I have just returned from another mind-blowing four days of ALL RETAIL, ALL OF THE TIME in Las Vegas at Shoptalk’s 4thannual Shoptalk conference and it certainly did not disappoint. To quote Shoptalk’s founders, “It’s an incredibly exciting time to be working in the retail industry.” It is a time of great change, great opportunities, and great challenges for us all.
The transformation of retailing will be defined partly by retailers and brands – some of whom are considered to be the “establishment” and some from companies that are yet to be created, as well as everything in the middle of the two ends of the spectrum. So much of this transformation will come however from outside the industry by advances in TECHNOLOGY as well as by ongoing shifts in consumer preferences and higher expectations.
Algorithms, data analysis, artificial intelligence (AI), robot, virtual reality (VR), social media influencers, and literally thousands more technological advances are all necessary to maximize profitability and to succeed in retail today. You might think there is one very critical piece to this consumer-driven puzzle that has been unfortunately overlooked in the past few years while we have all been obsessed with technology, and that is gut, instinctive merchandising. Where have all the merchants gone?
This gut merchant went to Shoptalk to subsidize my experience and knowledge with that of hundreds of speakers, most in the C-suite (CEOs, CMOs, CFOs etc.) in many different slices of retail. These organizations that lead the way with disruptive propositions will reap oversized rewards. Some retailers and brands will successfully follow the leaders and secure key benefits, but many will fail to keep up and will decline or even shut down. Shoptalk tells us that simply put, “those that try to address exponential change with incremental innovation stand to lose the most.”