The role of the store today and tomorrow

In 1905, Åhlen & Holm (yes, the same Åhlen who later founded Åhléns) released its first mail order catalogue. They had 100s of products from all over the world delivered to your door. With the mail order, a consumer revolution was a fact, but the stores remained. 

Today, e-commerce has taken over for those who want to shop from home. Yet the store remains as strong as ever.

The survival of shops is a truth in the general sense. For with all the changes, some shops have died and new ones have sprung up.

The key to survival lies in keeping up with the changes taking place and being able to adapt to the needs of customers and the wider landscape and trends.

Or as Ayad Al-Saffar, the new owner of Åhléns, put it so well during Retail Arena 2022.

"It's not retail that's dead, it's the retailers"

The role of the shop today

We can only speculate on how long delivery times were in 1905. Today you have the product you ordered the next morning. 

In that reality, having a store presence is not enough for customers to choose one. You have to work a little harder than that if you want to remain relevant to consumers.

What does a shop provide that e-commerce cannot? 

First and foremost, many people find it fun to shop in person. This is linked to the fact that the store gives customers the opportunity to touch and feel the products, to explore the products in relation to the alternatives. To get direct answers from knowledgeable shop assistants on how this product matches my needs and circumstances. The store gives the customer an experience that is more than just the transaction of a purchase. 

E-retailers have understood this too, opening showrooms precisely to give their customers the opportunity to touch and feel (but not take home) and get guidance from someone who is an expert.

This is where the challenges lie for many retailers, especially those that have been around for a while. It's all too easy to get caught up in the way things used to be, to relax and lean back on the glory days of yesteryear. Something that ends up being a showroom, model inferior, for customers to look at a product they then buy elsewhere.

Your store staff is the key to staying relevant

The solution is active work. You have to take control and work continuously to keep your staff up to date with your products and your offer. The pace of change is faster than ever, so the importance of having an effective channel to reach out with information and knowledge to all your staff (including your support staff) has never been greater. 

Just at Retail Arena, Elgiganten talked about how they have gone from a handful of training days per year to over 250 micro-courses that can be done online on-demand. Systembolaget was on the same track. The reason they consistently rank at the top for customer satisfaction is that they invest heavily in training and knowledge transfer within the organisation. 

A strong customer experience places demands on staff. They need to do a good needs analysis to understand the customer. They need to know the products being sold and then understand the importance of upselling to ensure the customer gets maximum value from the purchase. A strong customer experience requires you to reach out with that knowledge to your staff.

Do you think that staff who feel they are doing a good job for satisfied customers enjoy their jobs more or less? Do you think they sell for more or less then? Do you think they are as likely to change jobs at the first opportunity given?