Strategy

Stop Thinking Omnichannel, Start Talking Harmonic Retail

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Retailers have traditionally thought in terms of distribution channels and have structured their internal systems and metrics around them. But that channel-centric thinking is at odds with how customers actually engage with retailers. For example, customers may start their journey online, then venture into the store to see, touch and try on product, only to order it via their mobile device while still in the store or online after they return home. Retailers need to think differently in a marketplace where channels don't matter, only the …

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Millennials Are Getting Bored with Startups

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Everyone wants to be part of a brand's come up story nowadays. In today's retail startup environment, entrepreneurs start off small and unknown with the hope of a rags-to-riches narrative with a devoted millennial following. And judging by the brands that next gen consumers have been flocking to - Warby Parker, Nasty Gal, SmileDirectClub, and Bonobos, among others - it would be easy to think that the future of retail may go the way of little guys with big ideas. Not all great romances last forever. It's starting to look like millennials' …

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New Whole Foods Format

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You can hardly call it a grocery store anymore. The brand-new Whole Foods Market, just opened in Atlanta, is so much more than a supermarket and clearly points the direction for how food retailers are working to keep their physical locations relevant. The 70,000-square-foot store, spread out over four stories at the base of a residential tower in the booming midtown area of the city, devotes perhaps as much as 25 percent of its selling space to non-supermarket functions, including four restaurants, aisle after aisle of prepared food stations …

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Ocado: Tom Hanks or C. Thomas Howell?

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Recently the Wall Street Journal reported that Kroger has struggled to come to grips with the impending online grocery upheaval. While Kroger has tried many new things - from testing digital shelving to embarking on autonomous vehicle delivery, one Kroger investment stands out from the others - Ocado, the UK-based online grocery retailer that specializes in direct-to-consumer automated fulfillment. The belle of the ball at Shoptalk 2018, Ocado burst onto the scene, bringing with it hopes of unbridled potential for the U.S. market. But, now, …

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Amazon Go Stores Will Go: Walmart Eats Their Lunch

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For sure, Amazon took all the oxygen out of the room and the breath away from the entire retail industry. And it continues … except for one retailer. As it turns out, Amazon was but a tweak in the nose of the behemoth from Arkansas. But that's all it took. Like all of the Avengers combined, the roughly three-quarters of a trillion-dollar force, with CEO Doug McMillon at the helm, is crushing Amazon on the ground. And Walmart will just continue to accelerate, widening the gap to the point where Amazon will never catch up in the physical world …

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I Want It Now

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We have been reporting about the customer service experience for years - following the arc of the neighborhood store in the 50s where everyone knows your name to the AI-infused tech age of drone delivery where, when and how our demanding customers want it. The mantra of "I want it now" has ushered in a generation of startups fueling the customer's self-imposed sense of urgency for product delivery that is actually an imposter for a valuable customer experience. Speed has replaced a meaningful personal experience that, at one point, actually …

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Throwing Rocks Over the Shopping Mall Fence

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It's hard to sit on the sidelines and read the dialogue about Hudson Yards and the recent Wall Street Journal story about declining traffic to the American Mall. I am delighted that the prescriptive solution of "adding to the experience" is finally getting debunked. Pixie Dust is not going to solve the problems of your local American shopping mall. Outside of the USA, the mall is doing just fine. Mostly because no one thinks MALL, they think ALL. Convenience remains the driving force in modern consumption. Most of the world is more time poor …

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TJX: Next Move to Total Dominance

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Four years later, I still say, "The TJX business model is not easily copied." In fact, one could make the case that the specific differentiators and advantages that have been crafted into its DNA cannot be duplicated, period. With the exception of Ross Stores and Burlington, smaller and not pure copycats, TJX Companies, (T.J.Maxx, Marshalls, Sierra, Homesense and HomeGoods) with sales of about $27 billion in 2018 all but owns the so-called "off-price" space it dominates (Ross and Burlington sales, $11 and $7 billion respectively). Hey, you …

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