The New Retail Brand Frontier: Disruptive Innovation

As we enter a new year in a slow-growth economy, it's worth considering which retailers may excel in this competitive environment and those which may fall behind. With limited opportunities for growth, it takes something extra to stand apart from the pack. In a word, it takes disruption.

"Disruptive innovators" are essentially game changers — think Amazon.com, Facebook, Apple. Whether creating an entirely new market, offering a better product or service than anyone else, or even producing a "good enough" product or service at a much lower price, these companies take advantage of underpenetrated positions in large markets, and can grow much faster than the general economy.