THE FUTURE OF RETAIL?

By Momentum Instoremomentuminstore.com

01625 569 200

Fast forward to 2016 and we have sadly witnessed the rather undignified

demise of British institution BHS, signaling that even the big names on the

high street are at risk if they do not adapt to the needs of today’s

shoppers. Indeed, the images splashed throughout the media over the

August bank holiday weekend showed the last BHS stores closing their

doors for good after customers picked through the few items that

remained on the sparse shelves. These images were sad on many levels,

not least for the staff who found themselves out of a job, but also the tired

interiors and fixtures told a tale of a store that had failed to keep up with a

rapidly changing retail landscape.

Dated décor, no specialism and not even the cheapest option on the high

street, BHS, like Woolworths that fell before it in 2009, had been struggling

to remain relevant in this competitive environment. It is a further example

of why it is more important than ever for retailers to move with the times

and embrace new ways of operating in order to survive.

For better or worse, the years following the 2008 global

credit crunch have had an exponential effect on the

retail landscape as we know it. Those who managed to

weather the storm of recession were then hit with the

added challenge of the rapidly evolving digital landscape

and the rise of online shopping.

Doing business against a digital backdrop doesn’t

mean that retailers have to abandon bricks and

mortar in favour of e-commerce. Nor is it about

providing the most technologically impressive retail

space on the high street; it is in fact about putting

in place simple practices that appeal to the nature

and behaviour of the modern shopper.

The habits of modern shoppers mean that an omni-channel offering is more important than ever for

retailers. We have been hearing about omni-channel for some time, but the emphasis is now based on

connecting the online with the offline experience. Many retailers offer great online experiences without

paying the same attention in-store, something that has negatively impacted the bottom line as a result.

This means that an increasing number of retailers have started to spend some serious time and money

on getting this offering right. An example of this is the implementation of the role of Head of Omni-

Channel within some retail businesses, whose role it is to ensure the seamless experience of the

customer journey through the different channels available, whether that's online search, social media,

face-to-face or over the phone.

We are also seeing omni-channel become more accessible to smaller retailers, who until recently, were

unable to partake due to budget constraints. Now, platforms such as Shopify have enabled smaller

retailers to move into the omni-channel arena.

Don't be fooled by the news that supermarkets are putting a stop to 24-hour opening times; shopping

is still very much a round-the-clock endeavour. Savvy retailers are adapting their models with the

understanding that opening hours have done little to define a shopping experience for a number of

years and will have even less relevance in the future.

We are now shopping at all hours, whether it's a quick browse on a smartphone during a lunch hour

or after a night out. Round-the-clock shopping goes further than simply paving the way for

convenient delivery and collection methods as we can learn from the below examples.

Another positive symptom of round-the-clock shopping is the

change is has presented in shopper's attitudes to purchasing.

We are now so used to anything we want being a click away

that we don't want to have to search too hard or be told that

we have to wait for something to arrive back into stock.

If the item that shoppers are looking for isn't in stock at the

first or even second retailer they look at, either on-line or in

person, they are likely to pay more for the item in order to

have it right then. This signals great news for some retailers

who have struggled to keep up with price wars that defined

the immediate years following the credit crunch. By simply

possessing a healthy inventory of stock they know customers

are in the market for, retailers have more options available to

them rather than just undercutting competitors in order to

boast the cheapest price on the market.

All in all, the future for retail doesn’t equal robot cashiers and

the end of the high street, it’s simply continuing to provide

the ultimate convenience for customers. When looking back

over the history of retail, the aim has always been

convenience for the customer, from the emergence of

department stores in the early 1900s to the supermarkets of

the 1970s, only now it is digital that is the driving force for

change today.

momentuminstore.com 01625 569 200instore@momentuminstore.com

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