Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM OCTOBER 2018 14 Author: Stephen Wunker and Jennifer Luo Law Stephen Wunker is managing director of New Market Advisors. A former consultant with Innosight and Bain & Company, he co-founded one of Africa's top consumer review sites, Yowitz, and led a team instrumental to the development of one of the first smartphones. He is also the author of Capturing New Markets (2011), the co-author of Jobs to Be Done (2016), and a frequent contributor to Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and The Financial Times. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University, and a BA cum laude from Princeton. He has lived in the UK, Netherlands, Japan, Ecuador, and Zambia. Jennifer Law is associate principal at New Markets, where she has led projects across a range of industries rocked by disruption. A cum laude graduate from Williams College with a background in education and publishing, she received a Fulbright grant from the U.S. State Department to teach in South Korea and research comparative international education. Publisher: AMACOM W ow your customers . . . with "less." Cut costs—it's a common corporate refrain. But if you constantly slash expenditures, what happens to innovation? How can you stay competitive and satisfy your customers? Costovation solves the dilemma of how to spend less and innovate more. The book's revolutionary approach broadens the definition of innovation beyond products to the business model itself. With costovation, you let go of assumptions, take a fresh look at the market, and relentlessly focus on what customers really want. Consider Planet Fitness—it grew to 7.3 million members by con- centrating on casual exercisers. Those folks don't care about frills. They want easy, low-cost access to good equipment. Although it's inexpensive to run, Planet Fitness ranks highest in gym satisfaction and gourmet grocer, Picard, sells only frozen food. With less perishable inventory, they compress costs while delighting a discerning but busy clientele. Packed with examples and interactive exercises, the book explores cost innovation strategies that work for big and small companies alike. From open innovation and cost-sharing to simplifying products and turning waste into new offerings—readers learn how rivals are carving out niches, protecting positions, and dominating industries. Innovation and cost-cutting are not opposites. Combined, they expose untapped opportunities to outsmart and underspend competitors. B O O K R E V I E W COSTOVATION Innovation That Gives Your Customers Exactly What They Want—And Nothing More RO

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