The Rebirth of Retail – when merchants embrace the future…
A Shop has already gone in our little high street :o(
To be fair, it is part of a chain and I can imagine the decision was on the cards anyway. However…
There is an exciting alternative Retail Future out there to be had if it is embraced.
The fruition of predictions for our industry has of course been accelerated over the last three months. What were those predictions? There are loads! They include PWAs and AMPs to drive mobile commerce*, A boom in E-Commerce outside the USA (particularly in the Asia Pacific region), Manufacturers will sell increasingly directly to consumer, increased automation, an abundance of Artificial Intelligence in every part of the transaction and a demand for acres of warehousing replacing the traditional high streets as we know it – to name but a few…
Some of that scares the bejesus out of me and makes me quite nostalgic if I’m entirely honest.
However, a few of the forecasts do bring back a spring in my step.
· Offering A Personalised Buying Experience
Many of our customers have already embraced personalising each of their own customers buying experiences with personalised covering letters (even in Chinese!), hand written notes, allowing customers to mix and match products during the buying process and of course making sure items arrive in pristine condition, making the opening an event instead of a hassle. If you make customers smile when they open their order – you’ve cracked it!
· Sustainable E-Commerce will go mainstream
Planting to mitigate carbon emissions has been made rather easy for all of us. A plethora of online options are happy to oblige. However, replacing plastics isn’t as easy as all that. Our packing tape is now thick paper with string running through it. Sourcing properly biodegradable mailing bags (that biodegrade in less than a million years!) have been hard to find especially ones that reach the price vs environmental balance. So many of our new prospects and existing customers are very mindful of their own carbon footprints too. The peace and emergence of nature whilst we were on all lockdown really hit home how the “old normal” was so unhealthy in so many ways.
- Value Based Business Ethos
This is a really exciting one as far as I am concerned. The relationships we forge with our customers, suppliers our staff and everyone who is connected to the business play an enormous part in this. Finding people who share similar values to work with is one of THE most rewarding aspects of running a business as far as I’m concerned. I’m hopeful that this permeates properly to big business. Maybe the powers that be need to use the “What would my Gran think test”!
Have a lovely rest of your Sunday.
Sam.
*Google’s AMP (accelerated mobile pages) and PWAs (progressive web applications).
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