DALLAS — The retail landscape of 2015 and beyond will be less familiar and more challenging to store-based operators, according to Dan O’Connor, president and CEO, RetailNet Group.
Retailers will need to rethink their strategies because of stagnant population growth in developed countries and increasing competition from digital players, he told an audience at FMI Future Connect 2011 here.
“By 2015 we’ll realize we have too many stores,” he said. “E-commerce will take more share from stores.”
Moreover, younger, affluent shoppers will increasingly move to online shopping, pulling a critical base from store-based retailers, he added.
O’Connor said store-based retailers need to rethink their strategies by asking themselves crucial questions. “How will the market of 2015 be different? What does that mean for where I locate and for the size of my stores? What does it mean for how I departmentalize my stores?"
Retailers were urged to “create on-ramps for younger consumers to shop your store before they are 25 so they get into a pattern.”
