How Retailers Can Compete With E-Commerce Giants

Retailers around the world fear large players with a significant e-commerce presence entering their market and the impact that could have on their business. There’s a widely held view that online shopping via the likes of Amazon and Alibaba is killing retail stores.

The reality is quite different, according to Miriam Burt, managing vice president at Gartner. “In fact, more retail stores opened than closed in 2017,” she says.

The real reason behind store failures is more likely to be poor leadership, economic conditions, reading market changes incorrectly or bad timing on execution of strategy, she says. Others fail because they try to ‘run before they can walk’ or lack clarity on the customer proposition.

“More importantly, we see many retailers that are simply not optimizing their most significant assets – staff and stores,” Burt says.

Retailers can fight back by providing exceptional experience in nine key areas to make their customers’ lives simpler, easier, better and safer.