Valuations & Acquisitions: The 5 Cs for Better Gross Margins

The 5 Cs
Lazard’s Solomon offers up just the tonic to improve your margins: The five Cs.

COMMUNITY: “People are looking for their corner store again,” Solomon says. “In this fragmented, mass culture, people want to reconnect with like-minded people — even though they might be 5,000 miles away.”

CONTENT: Retailers used to provide information and expertise, but no longer, Solomon points out. Products now sell themselves at Wal-Mart and online. But consumers still want expertise and advice. “The best retailers provide great, unbiased information,” he says. This is precisely the strategy employed by entrepreneur Alex Tabibi and Pets United, the multichannel marketer that built its $80-million empire of common pet URLs and common communities where pet owners can communicate with each other.