Reshaping retail: why technology is transforming the industry and how to win in the new consumer driven world

210 Pages·2013·4.89 MB·English

by  Marco, Andrea, Stefan, Zocchi, Catena

RESHAPING RETAIL
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RESHAPING RETAIL
WHY TECHNOLOGY IS TRANSFORMING
THE INDUSTRY AND HOW TO WIN
IN THE NEW CONSUMER DRIVEN WORLD
STEFAN NIEMEIER,
ANDREA ZOCCHI,
and
MARCO CATENA
Cover design: Andrew Ward
© 2013 John Wiley and Sons Ltd
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CONTENTS
Foreword vii
Introduction 1
1 A Brief History of Retailing 7
The mercantile era 11
The modern era 13
The digital era 22
2 Technology: The Crucial Retail Enabler 27
How retailers add value 30
Connecting the chain 33
Knowing what you know 39
A succession of evolutions 43
3 Game-Changing Technologies 47
Revolution 50
The next era of technology change 57
What it means for consumers 86
4 Consumer Empowerment 91
The consumer decision journey 94
Customer empowerment tools 95
Retailers’ response to consumers’ changing behavior 103
vi | CONTENTS
5 Toward a New Retailing Paradigm 113
The changing role of the physical store 116
New contenders 128
The power of information productivity 135
6 The Future of Retail 143
Stand-alone archetypes 146
Building on the stand-alone models 155
7 A Call to Action 165
Leapfrogging 169
The way forward 170
Making it happen 181
Acknowledgments 191
About the Authors 193
Index 195
FOREWORD
Mobile Internet access is growing at 20 percent annually. Seventy-fve
percent of all shoppers research purchase-related information online. The
world’s top fve social networks have a combined total of 2.5 billion
members, and millions are joining their ranks every day. Why should
retailers care about these trends?
Because they put powerful technology in the hands of shoppers—to
compare prices, place orders, and post reviews—anywhere and anytime.
In effect, the power balance between those who sell and those who buy
is shifting. Even seasoned retail executives are in awe of the fundamental
nature of this change. Their questions go to the very core of the retail
industry: What is the future role of the physical store? Which of today’s
retail formats will survive? What will set the winners apart from the
losers? How can retailers beneft from evolving technology and changing
shopper behavior? In short: How, if at all, can retailers survive the tech-
nological revolution we are witnessing?
In this book, fve of our most distinguished retail experts from around
the world consolidate McKinsey’s perspective on those pressing ques-
tions. James Naylor of London, Stefan Niemeier of Hamburg, Roger
Roberts of Palo Alto and Marco Catena and Andrea Zocchi, both of Milan,
have joined forces to compile our latest thinking regarding, for example,
constant connectivity, the next big data frontier, cloud computing, channel
convergence, and the emergence of an “internet of things.” To challenge
viii | FOREWORD
and expand their own observations and conclusions, the authors have
also invited leading practitioners to provide their perspectives on how
technology is changing the face of the industry, from big box retail and
online pure play to content aggregation and search.
In 2011, Retail Marketing and Branding: A Defnitive Guide to Maximizing
ROI, now in its second edition, launched our book series Perspectives on
Consumer Industries and Retail to great acclaim. It is my privilege to present
the second book in the series, Reshaping Retail. Like the best of its kind,
this book is rooted in a profound understanding of technological trends,
but it truly stands out by examining their impact from the perspective of
the CEO. I hope you share my excitement about this compendium—and
will be encouraged to seek out future volumes in the series.
Klaus Behrenbeck
Director, McKinsey & Company, Inc.
Leader of the European Consumer Sector