How Retailers Can Compete With E-Commerce Giants

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]This article is contributed by Susan Moore, Director of Public Relations at Gartner.

Contrary to popular belief, e-commerce is not the primary cause of retail store failures.

Retailers around the world fear large players with a significant e-commerce presence entering their market and the impact that could have on their business. There’s a widely held view that online shopping via the likes of Amazon and Alibaba is killing retail stores.

The reality is quite different, according to Miriam Burt, managing vice president at Gartner. “In fact, more retail stores opened than closed in 2017,” she says.

The real reason behind store failures is more likely to be poor leadership, economic conditions, reading market changes incorrectly or bad timing on execution of strategy, she says. Others fail because they try to ‘run before they can walk’ or lack clarity on the customer proposition.

“More importantly, we see many retailers that are simply not optimizing their most significant assets — staff and stores,” Burt says.

Retailers can fight back by providing exceptional experience in nine key areas to make their customers’ lives simpler, easier, better and safer.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/6"][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3"][vc_column_text]

Contributor Profile

SUSAN MOORE

Public Relations Director, Gartner International

Susan Moore is the Public Relations Director of Gartner. She has over 12 years of experience in leading PR programs for Gartner’s IT practice in Asia Pacific and Japan and the HR practice in Australia/New Zealand.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6"][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Originally published at techENT.