Now More Than Ever, it is Important For Retailers to Figure Out how to Support Their Customers While Maintaining Higher Profit Margins.

To do this, retailers need to balance their efforts between the “front of the store” and the “back of the store.”

It is easy to focus on the front of the store, where you can have a direct impact with your customers, but in order to be profitable, retailers need to ensure that store operations are running as efficiently as possible, allowing you to identify areas of cost savings.

Here are three key retail trends to pay attention to:

1. Customer experience.

Customer experience continues to be a big driver within the retail industry. It is all about delighting your customers and exceeding expectations. And retailers are now figuring out how to provide a consistent omni-channel customer experience.

Read this Forbes article that talks about embracing technology to provide a “frictionless” customer experience across all channels.

2. Distribution.

Never has distribution been more important for retailers. With online shopping, 2-day and next-day delivery, and in-store pickup, it is a lot for retailers to figure out. Brick and mortar retailers have begun embracing omni-channel strategies, but are still prone to struggling with advanced distribution methods and processing returns.

Read this article to learn how Nordstrom is trying to get ahead of online returns.

3. Environmental and social beliefs.

Consumers, especially Millennials and Generation Z, want to purchase from retailers who share their environmental and social beliefs. Many retailers are looking for ways to be more environmentally responsible and are demanding more from their retailers.

This article discusses how and why GAP brands are committed to sourcing 100% sustainable cotton within the next six years.

Retailers are also looking for ways to be more socially responsible. For example, Starbucks has already hired twice as many veterans as their 2018 commitment.

 

Delivering on expectations.

In order to deliver on these trends and expectations, retailers need to optimize their store operations.

Accruent’s Retail Lifecycle solutions can help retailers:
  • Negotiate more favorable leases.
  • Automate lease payments for real estate and equipment.
  • Reduce store construction timelines.
  • Efficiently deploying technicians.
  • Manage maintenance spend.
  • Extend their asset lifecycle.

Retailers who are able to do more with less by optimizing their resources, continually innovating and ultimately focusing on the right customer experience will be the ones to thrive now and in the future.

Download our whitepaper for more information on the revolution of retail.