“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media.
Today's column is written by Mukund Ramachandran, chief marketing officer at Dynamic Yield.
Breakneck innovation in ecommerce has flipped the fundamental calculus of retail and punished brands unable to adapt. With once-dominant brands such as Payless ShoeSource, Toys R Us, Sears, Kmart and Charlotte Russe shuttering their stores in recent months, there’s no shortage of headlines that support the alleged retail apocalypse.
But while plenty of brick-and-mortar stores have suffered amid the industry’s tectonic shift, physical retail is enjoying a quiet renaissance on the opposite end of the retail spectrum. As brands like Casper, Warby Parker, Sephora, Amazon and Alibaba cut the tape on new retail locations, introducing shoppers to new and immersive experiences, the truth about the much-ballyhooed retail apocalypse is becoming clear: It’s not the physical store that’s dead, but the traditional brick-and-mortar mentality.
In fact, consumers prefer brick-and-mortar stores – but these days, they also expect brands to offer them personalized services. To satisfy shoppers, a cadre of digital-first brands have started leveraging technology to bring the convenient, personalized and intuitive nature of online shopping directly in-store (note: Dynamic Yield does not enable any of the in-store personalization capabilities described in this column).
And these experiences will only become more commonplace as retail brands fight to maintain relevance, increase sales and differentiate themselves from the less digitally inclined.
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