Category: Store of the future

  • What Retailers Can Learn From the Navy Exchange

    Rich Honiball is the EVP and Global Chief Merchandising & Marketing Officer for NEXCOM (Navy Exchange Service Command). He joins Natalie on the podcast to discuss:

    • The unique role of military retail, the importance of having a clear mission, and other lessons for traditional retailers.
    • Learnings from the launch of the world’s first Toys R Us department on a military base.
    • Self-checkouts, frictionless experiences, and the importance of customer choice.
    • The power of community and how Gen Z shoppers are redefining store experiences.
    • Why retail was an “accidental career” for Rich and how he hopes to encourage the next generation of retail leaders in his role as adjunct instructor at George Mason University. 

    What is NEXCOM?

    Since its inception in 1946, NEXCOM’s mission has been to provide customers with quality goods and services at a savings and to support Navy quality of life programs.

    NEXCOM’s six primary business lines include the Navy Exchange (NEX), NEXCOM Hospitality Group, Ships Store Program, Uniform Program Management Office, Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility and the Telecommunications Program Office. Each of its business lines provide the necessary support for the Navy’s warfighters and military families to remain ready and resilient.

    Bio:

    Rich Honiball combines executive leadership, strategic development, and consumer insights as EVP, Global Chief Merchandising & Marketing Officer for NEXCOM, overseeing merchandising and marketing efforts for a $2+ billion global enterprise offering retail, services, food & hospitality. Before NEXCOM, Rich founded PDB Advisory Group & the Brand(Co)Lab, advising CEOs on purpose-driven marketing strategies and brand development. His executive roles at Haggar and JCPenney involved building world-class teams, strategic development, brand growth, and corporate refresh initiatives. He shares his extensive retail and consumer behavior expertise as an adjunct instructor at George Mason University. Rich is an MBA graduate from William & Mary and a BS in Marketing from SNHU. Rich is dedicated to mentoring and has served on several educational and nonprofit boards. Rich is honored for his retail expertise by Rethink Retail, innovative marketing by the CMO Club, and as an ONCON ICON Top 100 Marketer, and he continues to influence the industry while traveling the world.

    Links:

    Connect with Rich on LinkedIn

    Listen to Rich’s Retail Relates podcast

     

    Find out more about the Retail Disrupted Podcast by visiting retaildisrupted.com

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  • Gen AI Chatbots, Empowering Staff and Sustainability

    Live from Barcelona, Green Retail World’s Editor Ben Sillitoe joins Natalie on the podcast to share what they learned at Manhattan Exchange this week. They explore how generative AI chatbots are going to revolutionize customer service, why the days of frontline staff being told to “sell, not think” are over and what sustainability looks like for retailers in 2025.

    If you missed the episode with Manhattan Associates’ Pieter Van den Broecke, you can catch up here.

    Links:

    Manhattan Associates
    Green Retail World

    Find out more about the Retail Disrupted Podcast by visiting retaildisrupted.com

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  • Pop-Up Retail and Keeping Dept Stores Relevant

    David Blakeney, former Store Development Director at House of Fraser and Sook, joins Natalie to discuss:

    • Why physical retail is on the cusp of a new dawn.
    • Repurposing physical space in a digital era.
    • Innovation in department stores – are retailers doing enough
    • Pop-up retail – which verticals are best suited (you’ll be surprised) and lessons from Sook.

  • The Retail Leader’s Roadmap with Brian Librach

    Brian Librach, former VP of Stores at Urban Outfitters, Pacific Sunwear and Old Navy, joins Natalie to discuss his new book: The Retail Leader’s Roadmap.

    They explore the reasons why retail leaders get stuck, the evolution of bricks & mortar retail, and how retailers can ensure their staff are motivated and engaged.

    Other topics include:

    • What is the future of stores and how should we be measuring success?
    • Which brands does Brian admire and what are they getting right?
    • Cultural shifts: digital transformation journeys and the importance of taking your people with you.
    • Upskilling and investing in digital competencies.
    • Squiggly careers: why the path to success isn’t always linear.
    • Natalie and Brian debate the key traits of winning retailers. 

  • Helen Dickinson on the BRC’s 2024 Retail Manifesto 

    Helen Dickinson OBE, CEO of the British Retail Consortium, joins Natalie on the podcast to discuss the BRC’s 2024 manifesto. They discuss: 

    • Business rates: how is the retail industry disproportionately affected and what does reform look like?
    • Retail jobs and impact of AI: how can the industry continue to attract and retain talent?
    • Shoplifting and staff abuse: what more can be done to deter retail theft?
    • ESG: how can retailers accelerate their transition to net zero and what are the BRC’s policy recommendations? 
    • Tax-free shopping: did the government underestimate the impact of scrapping this and might we see a U-turn?
    • The everywhere economy: what is the BRC’s vision for the future of retail?

    This episode is available on the usual channels (Apple and Spotify) or you can watch a video version on YouTube.

  • Measuring Stores in a Post-Pandemic World

    Measuring Stores in a Post-Pandemic World

    Is bricks & mortar retail facing an existential crisis or a rebirth?

    In a world where shoppers can buy just about anything online and have it delivered the very same or next day, it’s not unreasonable to ask – what is the point of stores? How can stores possibly differentiate when online shopping offers near-infinite assortment, hyper-personalisation and, increasingly, immediacy?

    Over the past 18 months, bricks & mortar stores have been periodically forced to shut their doors and divert their customers to their least profitable channel – e-commerce. Retailers commendably pivoted, and consumers quickly adapted. But what happens next? Will habits learned during lockdown stick, accelerating the demise of the physical store, or will shoppers revert back to their old ways as normalcy resumes? Regardless, the pandemic-induced shift to digital has magnified the urgency for retailers to repurpose the physical space. There will be no return to the status quo.

    So how do retailers balance the need for short-term agility with long-term vision? And, more importantly, what data should retailers be using to measure their success?

    In this virtual debate hosted by Teradata, Mikael Bisgaard-Bohr, Vice President of Teradata EMEA, Clive Humby OBE, Co-founder of dunnhumby and chief architect of Tesco’s Clubcard, and I explore the key traits required as retailers navigate the complexities in this post-pandemic digital era.

    “Historically, stores have measured two things – ‘how much and where’ – but what we need to understand is ‘who and why’,” said Humby. “We have got to stop thinking about just the transaction itself.”

    Major high street retailers like Next believe that stores now face a “fundamental and irreversible disadvantage” to online and like-for-like sales declines will remain the new normal. I tend to agree. In a post-pandemic world, the role of the store will be three-fold – transact, inspire and facilitate online shopping. If the role of the store is no longer purely to sell, then how should we be measuring its success? Going forward, metrics like dwell time, conversion rates, staff satisfaction and percentage of online orders collected/returned instore are going to be a whole lot more meaningful than measuring the inevitable decline in transactions made within a retailer’s four walls.

    Watch the full debate.

  • Amazon UK debuts its till-free concept

    Amazon UK debuts its till-free concept

    Future of e-commerce? Stores, of course!

    Big media day yesterday covering the news that Amazon has debuted its checkout-free store concept in London. 

    This is watershed moment for U.K. retail. Amazon is known for disrupting the status quo, raising customer expectations and forcing competitors to raise their game. Remember Amazon is a tech company first, retailer second. The big question is – does Amazon really want to become Britain’s biggest supermarket or perhaps it’s more lucrative to license this tech to… everyone else? Either way, Amazon transformed the checkout experience online and will now do the same in-store. Goodbye, friction!

    – BBC News: Amazon Fresh till-less grocery store opens in London
    If you haven’t yet had a chance to visit the Ealing store, there is a photo gallery and additional commentary available on Retail Week.
    Stay tuned for further analysis.
    Cover photo: Amazon
  • The Retail Exchange Podcast: 2020 Review & 2021 Predictions

    The Retail Exchange Podcast: 2020 Review & 2021 Predictions

    Natalie Berg joins Karl McKeever, MD of Visual Thinking, as co-host of The Retail Exchange‘s final podcast episode of the year. 

    If you were trying to end this year by winning a prize for its greatest understatement, you could describe 2020 as ‘eventful’. It is difficult in many respects to argue that 2020 was an especially good year. Emerging trends didn’t just gather momentum, they marched forward to turn the industry on its head in ways we could never have imagined. For retail, it’s been a year of contrasting fortunes. Some have faltered. Others have thrived.

    To set the tone, we revisit some of the interviews and discussions that have shaped The Retail Exchange’s podcast episodes in 2020, with special co-hosts Karl McKeever and Natalie Berg reflecting on the past year – the challenges faced, things we’ve learned, the opportunities taken – and looking ahead at what’s to come in what we all hope will be a brighter 2021.

    You can listen to the full episode here.

  • When Non-Essential Stores Reopen, Will Shoppers Accept The Friction?

    When Non-Essential Stores Reopen, Will Shoppers Accept The Friction?

    As Britain’s ‘non-essential’ retailers prepare to reopen their doors in the coming weeks, one of the biggest challenges they face will be convincing shoppers to walk through the door. And, no, I don’t just mean from a safety perspective; I’m talking about the additional friction that shoppers will inevitably encounter.

    Will customers queue up to enter a department store? Will they want to pop in to a clothing store if they can’t try stuff on? Will they accept less choice on shelves as retailers make space for social distancing measures? If they have picked up a book off the shelf, will they remember to then place it on the special quarantine cart? This might all be worth the hassle – if there was no such thing called the internet.

    Don’t get me wrong. Bricks & mortar retailers should get a much-needed initial boost when they reopen. These are uncharted waters, but pent-up demand must be a given when consumers themselves are pent up for months. We are social creatures, and the notion of ‘going shopping’ is inherently a leisure activity. The high street retailers that have thus far survived the so-called ‘retail apocalypse’ are those that focus on all the things shoppers can’t get online – inspiration, discovery, curation, community, experience.

    In my latest for Forbes, I explore how this will look in a post-COVID world. Has ‘experiential retail’ finally been relegated to the buzzword archives? Has a pandemic killed the art of browsing? You can read the full article here.

  • Amazon Go Grocery – Learning From Tesco’s Fresh & Easy Failure

    Amazon Go Grocery – Learning From Tesco’s Fresh & Easy Failure

    Picture this – a radical new grocery concept designed to revolutionize how Americans shop. The store is much smaller than your typical supermarket, around 10,000 square feet and stocking an edited range of just several thousand products. The store doesn’t feature banks of traditional checkouts; instead it’s a heavily automated and efficiency-driven experience. There are no bakeries, butchers, or any of the counter services you’d find in most supermarkets.

    Nope, I’m not talking about Amazon’s latest cashierless grocery format, Amazon Go Grocery, which launched in Seattle this week. I’m talking about the now defunct Fresh & Easy, Tesco’s failed attempt to crack the US grocery market.

    In my latest piece for Forbes, I explore 3 key learnings for Amazon:

    1) Have a clear proposition.

    2) Destroy the friction, not the experience.

    3) Expansion does not indicate success.

    You can read the full article here.