About the Future …
What will the stores of the future be like? It’s certainly not a new question, but it’s one that seems to have taken on increased urgency as the shift to digital continues and retailers, some of them under siege from more nimble online competitors, wrestle with how to ensure their stores remain relevant going forward. It’s also a question that is sure to be top of mind for the shopping center owners and brokers who gather at the end of May in Las Vegas for RECon, the annual retail real estate confab.
While no one can predict the future, that’s never stopped anyone from trying — and that includes Chain Store Age. For our cover story, we asked some industry experts for their views on the future of physical retail (page 18). Their answers ran the gamut, but a common theme runs through them.
“Physical retail stores have a long future ahead of them,” said Jill Standish, senior managing director of Accenture Retail. “But the game has changed.”
For many retailers, the new game is a strong technology play as they experiment with things like in-store robots, body scanners, facial recognition and virtual reality experiences. While such elements come with an undeniable cool factor, it’s important not to let flash get in the way of substance.
“There appears to be an unspoken industry pressure to implement certain ‘experimental’ ideas to check an imaginary check box, but there’s no magical playbook of ‘one-solution-fits-every-retailer,’” said Caitlin Neyer, associate director of strategy and insights, FRCH Design Worldwide. “For example, to assume that the right answer is a high-touch, digitally infused, Jetsons-like space ship would be a mistake.”
As for the trend to deploy technologies that seek to duplicate the online world in the physical space, it’s one that will also certainly play a key role in stores going forward. But it needs to be done with thought.
Maris Cohen, director of content marketing for The NPD Group, noted that some of the online technologies currently being rolled out in stores don’t seem to add value. Not everything that works online is suited for offline.
“The next chapter in brick-and-mortar success will largely depend on deploying omnipresent solutions that address customer pain points to create more efficient, personalized, and hassle-free shopping experiences,” Cohen said.
Target created a lot of buzz when word got out about its “store of the future” project, which, reportedly, would feature robots and a community gathering space. In February, the retailer shut down the project and said it was refocusing its innovation portfolio to refocus on its core business.
More recently, Target unveiled a less revolutionary, next-generation store concept (page 14) that offers a number of time-saving features and is designed to better facilitate such capabilities as buy online, pick up in store and in-store online returns.
Sure, Target’s next-gen store is not likely to generate as much buzz as the futuristic-looking store that some originally envisioned. But the store’s defining features are more scalable than an army of robots would have been. And without scale, any future store scenario is going to have a minimal impact at best for a regional or national retailer.
Marianne Wilson
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