The pace at which retail innovations are being adopted by consumers shows no signs of abating and the industry will never be the same again.
So that’s it, another Christmas over and the same old story from our favourite shopkeepers – weather affected trade, winners and losers, and the surprise announcement that Marks & Spencer have a new chief executive that surprised no one, other than maybe the man on the moon in the John Lewis advert and the docile M&S shareholders.
The one story that did raise eyebrows was the fact that Sainsbury’s has decided it needs to buy Argos because the latter has IT capability and can distribute stock around the country.
The vision of thousands of hard-working Sainsbury’s colleagues in those areas sending their CVs to recruiters comes vividly to mind.
Or has the board of Sainsbury’s made its all-in bet as to the future of UK – no worldwide – retailing to gain first-mover advantage?
Well, there’s no question in my mind that shopkeeping will never be the same again.
Changed forever
The rate and speed at which the customer is blowing away the age-old concept of ‘it’s difficult to change consumer habits’ means that the shopkeeping agenda is now being driven by technology and customer appetite to embrace change in this area seems to hold no bounds.
The extremities of retail; bricks and mortar at one end and pure online at the other, have embarked on a path of convergence faster than you can say ‘Paul McGowan and Hilco have got their sights firmly trained on those unwilling to change’.
“The shopkeeping agenda is now being driven by technology and customer appetite to embrace change in this area seems to hold no bounds”
Theo Paphitis
Who could have predicted just 18 months ago the overwhelming adoption of click-and-collect by the internet shopper, happy to browse and order from their own home but wishing to collect their purchases sharpish from a physical retail store at a time and place of their convenience. No more hanging around at home waiting for the doorbell to ring, only to find that the parcel has been left under a bush in the front garden.
Looking ahead
All shopkeepers will now be entering into the cyclical budgeting period, attempting to forecast sales and costs for the coming financial year, which we have all done many times, except this year above all others the unknown will be looming over every bean counter, statistician, merchandiser, buyer and manager and calls will have to be made as to not just the normal criteria we have used for generations but what effect the rapid changes will have on our business.
Some will say there has been an element of crystal ball gazing for the past few years.
The difference this time is that the monster which will be attempting to eat our lunch over the next few has probably not been born yet and is still an embryo in some spotty adolescent’s head, sitting in their underpants playing on their games console…
Beware! Retail as we know it, Captain, will never be the same again.
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