Retailing 2020 – 2030: taking a long view

6-MALL FALL: Department Store Degradation and Mall Seizure

Personalization has been discussed for over a decade, whereby customers can have products customized... However, there appears to be a broader trend of what Frog Designs calls “split personality branding”, where larger companies have multiple, smaller brands catering to more highly defined core demographic or psychographic groups.

Just as most retailers came to the realization that being online or offline was no longer an and-or proposition, the same appears to be happening with retail resale and rental.

Digital has led to market fragmentation in nearly everything. Reduced opportunity costs have spawned a plethora of Direct to Consumer (DTC) brands which will continue for the foreseeable future. Small niche startups will continue to build followings and “tribes” in ways that couldn’t have been imagined in the pre-internet era.

5-THE LINCHPIN: Data and Technology

Sixty-five percent of customers between the ages of 18-35 feel it is important that a brand or retailer be committed to sustainability.

Direct to Consumer (DTC) Brands are Replacing Specialty Brands

First described as the “store with no inventory” when introduced in late 2017, it is indeed very much more. The store is built around three key offerings: online order pickup and return, styling services, and tailoring and alterations. Other services vary by location but include nail services, bars, gift wrapping, even stroller cleaning...For Nords... See more

Resale Gets Real

Third-Party, Retail as a Service (RaaS) Proliferates