Consumer Centric Merchandising.

The retail landscape is continuously changing. Consumers have never been more discerning and less loyal than they are today. Competition is not only coming from the new and emerging e-retailers, but traditional competitors are beginning to rethink their entire format and go-to-market strategies. The retail landscape is blurring with mass merchandisers becoming grocery stores, department stores becoming entertainment centers, specialty retailers targeting the smallest of the small niches, and e-tailers becoming the new retail yellow pages, where online browsing and shopping are the current competitive reality.

The year 2000 brought us the hard and cold realism that online retailing was in for a challenge as we saw over 200 of the most prominent online retailers close their doors forever. We also saw the emergence of an entirely new class of online retailers where “Bricks and Mortar” actually became “Clicks and Mortar.” Internet retailers are setting the new rules of the game with regard to advanced merchandising techniques. They are and will continue to establish super categories and shopping experiences. Sites like MVP.com, Epicurious.com, Wine.com, plus many others, are establishing niche-driven consumer segments that offer a broad range of highly targeted merchandise. They are succeeding in making their sites “experience and knowledge centers.” Expect more of the same as the e-tailing shakeout continues.

Consumer Centric Merchandising article (Adobe Acrobat reader required):

http://www.imra.org/consumercentricmerchandising.pdf

Consumer Centric Merchandising presentation (Adobe Acrobat reader required):

http://www.imra.org/Stories/consumercentric.pdf