Retail has some troubling storms brewing for the future.
It’s hard to say it could get much worse than the last couple of years, but it looks like the industry hasn’t hit rock-bottom quite yet.
And it might take rock-bottom for the industry to realize they need to take a serious look at their customer and understand that the old way of doing things simply doesn’t work anymore. There have been a lot of positive changes in Ecommerce and digital, but the store side hasn’t progressed in decades.
For far too long, retail’s C-suite has misread the signs and symptoms of a sluggish market. Economic factors are only a part of the problem, but the root is a shifting customer—and retail has failed to adapt and adjust to their customer’s wants and needs.
Bloated store footprints, bland store experiences, stripped-down product and far too much of it. Those are all issues that have plagued the store side.
While stores may not be able to save themselves, there is one area of marketing that can provide support until they can fundamentally change.
That area is customer marketing.