Surviving A Borg Attack

"We are the Borg. Prepare to be assimilated. Resistance is futile."

That is a great line and Star Trek fans will recognize it instantly. Independent retailers will experience it daily.

A year ago I was driving through a rural area on my way to work with a client and in the middle of a farm field I saw a huge strip mall under construction about half a mile outside a small town.

Talking with people at the gas station/diner/convenience store down the road, they excitedly told me about all the business it was going to attract to the area. I was a little concerned they hadn't thought it all the way through, but I kept my thoughts to myself at the time. I still remember the essence of my conversation with a couple of people at the diner to this day.

"How do you think that mall will benefit this place?" I asked waitress. "All the people coming to the mall will need gas. They may want to eat when they get here or when they leave to go home." Another person offered the comment, "With all those stores, there will be opportunities for new businesses to open up. There will be job opportunities that will keep our young people here"

I hoped they were right but I had my doubts. Opening a strip mall is an expensive proposition. Mall owners are about as risk adverse as any group I know of, so in my mind I made a bet that very few of the stores would be locally owned. Too risky. The mall owners probably had the stores all pre-leased to other big and recognizable names help get construction funding.

I drove back through the area yesterday and feel bad I was right. The mall anchor was a Wal-Mart Super Center. All the other names on the storefront facades were all national chains. The restaurants were all national chains. The gas stations flanking the project were national chains.

I don't doubt for a second that new jobs were created. I just don't think that there were many NEW jobs created. The gas station/diner/convenience store is closed and "AVAILABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT." Driving around town, I noticed there are a number of empty storefronts. So instead of creating a lot of new jobs the mall probably hired the employees from the businesses that closed as a result of the loss of traffic and business to the big names in the mall.

Small retail stores are going to feel like they are under assault by the Borg as this pattern continues. The only way for small independent retailers to survive a Borg assault is to learn how to be everything the Borg are not.

The Borg are not quick or responsive. The Borg have to move at a national pace that has a very long decision trail. To win against the Borg storeowners need to run lean and responsive operations. Keep inventory levels low so you can keep pace with the rapid cycles of the changing tastes of customers.

The Borg are not innovative. Just as size creates the buying power that gives the Borg a competitive edge, it is also their greatest weakness. At the local level, the Borg workforce performs low value add functions such as cashiers, stock clerks, while higher level functions such as advertising, buying, and strategic thinking are performed in the CUBE light years away and out of touch with local conditions.

The Borg are risk adverse. Just as scale of economy works for the Borg, it also works against the Borg. With the size of the purchases they must make to maintain their ONE competitive edge, they can't afford to take risks. This causes bland advertising, and even blander product selection.

The Borg are not integrated into the local community culture. The effectiveness of the Borg is their size which translates into buying power. They use their size to create and support the only real competitive edge they have – pricing power. To win against the Borg learn how compete on every level but price.

The Borg do not develop personal relationships with customers. They just assimilate the available balance on their credit cards and move on. This is the greatest opportunity of all to win against the Borg. Develop relationships with your customers. People buy from friends first before they buy low prices.

As Star Trek fans know, in spite of the Borg's size and power, the fast and nimble win their battles against the Borg more often than not.