2018 The Year of Transition for Retail

Now that the first quarter financial reports are out, it has become glaringly obvious that traditional brick and mortar retail is a thing of the past.

This doesn't mean that we won't have physical stores, it just means that established retailers, who got comfortable with the traditional store model, are now realizing the harsh reality of the new fluctuation towards more emphasis on eCommerce point of sale verses in-store point of sale.

I just recently had the opportunity to attend the eTail West conference in Palm Springs, CA where this was the main theme of the conference. At eTail what was discussed was exactly this, that retailers, if they want to stay current, must adapt their model to have both their physical and online stores symbiotic and seamless. This calls for the revamping of both platforms.

The use of flagship and concept stores to create unique in-store experiences to drive in-store sales, is a fascinating innovation to brick and mortar. To coincide with this innovation, the online platform must have better data capturing on current and potential customers to greater personalize the customer experience, but, most importantly, have more and more sophisticated and engaging imaging and videography which has the greatest potential of bringing in the prospective consumer.

Without adapting to this current matrix, retailers are faced with the inevitability of massive store closures and layoffs as well as increased reductions in stock value.