Going Global: Why Do Great Retailers Fail When They Cross Borders?

So anyway, Martin, I thought today, you know, from the conversations we've been having recently, we could tackle the subject of one of retail's great temptations, you know, You've built a successful business at home.

Customers love you.

The economics work.

The brand is growing.

Then sooner or later, somewhere around the boardroom table says, you know what? Why don't we take this global? And that's when things can get very interesting and also very expensive.

Indeed, retail history tells us that being brilliant in one market definitely does not necessarily mean that we'll be brilliant in another.

So many examples, Tesco, Walmart, Carrefour, Marks and Spencers and plenty of others have discovered that what works at home does not always travel.

But then you look at Ikea, you look at Zara, Aldi and Lidl and other brands like Sephora, Uniqlo.

Donald's and Starbucks, and they've all demonstrated that strong concepts can cross borders.

Absolutely.

So today's debate isn't really about whether international expansion can work because clearly it can.

The question is why such capable businesses so often get it wrong.

Is think global, act local genuinely the secret? Or is it one of those management phrases that everybody agrees with, but nobody can execute?

And there's a tension inside that, David.

How much should you change before the business you're taking overseas stops becoming the business that made you successful in the first place?

Exactly.

You know, change too little and you export your assumptions.

You change too much and you lose your advantage.

And the difficult bit is knowing which is which.