FEATURE
PHILIPPINE RETAILING
The power
shift in retail:
How retailers must res-
pond to the changing
power dynamic with
their customer
By Zaki Hassan, Regional VP, Aptos
In retailing days of the past, customers had access to a limited range of products, often sold
in just select locations. Control lay with the retailer, from availability to pricing. Today, control
has shifted to consumers. They have a myriad of products they can shop, online or in store,
domestically or internationally. Connected to the internet and social media, shoppers can
instantly look at multiple products, prices and reviews, leaving retailers chasing trends rather
than dictating them.
This is no more apparent than in Fashion retailing, where consumers see the latest styles online and expect them
to be on sale almost immediately.
The challenges of demand-driven fashion
The threat of online on traditional brick and mortar retailing is well documented, still e-commerce is not the only
cause of the offline retailers’ struggles. The real challenge for retailers is that they struggle to be all things to all
people – the store with the best price, the most variety, the fastest fulfilment. While these are worthy ambitions,
retailers are risking chasing an unattainable goal. Attempting to be all of these things means they risk losing out
on the simple staples of retail; for the customer it’s experience, for the retailer it’s profitability. So how should they
respond?
Knowing your customers is crucial
For retailers today, it is key to understand their customers better: Who are they? What do they want? What are
their habits? With this objetive in mind, many industry leaders have become adept in capturing data from different
sources (e-commerce systems, CRM tools, social media portals), exploring this huge amount of information
through dedicated analytical tools.
Future success demands that retailers collect data from multiple sources, have the technological ability to analyse
the data and create insights, and finally have skilled employees who can validate that the recommendations fit
the market and consumer climate. Once they have this actionable insight, retailers must be nimble and progres-
sive, accepting that they must make changes faster than before.
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