Insights

“Now Trending” is an exclusive online series to chainstoreage.com, featuring trending topics that impact the retail real estate landscape.

For retail analysts and consumers alike, what’s going on in the apparel sector is fascinating and, in fact, confounding. While the root causes may not seem exactly crystal clear, the implications will be clear and unambiguous.

The retail industry is abound with digital innovation, with brick-and-mortar stores rapidly adopting retail technology tools, services and gadgets in order to become a more relevant part of the consumer’s day. Emerging retail technologies are poised to make a splash among retailers in 2016, but not all serve the same purpose.

With the retail environment changing so rapidly today, and technology impacting everything a store does, the role of the chief financial officer has become more important than ever. When I started recruiting in 1990, the business was much simpler — we hired retail executives based on a linear skillset and departments operated in individual silos. Today, it is much more complex, as the C-suite works in collaboration to keep up with an increasingly savvy consumer.

So, what then do you look for in a CFO today?

Personalization continues to be the trend that just won’t go away, probably because it’s the new normal in how consumers want to interact with brands and retailers. Personalized videos hold the promise to surprise and delight (and covert), especially as we collectively spend more and more of our time viewing videos online. And personalized promotions help retailers maximize scarce marketing dollars, ensuring the right customer gets the right call to action at the right time.  

“Now Trending” is an exclusive online series to chainstoreage.com, featuring trending topics that impact the retail real estate landscape.

Millennials have become a bigger part of the retail customer demographic with the group expected to have more spending power than any other generation by 2017. Millennials are incredibly connected to technology with their smartphones and tablets. They are accustomed to rapidly changing technology and increasingly expect their retail brands to do the same.

Storytelling is an intrinsic part of our daily lives. Movies, books, music, news, religion and art are all imbued with the stories we tell each other–and the stories we tell ourselves.

Even the spaces and places that we work, shop, eat and play are “speaking” to us – and through us – defining our dreams and desires, informing our values, and even shaping the contours of our hidden prejudices and deepest fears.

Omnichannel retailing — or as it is increasingly known, “retailing” — is complex and can increase costs for retailers. Here are a few ways retailers can improve store-level fulfillment to increase both profits and customer service.