REINVENTING RETAIL

Many retailers will be looking back this holiday season, comparing their sales to past years. They should also be looking ahead. Several s+b articles suggest that the pressure on retailers during the next few years, stemming from changes in technology and customer habits, will be even tougher to deal with than the financial pressures of the recent past. Perhaps the biggest change is the rise of mobile commerce [http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00053?gko=9bcc1]: a world where most shoppers have smartphones and the store boundaries have eroded. New academic studies [http://www.strategy-business.com/article/re00122?gko=ab138] confirm that online commerce will indeed permanently cannibalize bricks-and-mortar sales. Big changes are also coming in luxury retail [http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00033?gko=82498] and in a general movement toward simpler, less overwhelming choices [http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00046?gko=13ead]. Consumer habits are going through a "spend shift" [http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00054?gko=340d6] toward value and frugality. How can retailers cope with all this? By reinventing themselves with a distinctive edge. There's much guidance on this subject in the new consumer and retail electronic newsletter [http://www.booz.com/global/home/what_we_do/industries/consumer_products/CR-Foresight/crfs_signup] from our parent firm, Booz & Company. Each reinvention strategy will be different, but every retail enterprise will need one. -- Art Kleiner

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