10 Takeaways from “Observations and Insights on the Current State of Retail” Part 1
Sponsored by the Retail Marketing Society (RMS) https://www.retailmarketingsociety.org/
This Round Table Series featured
- Robin Lewis, CEO The Robin Report https://www.therobinreport.com/
- Jan Rogers Kniffen, CEO J Rogers Kniffen Worldwide https://www.jrkwwe.com/
The rhythm of retail has shifted in the Covid environment. The implications will affect retailers, marketers, entrepreneurs, consumers and those who work with them.
The Fix was In from the Start – Areas of commerce rigged by government
Government chose the retail winners and losers of the early pandemic – they picked five or six big box stores like Walmart and Target, letting them stay open while forcing many companies to shut down for 60-75 days. Sales basically went to zero until these stores moved to online formats.
Jan Kniffen was shocked that no one from the retail community fought back against what happened. This caused an enormous attrition.
An Unexpected Growth Industry Emerges
The one industry that grew enormously during the pandemic, is online grocery shopping which now accounts for 30% of all grocery sales.
Work from Home Industry
The work from home concept is not going to be a one-off. Enormous repercussion are being felt across many industries. Cuts will affect real estate, conferences and lodging to name a few. These new lifestyles will influence how consumer products and services fit into that new lifestyle.
The End of Malls as We Knew Them
Big mall owners like Brookfield and the Simon Property Group were in trouble before – now they’re really in trouble. Simon Malls for instance, will not be open on Thanksgiving weekend.
There are only about 250 to 275 malls left from around 1,000. In order to survive, malls will have to evolve from stores to experiences and other activities like mixed use or turning the entire mall into a distribution center. The experts are closely watching the Dream Mall in NJ – a new concept mall – to see how that performs.
JC Penny is redefining the definition of anchor store in malls.