”
Scott believes we’ll have an “extraordinarily challenging” first half of 2009, and he hopes by next Christmas the situation will not be any worse. “I don’t see anything that will change anytime soon,” he said.
Then again, when Barack Obama takes over as president, there are high expectations for reform and change, he notes. “It often takes a crisis to face challenges, and it’s time for America to put away special interests, gamesmanship, and partisanship for the common good.”
As businesses, Scott said, “We have a responsibility to society to bring together a financial bottom line with a societal bottom line. We listen, we have metrics and we’re held accountable. Each and every retailer can make a difference. Together, we can build a stronger America.”
Mullin — who noted that “no amount of retail seduction could bring [customers] into the store” this past holiday season — agreed. “In many ways, the economic crisis has brought out the best in retailers as they’ve continued to be good corporate citizens,” she said.
There has been a fundamental change in spending habits, Scott said, and “you had better understand your customers, and you had better understand your inventory.” For instance, as consumers stopped eating out because of the economy, “more people bought our frozen food,” he said.
Scott has held various positions with Wal-Mart over 30 years before becoming CEO in 1998. And now he is preparing to hand over the reins of president/CEO of Wal-Mart stores to Michael Duke as of Feb. 1. (Mullin suggested an early retirement pursuit for Scott: U.S. Secretary of Commerce.)
With less than three weeks to retirement, what is the most important lesson of Scott’s career? “You have to have people who are better than you and give them credit,” he said. “It’s extraordinary to see what can happen.”