The Evolution of the Brick-and-Mortar Shopping Experience
It's hard to believe the first iPhone debuted just seven years ago. In that short time, handheld computing has changed so dramatically that to label these devices as phones is like referring to a space shuttle as transportation. Sure, it'll get you from here to there, but there's so much more to the experience.
New terms such as selfie and showrooming have entered the lexicon as a result of smartphones. And we have entire companies built around the immediacy of mobile connectivity: Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, etc. There's little doubt that the two biggest things to happen since that first iPhone are the expansion of mobile to the point of ubiquity and the Great Recession. Nothing else in recent history has impacted our daily lives as much as these two events.
Both have significantly changed how consumers shop. Yes, there's showrooming, which is the act of scanning the UPC of an item in-store and then buying it online. But that seems to have peaked, and the reverse is now happening. Consumers are doing research online but buying in-store. Some are calling it "webrooming." Google called it the Zero Moment of Truth, or ZMOT. One response to the growth of online shopping from major retailers is to experiment with smaller stores. So are smaller stores the future of retail?
Changing Shopper Behavior
The recession made us all a little more deliberate in how we spend and in what we choose to buy. It matters little what income bracket you're in. Chances are you're thinking a little harder about purchases — any purchases — than you made before 2007. It really doesn't matter if that purchase is a new car, or milk, bread and eggs. Today, we're all looking at our options: where to buy, how much to pay and what alternatives are available.
More importantly, we're doing the majority of this on our phones, sometimes in-store, sometimes in deciding which store to visit, and it's all being done in real time. This isn't evolution, it's revolution. Shopping habits are changing so quickly that they barely have time to become habituated before we morph again based on a new app or idea.
Retailers are scrambling in an attempt to keep up with this constant change. For brick-and-mortar, there are the age-old challenges of long lines, out of stocks and unhelpful employees. Add to that the changes in shopping frequency; gone are the days of weekly shopping trips to stock up with fill-in trips in between. Now we shop in real time, buying only what we need, when we need it. This behavior puts more stress on an already stressed retail store environment. A lot of shoppers and fewer items per shopper lead to higher operational costs.
Managing Just-in-Time Behavior
Major players like Wal-Mart and Target are experimenting with smaller stores to cater to this "just-in-time" behavior. But are smaller stores the future? If shopping online has done anything, it's expanded our expectations for assortment. Wal-Mart has also announced that it will provide a broader product selection, but that would seem to be at odds with the smaller store concept.
To ask what size a store should be is to ask the wrong question. Store size is largely immaterial to shoppers, taken by itself. Big stores need to be easy to shop; small stores need to have a broad selection. What's right today may not be right tomorrow. As consumers, we want choices. There's no single right answer.
Other retailers, for example Kroger and Urban Outfitters, are looking at larger stores to more effectively match shopper expectations. Shoppers want choices, but they also want convenience. Getting it right is much more than just a big store/small store decision. That leads us to the other big change driven by mobile use and our new pragmatism: personalization.
Targeted offers based on shopping history or suggestions based on what others bought and that we might like are the new table stakes for the brick-and-mortar experience. It's no longer possible to land on one size or one offer or one anything and call it the correct answer. Mass marketing has given way to targeted, behavior-based offers to match what we get when shopping online.
It matters little what size the store is — it either has the products I want or it doesn't. If not, I'll go somewhere else, and chances are I won't be back. The shopping experience is important as well. While everyone wants a great price, most consumers will pay a little more for a great experience. That means providing shoppers with fast checkouts and knowledgeable employees to go along with having what they want and when they want it.
Online shopping has become a normal activity, but it's mostly used for replenishment buying in specific categories — e.g., diapers, coffee, printer cartridges. We ought to call it online buying, as we generally know what we want, and we're just filling a hole in the pantry or printer. For true shopping, as in what's for dinner, or I want to try something new, or show me some options, brick-and-mortar stores remain the preferred venue. This is doubly true for fresh consumable products. We still want to pick out our own apples, thank you.
It's hard to say what shopping will look like in 10 years, or even 10 months, but it's probably safe to say that we'll still do the majority of it in brick-and-mortar stores. Which stores we choose for that shopping trip will vary by day of week, occasion and myriad other factors. The bottom line is that the utilitarian ideal of the "best for the most" is irrelevant in a world awash in individualism. It's been a wild time since that first iPhone, and there's no sign of stability yet. Product assortment is more important than store size, and someone who can actually help with advice and ideas is better than free shipping.
Jeff Weidauer is vice president of marketing and strategy for Vestcom International, a Little Rock, Ark.-based provider of integrated shopper marketing solutions. Jeff can be reached at jweidauer@vestcom.com.
