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How will the Top Retail Trends of 2018 Evolve in 2019?

By Jasmine Glasheen, Guest Contributor

Image Credit: Pixabay.com

Retailers were told that 2018 would be the year of voice search, of self-checkout, and of smart mirrors. At this point it is probably safe to say that industry analysts didn’t exactly hit the nail on the head with these three. Yet it was a year of major digital transformation and, in 2019, the trends that took root over the past year will grow into fruition. Some retailers will adapt quickly and thrive in this new environment, while others will follow Toys R’ Us and Claire’s into obscurity.

Let’s take a look at some of the trends that did come into play in 2018 and how they are poised to evolve in the new year.

The new retail era where logistics is both sexy and essential

From AI to predictive inventory, logistics ain’t what it used to be

By Chris H. Petersen

Image Credit: Pixabay

I recently had an opportunity to deliver a keynote address at the RVCF 2018 Fall Conference. In listening to the speakers and attendees, one theme became crystal clear - logistics has become an imperative essential in today’s “Physgital” world. Yesterday’s supply chain from supplier to retail stores has morphed into a complex web of services designed to meet rising customer expectations. In many ways, logistics is now the sexy side of retail, or at least the engine that makes the sexy part of retail happen. Yet, the latest iterations of last mile delivery solutions are not sexy drones, but harken back to pedal power of the last century.

Why this is important: Retail is finally waking up to the reality and value of logistics. Delivery to home, lockers, or click and collect at kiosks requires increasing precision and speed. Logistics is what makes it all happen overnight, and even within hours.

Why and how retailers must create relevancy to survive

Winning retailers focus on convenience, consistency, customized value

By Chris H. Petersen

Toys R' Us is an example of a "category killer" that did not make the cut. Sears will enviably fall by the death of a thousand short cuts that diminished its relevancy for today's customers. However, the big "retail apocalypse" has not happened as predicted. America's top retail chains will in fact add 5,000+ stores this year. Quite simply, those retailers who lived in the past died. Those who thrive are evolving on a very simple premise: increase relevance for today's customer.

Why this is important: Bricks and mortar retail is not dead. It still accounts for 85% of sales. In order to thrive, today's retailers must evolve from a product centric past to a future focused on increasing relevance by providing greater value add customers.

Why “the second sale” is more critical than new acquisitions

Acquiring a sale today does not ensure retention creating lifetime value

By Chris H. Petersen

Image Credit: Pixabay.com

Retail has a legacy of focusing on immediate results. Historically, the cash register drove the retailers' core metrics. The results that counted were the POS tickets and total sales at the end of the day. The better retailers measured store traffic and calculated the conversion rates. Even with the launch of ecommerce, core metrics still focused on traffic, acquiring customers, conversion and AOV (average order volume). However, studies repeatedly show that the second time buyers are more valuable and more profitable. Why do so many retailers focus so heavily on the first purchase and fail to measure the KPIs of "the second sale"?

Why this is important: What gets measured can be managed and improved. Many retailers are failing to measure the second sale, and track the related customer variables to build lasting relationships that create lifetime value.

Big boxes are building small stores – How small is too small?

As retail transforms, even the largest retailers are "right sizing" stores

Image Credit: Pixabay.com

In the heyday of mass merchants and hypermarkets, the philosophy was "bigger was better". Walmart, Target, Kmart and the clubs were in a race to build ever-larger footprints to hold increasingly larger assortments. Before the age of Amazon, "Big Box" stores were the category killers that created the destination locations to draw the masses. Today, the big retailers are now focusing on ever-smaller stores. Why? Will store downsizing continue? The current downsizing trend begs the question: how small is too small for a store?

Why this is important: The retail transformation to omnichannel challenges the basic concept of a store as a destination to purchase. The consumer quite literally has become the POS, which requires retailers to reexamine right sizing stores.

How “Less is More” when competing with Amazon

Curation strategies that limit choices improve CX and closing sales

By Chris H. Petersen

Image Credit: geralt; pixabay.com

When is too much choice a bad thing? Brain scientists and psychologists have discovered that too many choices overwhelms our brain. Too many choices becomes intimidating, frustrating and can result in fewer sales. Amazon has literally been creating a "store of everything". Few retailers can afford to compete with the "more" of everything in Amazon's ecosystem. However, research indicates that retailers can offer customers "more" relevancy and value by narrowing choice through curation. By helping customers narrow choices to what is most relevant, retailers can create a more positive experience and increase sales.

Why this is important: The historical premise of retail was "more is better". However, science shows that too many choices overwhelms our brain; we get frustrated and cannot decide. Retailers curating choices can achieve more sales.

What matters most in your healthcare customer experience?

Modern tech can save your life … Patients remember staff who cared

By Chris H. Petersen

Technology is becoming pervasive in all arenas of our lives. Hundreds of millions of IoT devices already supply real time data on all kinds of things and our behaviors. Beyond passively transmitting data, IoT devices provide alerts and serve as control points in critical feedback loops. One area where IoT technology is exploding is healthcare. Every device imaginable connects to create a massive patient database for personal care. Does it improve your customer experience in healthcare? What are critical success factors that "customers" deem important?

Why this is important: IoT technology enables more information more rapidly. More data does not guarantee quality or customer focus. Customers remember how they felt about their experiences where staff engaged to help.

All You Need to Know About Hybrid Retail Shops

By Jim Rulison, Guest Contributor

With the rise of digital retail, there has been a back and forth struggle between old and new ways of selling products. The latest trend in this tug-of-war is known as the Hybrid Retail Platform: an upgraded version of the traditional channels for e-commerce, where a retail platform merges the availability, flexibility and searchability of a far-reaching web-store with the effectiveness of traditional neighborhood stores.

The coordinated services offered by a hybrid retail store make it feasible for small business owners to create an online presence without the need for a large individual e-commerce platform. In other words, this gives customers more purchasing options. In the present digital world, individuals have more ways to buy their favorite and needed things compared to the past.

Collaboration in the Retail Industry: A Q&A with Chris Petersen

Interview with Francesca Nicasio 

The key to winning in today’s retail environment is to serve your customers in the best way possible. This means giving them the products they need at a good price, and then fulfilling their orders in the speediest and most cost-effective way possible.

It’s a tall order, and the fact of the matter is, you can’t do it alone. To truly wow today’s modern shoppers, you need to collaborate, and leverage the resources of other parties so you can focus on what you do best as a retailer.

But, how exactly can you establish these strategic partnerships?

That’s what we’ll discuss in today’s post. We caught up with Chris Petersen, founder at Integrated Marketing Solutions and had a chat about how retailers can achieve success through collaborations.

Have a look at what he has to say.

The question for today’s retailers: What business are you in?

Theodore Levitt's classic advice is more relevant than ever before

Image Credit: Pixabay.com

By Chris H. Petersen

It is always amazing how many of the classic leaders and principles are lost to the ravages of time. Today's business leaders are often too quick to discount things written in the '60s by some of greats like Drucker and Levitt. Levitt published one of his best-known works, Marketing Myopia, in HBR in 1960. Levitt's article was more just a treatise on marketing. He intended it as a challenge to businesses and managers in general. A key underlying premise of Levitt's work focused on a single strategic question: What business are you in? Managers from today's retailer C-Suites would do well to post this question in their boardroom, and require everyone to read Levitt's 1960 classic.

Why this is important: Retailers in decline tend to define themselves in terms of what they sell. Leading innovators define their business "they are in" as how to best serve customers. Trends indicate that the future of retail is in "the people business".