After a pandemic period in which many turned to e-commerce, Accenture 15th Annual Holiday Shopping Survey found that 70% of Gen Z consumers plan to do their holiday shopping in a digital location, but the stores they re heading to will incorporate some brick and mortar features all consumers have come to appreciate:
The pandemic forced older generations to overcome their hesitancy to shop online, an ongoing trend identified by our findings, said Oliver Wright, head of Accenture's ACN, global consumer goods and services group, in the report.
More than half of baby boomers 54% plan to do most of their holiday shopping online.
On the flipside, younger consumers who are already comfortable online appear to be seeking services and experiences that go beyond shopping, Wright said.
Amazon, Walmart, Target, Home Depot and other large retailers are chartering ships to bypass supply chain problems. Retailers and consumer goods companies must tap into these behavioral shifts and push forward with their reinvention to engage in a diverse, multi-generational marketplace of millions of individuals. Amazon AMZN, announced its entry into the department store space, following bookstores, its Four-Star Stores, Whole Foods Market and stores using just walk out technology. New stores include features like high-tech dressing rooms and QR codes that alert associates to whether customers want to try on an item of clothing, according to The Wall Street Journal.
But the e-commerce giant isn t alone in its efforts to reimagine the modern store as a more personalized experience.
Nordstrom Inc. JWN, which has roots in department-store retailing, has also jumped into new formats and technologies with New York City flagships which have no inventory but lots of services, and the introduction of livestream shopping earlier this year, filmed at its new stores.
Kohl s Corp. KSS, and Macy s Inc. M, added in-store partnerships, with Sephora shops heading to the former for an elevated beauty experience and Toys R Us at the latter, part of an effort to broaden product categories found under its roof.
Also Signet, with $490 million in Diamonds Direct acquisition, opens full-year guidance to the mall, raising the possibility of a $5 billion acquisition by DIMSON.
Macy s also proposed a $235 million upgrade to the Midtown neighborhood surrounding its New York City flagship, with an office tower and transportation access that will make it more integral to the Herald Square landscape.
A new store doing more is how Cowen describes the transformation, with the analysts group s three C s of maximum importance: convenience, culture and curation. Included in that is the use of technology to make transactions between online and in-person seamless, creating physically distinct events that can t be replicated digitally and tapping into consumer lifestyles with more personalization and creating a sense of community among a retailer's customer base through engagement.
Michelle Decker, associate principal at CallisonRTKL, a global architecture and design practice. The answer isn t simply lots of robots and gadgets, though that's usually part of the modern store plan.
The tech in the stores of the past were big, flashy screens, pushing boundaries of technology you wouldn t see at home, said Decker. The future retail store is moving towards curated, tailored experiences. » The experience of walking into a store will be different for each person cross the threshold. If the lights are too bright in the fitting room for some customers, there may be technology installed to allow customers to dim them And retailers are learning how to incorporate online preferences of a customer into a product trip to the store.
Customer data can be used in a way to make things a little better, she says.
Also, for COVID - 19, especially with younger consumers, has led to weight gain on the right side and can cause behavior changes in the way Americans eat and dress.
Every company is trying to understand the customer. Decker also suggests that companies determine the different functions a store space is meant to serve. For example, Nike s digital Live stores are custom-tailored to be locally relevant, based on buying patterns and app usage in a geographic area, whether Long Beach, Calif. or Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Target Corp. TGT, stores have become major fulfillment hubs, with pickup services continuing to grow in popularity and the cost of bringing purchased items online into a customer's hand.
With all of these functions, stores have gone beyond places where shoppers buy stuff, Decker said. In the past, a company set out a neighborhood, selected the best spot and scoped the sales.
Now it s very specific why you want to have this location and there s discussion between many teams marketing, branding, architecture, entertainment to create a store that works for a purpose, she said.