Retail location has always been important for merchants. Traditionally, retailers have built in places where goods were sold and having a good retail footprint was the key to success. Though, the concept of retail location and the “importance” of retail location have evolved especially in the new digital world. The pivot during our COVID laden 2020 and now 2021 is interesting.
So as is my nature, let’s be bold!!
Store Location no longer matters!
The store shelf has now embedded itself on my device, or literally in my hand. So, store location no longer matters. If that doesn’t matter what does?
That’s actually an easier question than one might think. The new Real Estate for retail is Time.
To complicate this realization just a bit, the mode of the customers retail need is also important. For example, the replenishment mode of customer interaction is about consistency and removal of decision making. The shopping mode of customer interaction is about fun and instant gratification.
As a result of digital shopping and the division of shopping modes, saving time or creating the illusion of saving time must now be the primary investment and goal for any retail-oriented organization today.
Now that does mean that from a logistical point of view location still kind of matters, but the strategy of last mile will also have an interesting impact on that thought process.
Part of the location/time conundrum is the last mile delivery. Strategies related to this are:
- Micro Fulfilment Centers
- Night-time deliveries to a smart Milk Box like delivery location
- Here’s a crazy one – deliver to where I am not where I live.
The MFC model offers close access to consumers, but the product mix to make the investment beneficial is critical to the success of the strategy. High volatility items and seasonal items could be great but the mix and timing of in and out items will be difficult.
The smart delivery box is a novel idea and if it is temperature controlled to 3 zones (Frozen/Perishable/Dry) provides all the needs for grocery delivery as well. A bonus would also be the ability to create a reverse logistics channel for returns.
I’m not going to turn this into a drone or privacy driven discussion but delivering to where I am is the next evolution of customer control of the retail environment.
I hope this inspires some thought and I would enjoy hearing your opinions. Join me for part 2 coming soon.