RetailPulse #6

David Rivier
Aug 25, 2017 · 3 min read

Retail Pulse — A weekly digest focusing on the future of the retail industry

Hi, Happy Friday, everyone!

RetailPulse is a weekly digest focusing on the future of the retail industry. This weekly round-up provides a hand curated view of the press on the changing face of retail, which is currently going through rapid changes encompassing technology, business models, workforce, and customers expectations.

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To start the week on a thoughtful note, let’s commence with a slightly different format with the report published by Credit Suisse and its list of the “seven retail sins” aiming to highlight some of the strategic problems faced by retailers:

1) “Pricing is too high, in an increasingly more price transparent world. We are seeing more retailers respond by lowering prices (most recently Dick’s), or trying to vertically integrate to support margins (e.g., Michaels).”
2) “Retailers that are over reliant on brands are in trouble, as those brands expand distribution and struggle with their own growth. We believe that was one of the key issues for Hibbett Sports (HIBB) and Dick’s. It’s a big issue for Bed Bath & Beyond as well.”
3) “Retail is over-stored.”
4) “‘Omni-channel’ still needs to be figured out.”
5) “E-commerce investments are disruptive to the model and seem to be never ending. Best Buy has openly discussed the need to continue investing. “
6) “Retailer cost structures are too high. We have recently seen the first round of cost cuts in years, including at Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), Dick’s, Lowe’s (LOW), Party City (PRTY), among others.”
7) “There is little, if any customer loyalty to retailers without their own brands.”

This week articles:

A new report suggests that the shopping patterns of the new generation, the millennial shoppers actually enjoy the store experience even if they are not particularly loyal to a specific brand! The data shows that the digital natives are like everyone else and present similar habits… — Contrary to Popular Belief, Millennial Shoppers Actually Like Going to Brick-and-Mortar Stores [ADWEEK]

With luxury consumption dropping to its lowest level since 2009, are the wealthy Chinese consumers losing their interest for luxury? This report from McKinsey reviews the new dynamics in the Chinese Market, the importance of Brands and the likely market evolutions and actions required — Chinese luxury consumers: More global, more demanding, still spending [McKinsey]

A new blog post from Avanade on the retail industry opportunity to leverage the store inherent characteristics to deliver a more personalised experience to its customers. As the shopping experience is becoming more experiential, the physical store is ideally placed to offer such interaction which cannot be provided Online. The industry needs to prepare itself and its workforce for the re-invention of the store. — A New Buying Journey, Future of Retail and Digital Workforce [EKN Research]

Both Nordstrom and Macy’s are in the midst of major changes, however, both companies could be the best-placed one to survive. An interesting view highlighting some of the strategies and explaining the reasons for the current challenges faced by these two retailers. — Nordstrom and Macy’s: A lesson in surviving the retail apocalypse [Retail Dive]

Amazon obsession for its customers has defined its peculiar internal culture and how it has succeeded to grow an online bookstore into a logistic, hardware, cloud-service, and first and foremost a loyalty based company. This article presents an interesting review of Amazon and some explanations why it may have managed to escape the scrutiny of anti-competitive laws What is Amazon, really? [QUARTZ]

Until Next week!

- David

Looking to improve the next week edition, and would appreciate your feedback? Want more? Less? something different?

Any articles you want to share?

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David Rivier

Written by

CPO & Consultant - Tech Product & Strategy | Retail Tech | ex @Skype @Skyscanner @Barclaycard | Mountains, Sea, Skiing, Yoga - Own views - Follow @davidrivier

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