Mid Year State of the Market:  Maurisa Potts, in a mid year “state of the market” presentation sponsored by the Alexandria SBDC featured a headline stating, “Soft economy hitting big retailers hard.”  There are, I might add, some small ones not doing too well either.  Potts went on to note that online shopping is not the only reason for this, siting over built retail real estate, escalating rents, and shifts in consumer spending from goods to services.  Whatever the reasons, there are few retailers not feeling the current uncertainty.  This, according to Potts, begs the questions what is it, crisis or opportunity?

Clearly Unclear:  I like this mindset.  It presuppose important changes in the business model by which most retailers operate.  Savvy retailers need little schooling on this topic, and outside of a reference list here, my interest is about how a physical store might be impacted.  According to Potts the action takes place in three areas.  The first two, customer focused retail and the resultant deep market analytics are technology driven.  The third is the technology.  Clearly the lines between the physical and digital store are becoming unclear.  A retailer must decide which options to embrace:

mobile apps/enhanced mobile apps/personal concierge
smart navigation
mobile checkout
on demand customer service.
virtual fitting rooms
flexible fulfillment options
enhanced product information
community connections
target walk by shoppers
holographic product displays
delivery service
drones

Augmented Retail:  Each of these items taken individually involves some type of electronic technology which must be both accommodated and invisible, a subject covered in previous posts so not detailed again here.  Together, though, they define what is referred to as augmented retail, a situation with substance and influence on how a physical store will look.  Rachel Shechtman, the founder of Story, a cutting edge store in Manhattan, described the design concept as a physical magazine.  This is so telling.  Store planners and designers have probably not seen such a revolutionary design idea since the emergence of big box retail.  In the marketing world I would compare the trend to the early days of Martha Stewart Omnimedia which eventually consolidated her various publishing and media outlets into a single brand.  It seems to have come full circle as omnimedia has finally  found expression in bricks n mortar.

Design by Collaboration:   Pick up a copy of your favorite magazine and flip it open to the index page.  What do you see?  I see an implied program for a store design, an outline of ways to engage the customer, often a recipe for co-creation  where the customer participates in the outcome of his/her shopping trip.  What combination of media, mobile apps, interactive displays, technology, and hard store design options a retailer chooses to bring into his/her store is a collaborative decision best made between the store designer, the retailer, the marketing team, and the all important technology consultants.  When these things work together a really successful store can be the outcome.

The Positive Case for Bricks N Mortar:  Barbara Thau, writing for Forbes, lists, “Five Signs That Stores (Not E-Commerce) Are the Future of Retail.”  Worried retailers might do themselves a favor by considering the following:

“All But One Of The Top Ten U.S. Retailers Are Physical Chains

Stores Are More Profitable Than E-Commerce

Amazon Purchased Whole Foods

Millennials And Generation Z Prefer Real-Life Stores

Online Retailers Are Being Eaten By Legacy Retailers”