The Rules of Retail: Location, Product, Operations, and the Five Senses of Branding

I think there are rules for almost everything, or at least somebody has tried to write them down and put numbers next to them. The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, Buddhism's Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold Path, and countless other philosophies all give us some kind of structure to begin with. Human beings like lists. They make complicated subjects a little easier to approach.

I think enumerating things is helpful, but don't become a prisoner of the list. There might be ten rules today and eleven tomorrow. As we gain experience, we see exceptions, uncover details we missed, and sometimes change our minds. The list is a starting point, not a religious commandment.

I've already written about the importance of location, which I consider the first sacred rule of retail. Here are the first four rules as I understand them. They apply to restaurants and stores, but much of the thinking applies to other businesses as well.

RULE ONE: LOCATION.

In retail, location comes first. A beautiful product, wonderful employees, and a clever marketing plan can all struggle if the business is in the wrong place. You need to be visible and accessible to the people most likely to want what you're selling. A great location is not simply a famous address. It is a place where your business and the habits of your potential customers fit together.

RULE TWO: HAVE A GREAT PRODUCT THAT PEOPLE WANT OR NEED.

Once people find you, you need to give them a compelling reason to come inside, buy something, and return. If you're opening a restaurant, the food should be exceptional. In a city like New York, where customers have an enormous number of choices, being merely acceptable is a weak business plan.

The smoothie, juice, soup, salad, or whatever you're selling has to justify the transaction. Quality, consistency, value, and a reason to return matter more than how many flattering adjectives you put on the menu. A beautiful store with disappointing food is still a disappointing restaurant.

RULE THREE: OPERATE.

If rules one and two are correct, rule three becomes obvious, but not easy. You have to operate the business. Every single day. Open on time. Train people. Maintain equipment. Order products. Control waste. Protect quality. Keep the place clean. Watch the money. Fix problems before they grow teeth.

A successful restaurant isn't a concept; it's thousands of repeatable actions carried out by human beings who have good days, bad days, and occasionally very strange days. Good operations make the quality you promised reliably available to customers. Without them, the first two rules start falling apart.

RULE FOUR: BUILD THE BRAND AND PERFECT THE MACHINE THAT SELLS THE PRODUCT.

Branding matters enormously, but people often think it begins and ends with the name, logo, colors, packaging, and artwork. Those things are important. They are not the entire brand.

People experience businesses with their senses. They look, listen, smell, taste, and touch. Those are five opportunities to communicate what the business is and how it makes people feel. In a restaurant, the appearance of the food matters, but so do the sounds coming from the kitchen, the music, the smell of fresh ingredients, the taste of the product, and the feel of the room and packaging. A brand doesn't live only on a computer screen.

Branding also takes place behind the scenes. How does the staff feel about the business? Do they understand its mission? Do they believe in the methods? Are the means consistent with the values you're advertising? What happens when a customer complains? How does the company treat the people who work there?

If the advertisement says one thing and the customer experiences another, that's a branding problem. If the employees can't explain what makes the company different, that's a branding problem. If the store is gorgeous but the product is inconsistent, that's a branding problem, and an operations problem as well.

Then there's marketing, the actual machine that brings new people to the business and keeps the existing customers coming back. Your storefront, your windows, your website, your menu, your social media, your product presentation, and every conversation at the counter are all part of how you sell. Ideally, they tell one logical, consistent story.

When those elements work together, the business becomes easier to recognize, understand, trust, and recommend. When they contradict one another, customers feel the confusion even if they can't explain it.

So those are my first four rules: location, product, operations, and branding and marketing. They are not independent. They're connected. The location introduces the business. The product gives people a reason to care. Operations make the promise repeatable. Branding and marketing communicate that promise to the world.

I can go on about this, and I will. A list is only useful if it helps you notice what needs work in the real world. The rules are not sacred because I wrote them down. They're useful only if they help us build better businesses.