On Monday, Fortune came out with a long, in-depth piece on the success of Trader Joe’s – the wildly popular small gourmet grocery store. The chain, owned by German grocery conglomerate Aldi, has experienced dynamite growth in the last 15 years, expanding from its base in Southern California to over 200 stores nationwide. Their sales numbers ($8 billion in 2009) are similar to those of semi-competitor Whole Foods, and their sales per square foot are an estimated $1,750, more than double those of Whole Foods.
Fortune spends a lot of ink (or pixels, I suppose) analyzing aspects of Trader Joe’s success. It’s a good article, but what has made TJ’s such a cultural phenomenon isn’t too difficult to discern. I’d separate it into a few key buckets: Read More »








Customer churn is a perennial problem, particularly for those in service and utility businesses. When it comes to solutions, it’s easy to get into an internal rut. Practices, processes and metrics build up over time to support a particular worldview of churn. The worldview works for a time, but retention gains inevitably flatten as competitors replicate the approach and the business evolves.