Retail Innovation Program

City of Sydney – Retail Innovation Program

The City of Sydney’s Retail Innovation Program aims to help local small retailers explore innovative ways to become more competitive in a digital economy, to grow into the future and cement the future of retail for Sydney as part of a vibrant, liveable city.

Background

High street retailers are the lifeblood of our urban communities and crucial to the vibrancy of city life. Digital technology is changing the way we live, work, eat, play, learn as well as the way we shop. As the digital economy continues to evolve, brick and mortar retailers need to embrace innovation to survive.

In this digital world, brick and mortar shops need innovation and “future proofing”. The winners of the future will be those who successfully find ways to run lean, agile and scalable business models, streamline and digitize their operations, and put in place the right people capabilities.

Implementation

The City wanted to explore the idea of developing a similar support structure to accelerate innovation and learning across the local retail sector, like that used by  tech start-ups. The tech start-up ecosystem in Sydney is young but growing fast and in recent years it has become one of the top city ecosystems in the world. One of the key enablers for this rapid growth is the proliferation of incubators and accelerator programs that support early stage start-ups to validate their business models, network and learn from others to accelerate their growth.

In 2018 we asked the industry (via a Request For Quotation) to develop an intensive short-termed accelerator program, similar to those from the tech sector, but specifically designed for brick and mortar businesses wanting to grow. As a result of the tender process, the City partnered with Investible - the successful applicant- a market leader in entrepreneurial business development programs for start-ups.

Outputs

After an expression of interest process open to Sydney’s retail community, 15 retailers were selected from 48 applications to participate in the business accelerator program at no cost. The nine week accelerator program consisted of a three day immersive bootcamp, followed by weekly growth sprints including in-depth workshops, mentoring from industry leaders, and pitch sessions in front of various audiences (investors, industry, developers, tech entrepreneurs, etc).The program brought together savvy retailers with experienced entrepreneurs, mentors, academics, researchers and digital and technology experts.

After the completion of the pilot program the alumni continues to meet regularly for monthly peer-to-peer ‘retail therapy’ sessions supporting each other in the ongoing journey of putting their learnings from the program into practice. The City also produced a digital marketing campaign (editorial and video stories) to showcase participants and their learnings, delivered via the City’s social channels and through a media partnership with Concrete Playground. The goal was to inspire other retailers to innovate and build a more resilient retail sector for Sydney.

Outcomes and results

Outcomes for the participants included:

  • 3 new businesses or business lines launched;
  • 5 of the businesses pivoted their business model;
  • 42 direct connections facilitated;
  • 38 new partnership opportunities;
  • 4 investor meetings with 1 investment commitment so far;
  • More than 25 potential new jobs could be created over the next 12 months as retailers implement the growth plans they developed during the program.

The marketing campaign resulted in approximately 13,800 page views by approximately 12,800 users with an average dwell time of nearly 8 minutes.

Evaluation

An evaluation was carried out by Investible as part of the review of the pilot program. Feedback from participants suggests the program was perceived as very high quality with 100% satisfaction and 100% commitment to implementing their learnings from the program within in their businesses. Participants refer to the program as “doing an MBA program in 9 weeks.”

The success of this pilot program resulted in the City planning to run the program for 2 more years (2020 & 2021).

Costs and funding

The program was funded through internal revenue, enabling the program to be offered free for local businesses to participate.

Key learnings

The program was successful in building a strong cohort of innovative retailers who continue to share their knowledge and support each other’s success;

  • The City has been approached by various other Councils and organisations interested in developing a similar program for retailers in their areas;
  • Opportunities for the City to attend various events to speak about the program.

Some of the challenges include:

  • Communication strategy to reach target audience and relay the value and benefit of participating in such a complex program; and
  • Adapting procurement systems to enable innovative approaches.

Other relevant information

In 2019, the program attracted 68 applications, with 20 of these selected to participate in the program. The selection process includes online application to address key criteria, video interviews, aptitude profiling, and planning for diversity. The program targets retailers with a focus on the future, seeking growth, deeply passionate about their business and the problem they aimed to solve, with consciousness regarding sustainability practices.

To promote the program and inspire others, and these innovative retailers, the City produced a series of editorial and video stories showcasing key learnings and innovation, including:

Editorial:

Videos:

City of Sydney marketing and media to promote the 2019/20 program:

Council Details

Population size: 240,229

LGA size: 25 km2

State Electorate: Sydney, Balmain, Heffron, Newtown

Federal Electorate: Sydney, Kingsford-Smith, Wentworth

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