Augustín did not do any experimentation beforehand to validate his idea. He operated on many assumptions without testing those assumptions, and this ultimately led to the downfall of his idea. Experimentation is important because it helps gauge and predict some of the consequences of a specific action, and in this case his new strategy. Even his marketing campaign wasn’t tested beforehand, which is a huge issue. Had they experimented with the strategy, rolling out changes over time rather than all at once, they would have figured out what wasn’t going to resonate with users. Simply doing focus groups about the hablar claro marketing campaign would have showed Augustín that customers felt it was condescending and that they wouldn’t respond to it positively. He made the mistake of basing his decisions on abstractions—the data and numbers that showed how much Emilia spent for discounting communications. He didn’t consider the customer and their deep-rooted love for discounts. Augustín’s fervor for cutting out discounts added another component to the condescending tone of his strategy. It seemed paternalistic; let us show these common people how foolish they have been, let’s start a revolution (almost sounds biblical like give them the fruit of knowledge so they can see their nakedness). Had he tested this strategy in select retail stores, and interviewed customers, he would have found that his idea was entirely wrong.
I would recommend Augustín follow the strategy shift requested of him. He doesn’t have to completely abandon his plan, but he moved too quickly and seems too into his own ideas. He is getting real-time feedback from both data and customer perspectives that his strategy is alienating customers. Rather than charging forward and accepting more massive losses in the hopes of recovering by the end of four years, he should backtrack. The stores are already renovated but bring back the discount strategy. Over time, start explaining to customers that these discounts aren’t true, but at select stores. See how it affects the revenues in those stores. Experiment with different forms of discounts like bundles, which one of the experts recommended. It sounds like he wanted to bring Emilia from a store for middle aged women to a store for young people (and the previous group) overnight. He didn’t consider the purchasing power their original customers had, which their new desired customers lack. By doing more research and experimentation, Emilia could likely uncover new methods of discounting and marketing that would appeal to young people, maintain older generations, and convince everyone that their clothes are worthwhile purchases.
