Quick-commerce has taken the world by storm! Move over traditional retailers, welcome to the new kids of quick-commerce and fast-fashion! The relatively stable global e-commerce landscape is getting disrupted by Chinese quick commerce companies like Shein, AliExpress, Temu or Tiktok. All of them leveraging agile and lean methodologies to deliver their products with unprecedented speed and efficiency. Let’s look at how lean, agile and product management mindset is driving this digital transformation in retail.
Project to Product
The digital transformation era has ushered in a slow but steady shift in how businesses approach the development and delivery of products and services. Traditionally, projects were the sole vehicles of execution for initiatives with defined start and end dates. However the rapid advance of tech has necessitated a more dynamic and continuous approach with product management or product-mode^.
Unlike the project lifecycle, where the temporarily assembled team is concerned primarily with delivery within constraints of time, scope, and budget product management follows the product journey from conception to building, running and iterating on the solution with long-lived teams.
Digital Transformation
Truly, software is eating the world. Digital transformation has been key in the push towards a product-centric approach. Building digital products follows the Lean Startup method and optimized learning through iterative feedback loops. This is where agile management comes into the frame.
Building on lean and agile principles and using Kanban to make work visible and create a pull system is essential to how products are conceived, developed, and delivered. Iterations reinforce learning, enabling shorter cycle times, quicker feedback loops, and continuous learning and improvement.
Lean Kanban Agile
Lean principles emphasize continuous improvement focusing on maximizing value by minimizing waste and improving operational flow. Kanban boards originating from Lean, provide a visual management system, advocating a pull system to manage the flow of work. It also helps limit work in progress (WIP), identify bottlenecks and thus areas of continuous improvement. Lean Kanban paired with agile product iterations (e.g. Scrum sprints) have been rapidly adopted by product teams due to these benefits. By focusing on delivering small, manageable increments of work, teams can maintain high quality standards throughout the development process.
Chinese quick commerce - agile in action Let’s look at the Chinese quick-commerce corporations which have leveraged lean agile to scale:
Shein, the fast-fashion e-commerce giant, exemplifies the power of lean and agile in quick commerce. The company’s business model is heavily centered around real-time data capture and analysis, allowing for rapid adaptation to consumer demands and optimization of production processes. Data-driven approach is a core principle of lean and agile methodologies, and using these demand signals enables Shein to reduce inventory to a minimum or pivot and scale rapidly when needed.
- Rapid Prototyping: Shein produces small batches of new designs and tests them in the market, allowing for quick iteration based on customer feedback.
- Just-in-Time Production: Closely aligning production with demand, JIT allows minimizing inventory waste and responding to market trends quickly.
- Continuous Feedback Loop: Shein’s digital platform captures real-time data on customer preferences, enabling constant refinement of product offerings.
AliExpress, part of the Alibaba Group, has leveraged lean and agile principles to create a global marketplace connecting consumers with manufacturers. The platform’s success is built on its ability to match consumer demand with factory output, effectively bringing Chinese production capabilities to a global audience.
- Streamlined Supply Chain: By connecting consumers directly with manufacturers, AliExpress eliminates intermediaries, reducing costs and improving efficiency.
- Flexible Pricing: The platform allows for dynamic pricing, enabling sellers to quickly adjust to market conditions and demand.
- Continuous Improvement: AliExpress regularly updates its platform based on user feedback and market trends, embodying the agile principle of iterative development.
Temu, a newer entrant in the quick commerce space, has rapidly gained market share by employing aggressive digital marketing strategies and a customer-centric approach. The company’s agile methodology is reflected in its ability/agility to quickly capture and respond to consumer preferences.
- Data-Driven Decision Making: Like its competitors, Temu leverages data analytics to inform product selection and marketing strategies.
- Rapid Experimentation: The platform frequently tests new features and promotions, quickly iterating based on performance metrics. Customer-Centric Design: Temu’s user interface and experience are continuously refined based on user feedback and behavior analysis.
Tiktok, the hugely popular short-video social media app has been in the news due to the US-China rivalry. It’s success lies in leveraging machine learning and data science to transform every customer interaction into valuable insight. Every swipe, like, share, or comment is a data point that feeds complex algorithms, continuously recalibrating the For You feed to suit each individual’s tastes. The platform doesn’t just rely on static rules; it constantly learns from user behavior, and tests hyptheses proactively, ensuring that its feed does not stagnate.
- Iterative learning - Instead of perfecting and algorithm, TikTok operates like a live experiment where hypotheses are rapidly tested and refined iteratively.
- Lean concept - Data scientists in the product teams perpetually fine-tune models and experiment to keep the feed fresh and engaging, adapting rapidly to changing tastes and preferences for each of its individual users.
The success of Shein, AliExpress, Temu and Tiktok demonstrate how to build systems that are both data-driven and agile. Applying data-driven decision-making, rapid iteration, and customer-centric design allow them to move nimbly like startups but also scale massively, with their highly responsive and efficient systems for product development and delivery.
The Future of Product Delivery
With the AI revolution underway, Generative AI tools have the potential to significantly compress product development timelines even further by automating various stages of the product lifecycle. With automated coding, even the product development cycle could be automated with the complete automation of real-time data capture and analysis of various signals.
- Automated Prototyping: Gen AI can quickly generate prototypes or simulations based on initial requirements and feedback, allowing teams to visualize product concepts and functionalities in a shorter time frame.
- Predictive Analytics for Planning: AI-driven predictive analytics can forecast project timelines and resource needs, reducing uncertainty and risk associated with agile projects.
- Streamlined Testing and Iteration: Gen AI tools can automate aspects of testing and quality assurance, enabling faster iteration cycles and more frequent product releases.
Enhancing Creativity and Innovation
One of the most exciting prospects of Gen AI in product management is its ability to enhance creativity and innovation. By analyzing vast amounts of market data and customer feedback, AI can generate insights and ideas that might not be immediately apparent through traditional methods. This capability aligns perfectly with lean principles, which emphasize maximizing customer value and minimizing waste. Gen AI tools could
- propose novel product features or entirely new product concepts based on changing market trends and customer preferences.
- suggest improvements or optimize design and enable rapid experimentation with automated A/B testing at scale
- AI-driven personalization at scale can help tailor experiences to individual user preferences, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. This seems only natural given what Tiktok has already been able to achieve.
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