PAID FOR POST
With ecommerce booming and high street footfall supposedly falling across the UK, retailers are looking at physical stores in a completely different way.
As the retail journey evolves alongside changing shopping habits, the physical store should be seen as more than just a transaction haven.
Instead, retailers should be looking to the store as a showroom and a mini distribution centre, a place where the company’s full assortment of products can be accessed and considered.
“The store should be viewed as a place for social interactions between customers and store associates that can in turn help unify a customer’s brand experience across channels”
Henri Seroux, Manhattan Associates
It should also be viewed as a place for social interactions between customers and store associates that can in turn help unify a customer’s brand experience across channels.
Redefining the role of the store in this manner changes the way retailers will measure the success of this key asset and the ROI it generates.
Stores of the future
The new store of the future will be one that can flex with the needs of the consumer, serve as a fulfilment and collection point and act as a social destination for interactions with the brand.
Not only does it become a ‘shop window’ for the products, playing a key role in the end sale even if that sale may happen online, it becomes a stock location from which online orders are fulfilled and a central hub for customer collections and returns.
“Stores will evolve into more than just revenue drivers and become a unifying hub for delivering a seamless shopping experience”
Henri Seroux, Manhattan Associates
This multi-use flexibility means the store becomes even more of a key component in the overall omnichannel environment than it was before, with an ROI that reflects this.
With 44% of UK retailers looking at new in-store technologies as a business priority in the coming year, it is clear that retailers are not only investing in their stores, they are giving technology a central role in enabling their transformation.
If executed effectively, stores will evolve into more than just revenue drivers and become a unifying hub for delivering a seamless shopping experience.
They still very much have a key role in the consumer journey but the ROI of a store and how it is measured is set to change beyond recognition.
Henri Seroux, senior vice-president, EMEA, Manhattan Associates
Earlier this year we published our flagship Retail 2017 report, informed by research involving a swathe of top retailers to get their take on the year ahead. Analysing the exclusive reflections from 25 retail leaders, it is clear to see there is much positivity about 2017. Access the full report at Retail-week.com/Retail2017.
No comments yet