How has shopping changed in your
lifetime? Have you seen stores come and
go? Have you come to rely on online reviews,
e.g., Yelp, before making purchases? Do
you “shop” online? How have your
shopping patterns changed? How are they
different from the way your parents or grandparents shopped? When you think about it, I’m betting that
much has changed for you. And you will
see accelerated changes ahead.
Retail is one of
the most dynamic sectors of our economy.
Consumers drive ~70% of our economy.
And we’re tough customers! Stores
pop up while others go away. Stores
succeed or fail on the value they deliver for shoppers. As shoppers, we vote with our feet (and
fingers).
We also shop
with our senses, seeing intriguing things on display, smelling the coffee or
baked goods, feeling the fabric, hearing the advice of knowledgeable sales
associates. We like to interact with our
prospective purchases; both online and traditional retailers know this.
Retailers will
continue to evolve to meet our changing wants as shoppers or cease to
exist. The marketplace determines retail
winners and losers.
Like the gazelle
and the lioness, both arise to face a new day.
The gazelle knows, “Either I run
fast today or I become someone’s dinner.”
Likewise, the lioness knows, “Either
I run fast today or I have no dinner for me, my mate and my brood.” Whether we’re the hunter or the hunted, we
must run fast each day to survive.
Display and
fixture companies must run fast each day too to serve the dynamic world of at-retail
marketing. Retail never stands still!
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