I have been tasked with writing my first blog piece for PIE. So here it is – I’m nearly a month in to my new career as a recruiter and honestly, I’m having a ball learning all about the industry. After running around the shop floor managing amazing teams for the best part of 5 years, along with doing a 4-year fashion merchandising degree (the spreadsheet kind not the display kind) as well as various stints in Retail head offices… recruitment is a nice change of pace. I’m presented with new challenges every day and I’m completely fascinated by the lives and jobs people have lead.
However, my fascination with shops, shopping & consumer behaviour has not lessened - I love the way retailing is constantly changing and morphing.
Devolving? I don’t think so!
I love watching the progression of the “Hunger Games style battle royale” of retail. I’ll regularly catch up on the latest updates over my morning coffee completely captivated - Sainsburys buys Asda, Toys ‘R’ Us folds and trying to predict what corner of the market Amazon will conquer next? Can they be defeated? (Why are we even trying to defeat them?!)
“The glory days of retailers are over.”
People say retail is dying (like a dramatic scene from Casualty)! However, I believe retail is like a long running soap opera.... A guilty pleasure that secretly none of us will give up on.
Yes, the nature of retail is changing.
Retaining consumers and increasing brand reach is requiring an intelligence and skill from all angles. Retailers are being challenged to stitch the digital and the tangible together to create content that is engaging and personalised, and to provide products that are sustainable, ethically conscious and socially aware........ no small challenge!
For me, I love trying to predict where retail goes next. It’s a TV box set I can’t stop watching. The heroes and villains of the retail world and all the time I know that I can affect change simply by where/how I choose to spend my money.
The power is in our hands people, watch this space with anticipation not fear.
Retail has been in a constant state of renewal since the earliest days of commerce. Artisans were disrupted by merchants, who were disrupted by bazaars and spice-route traders. Pushcarts disrupted stand-alone stores. The Sears Roebuck catalog of 1893 disrupted the first era of brick-and-mortar retail. Malls disrupted the town square; superstores and category-killers disrupted the local five-and-dime. And now, off-price, dollar stores, fast-fashion and online players are shaking up the industry. Through it all, retail has survived.
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