Hi my name is Joshua Schall and I’m here to apply for the GNC’s newly open position for CEO. Wait GNC no longer has a CEO? If you are a bit confused, that’s OK because the news of Ken Martindale not being offered a position with the newly emerged from bankruptcy specialty retailer GNC wasn’t exactly front-page news. Instead, it was actually buried in some SEC reports that probably few people read for fun like me. So, with no current CEO to run the biggest specialty retailer in the VMS category, I figured why not publicly apply for it.

My strategic transformation plan will include; ◼️ Define Exactly Who GNC Is Today ◼️ Redefine Role GNC Has in Customer Journey  ◼️ Reimagine the Frictionless Retailing Experience  ◼️ Put Yourself Out of Business ◼️ Cut Every Bit of Available Fat. 

Many of the things consistently blamed by GNC for its recent failures are external factors that cannot be changed by the retailer alone. They can only be adapted and strategized against to turn them into opportunities. What they can control is the omnichannel shopping experience they provide to customers. So, it comes down to defining "why should consumers unequivocally shop at GNC over the countless substitutes" and relentlessly be reevaluating that question regularly. The same problems that GNC is struggling with are being solved by businesses around them, so it’s time to take personal responsibility and do the hard work internally to make the retailer great again.   

If think that is brash, you’ll be surprised to find out that this is actually the third time I’ve publicly applied for the open CEO position at GNC since I started creating regular content on the space 5-6 years ago. If you aren’t familiar with those pieces of content and interested in them, here are the links;