Your Story Alive: A Live Communications Blog

January 25, 2012 3:15 PM

STORE 3.0 - How Retailers are Adapting Digitally

Posted byKatie

At the National Retail Federation’s annual conference last week, retailers were pondering this dilemma: how to position brick-and-mortar stores in an increasingly Internet-driven future. Below are a few key takeaways on trends, industry leaders and best practices from major industry brands:

“We have new retail rules,” said Alison Paul, vice chairman and U.S. retail & distribution leader at consulting firm Deloitte. “The store is not dead. Stores have become a part of a much more complex ecosystem.” Rare is the store that can strike a harmonious balance between physical and digital.
Today, traditional stores account for 91 percent of all retail sales, according to Deloitte. Five years from now, that number will shrink to 63 percent. For retailers, the obvious strategy is to grow both physical and online stores. Easier said than done.
Some retailers, like Target Corp., excel at running stores but are still working to develop the same pattern of success when it comes to online retailing. Others such as Best Buy fare better with new technologies, but their physical stores suffer from the perception they are merely “showrooms” for online merchandise.
As technology – especially consumer technology – revolutionizes retail, retailers will be forced to adapt and rethink how to meet the shifting needs of a demanding, fickle, and on-the-go consumer.
According to Deloitte: The changing role of the store – evolving to Store 3.0™ Tomorrow’s customers will demand a customer experience that is uniquely relevant to them. They will be drawn to value and only spend time (and money) where they find value.
Each shopping experience will matter more. The free flow of real-time information will reshape the way sales associates and customers interact. Whether the retailer has a relationship-centered or transactional-centered customer service model, this change will impact nearly every aspect of how a store operates. Some of these changes are already occurring as demonstrated by Exhibit 1.
While no longer the only place where retailers and customers connect, the physical store remains central to many consumers’ shopping experiences. But to stay competitive, retailers should develop a store strategy that aligns talent, physical space, processes, and technology to meet the changing demands of their customers.
The relevant details of the customer’s history and profile will be dynamically delivered to the associate at every point of interaction to deliver a consistently excellent customer experience
Mass customization will allow a global retailer to provide a local experience and will flexibly leverage merchandise mix, pricing, and in-store communications and information delivery
Retailers will edit their store portfolio and reduce store counts

(Sources: http://www.startribune.com/blogs/137420753.html, http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/Industries/Retail-Distribution/aec014cf4e33b210VgnVCM1000001a56f00aRCRD.htm)

Tags: Consumer Electronics, Retail Environments, Technology
Share This:

Links to this post

There are no pings for this post.

Comments

There are no comments for this post.

A place where creative folks and clients, account people and strategists gather to discuss Live Communications and its singular ability to create deeper, more meaningful relationships between

customers and brands.

So pull up your keyboard and raise a few questions, share some ideas, provide a little inspiration. Oh, yeah... and get comfortable. After all, it's your place.

Developed by the creatives of EWI Worldwide, www.ewiworldwide.com.

Your Story Alive

YSA

EWI Worldwide

STORE 3.0 - How Retailers are Adapting Digitally

Links to this post

Comments

Leave a comment