Time is not kind to retail formats. As long as they are still competitive, they drive up store traffic, sales, and profits by surpassing the competition on multiple key dimensions of the customer experience. They thrive because, among other things, they deliver a better product offering, a more attractive service model, or lower prices. But the performance of retail formats inevitably erodes because customer needs evolve over time and new alternatives—superior formats or new channels—emerge and grow. Today consumers have numerous attractive ways to purchase almost every type of product and service that they want or need. They can choose among hypermarkets, specialty retailers, hard discounters, club stores, and more.
On top of this, the face of “traditional retail” is being forever changed by the continued rise of online shopping as a viable and often superior alternative. The intensity of the online threat varies by product category—it’s less severe in groceries than in consumer electronics, for example—but few would argue that online is a factor that can safely be ignored.
The result is a very dynamic and hypercompetitive retail landscape. The consequences are clear: retailers must accept that they will have to reinvent and adapt their store concepts over time if they are to have any chance of sustainable long-term growth. Thus, it is important for them to think through the maturity cycles of different retail formats and to implement appropriate strategies based on their current format and its level of maturity. (See the exhibit below.)
Este relatório foca no varejo de reino Nossa experiência sugere que aproveitar ao máximo o formato e os recursos atuais de varejo de uma empresa com o objetivo de reinvenção é a melhor maneira de os varejistas alcançarem altos retornos do investimento. No entanto, as idéias e fatores de sucesso discutidos abaixo também se aplicam de maneira mais ampla - por exemplo, ao desenvolvimento de conceitos de varejo inteiramente novos. François Aubry
