At the annual Global Retail Forum in New York the other day, keynote speaker Professor Scott Galloway of the N.Y.U. Stern School of Business laid out some very negative views for the retail trade in the U.S. He sees more bankruptcies and failures since companies have not changed or invested for future growth.

 

In rare instances where he sees players outperforming the market, he points to a common thread: most of these brands bring products and services to market that can "reverse age." Simply stated, rather than lose value the minute they are purchased, these companies see their offerings gain traction and value the longer they are used (think in terms of the power of social as a Facebook posting is shared and attracts more attention over time.)

 

Among those outperforming the pack (and his list only had 13 names on it), he especially admires four companies – Amazon, Facebook, Google and Apple – since these companies have planned for future growth by investing in new ideas and new ways of attracting customers. They all tap into the "reverse age" theory of business growth in some way and are building new algorithms to apply the customer data they capture to drive ongoing customer engagement and activity.

 

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