“Momentum. That’s’ the secret…”

This was the response of my colleague, Tim Moore, flushed with success after a karting event with clients when he recorded the fastest lap of the evening.

Tim is a die hard Formula 1 fan. And though it pains me to say so, he is blisteringly quick around a kart track. Whereas me… not so much.

I’m the guy crashing into the barriers, getting ‘the corners all wrong’ (still a mystery to me that one) and generally getting in everybody else’s way.

Given that everyone was racing in identical karts, I had to ask Tim “How did you do it?” His reply was “Momentum…”

I nodded sagely, showing my appreciation for a conundrum resolved; a mystery cleared up by the explanation offered. Then I went home… and looked it up!

I checked the definitions…

Momentum: A British left-wing political organisation, which has been described as a grassroots movement supportive of the Labour Party.

Hmm. Well, there is a General Election underway. And politicians of every hew seem able to explain the inexplicable with sleight of word.

I see politicians promising to look after the interests of business in the morning and then promising to look after the workers in the afternoon. I did not see any political sponsorship on Tim’s helmet (he brought his own – LOL), so I moved on…

Momentum: The quantity of motion of a moving body, measured as a product of its mass and velocity. Yeah. Not sure I am any the wiser there!

Then the good old Oxford English Dictionary, no longer an array of tomes the size of a small house to be proudly displayed on your bookshelves and left to the next generation – all to ensure fair play in Christmas scrabble tournaments – but now conveniently available on your phone…

Momentum: The force that keeps an object moving. Aha! Perhaps Tim was simply fast because he pushed the accelerator HARD, all the way to the floor and kept it there whilst always maintaining control through the twisty bits. That makes sense. Although having tried it myself, what sounds simple on paper really was not so simple in practice.  As I had found out to my cost!

Feeling enlightened I read on, satisfying the sudden thirst for knowledge of my inner culture vulture…

Momentum: The quality that keeps an event developing or making progress after it has started.

Never mind karting. I suddenly realised that was the secret of our successful day…

Earlier we had been fortunate enough to be invited into the inner sanctum of the aforementioned customer, to discuss strategy going forward and make sure that we were aligned with their goals and aspirations. As it turned out we had both come to very similar conclusions. But that is in no way surprising.

Increasingly I am delighted to say that we are being asked into retailers to talk about problems and solutions. Not because we have a universally applicable solution that can easily be implemented straight out of the box. Far from it. Actually, our experience of working with many retailers in different industry verticals, allows us to appreciate in fine detail that what is right for, say, fashion retail is probably not right for grocery – even if the problem is in their fashion offering. It just does not work like that.

Taking our insights from multiple projects allows us to have a wider perspective than just one retailer dealing with the multiple challenges of their one business. We see cause and effect in risk projects across multiple businesses in different scenarios every day. And of course, we are in a great position to understand what challenges retailers are facing and will face.

We do not subscribe to the one solution fits all theory. We take time and use our experience to understand the retailers’ unique business challenges and needs. Then we determinedly pursue the creation of an optimised solution; using readily available products, modified tech or developing brand new offerings if that is what is required. Whatever it takes to offer a cost effective solution that is as bespoke as it needs to be to meet the client’s goals.

There is no greater thrill than for a retail department to acknowledge that a system, perhaps that they were unsure of at first, has delivered exactly the benefits we said it would, in the way that we said it would and possibly exceeded expectations in terms of savings to boot. And that is where we are with multiple retail clients right now. And clearly, we are making an impression…

I am delighted to see that other retailers are taking note of the work we do and inviting us in to talk. And even if they go with their existing supplier, simply trying to emulate a broadly similar solution to one that we might be expected to prescribe, it is still flattering to be copied – even when done badly!

And I have noticed that increasingly our client list comprises of the top tier in retail. The most successful. The most respected. And the fact that they trust us to be part of their inner sanctum really excites everyone at All-tag^® . Really, it does!

Being at the top of our game, working with some of the best retailers in the world is a thrill. It seems that right now, we are on a roll.

Hang on! Isn’t that a great definition of momentum!