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Survival Of The Personalized: Brand Success In The Age Of The Retail Apocalypse

By Enda McShane, Velocity Worldwide

The fear of a ‘Retail Apocalypse’ is not new. Google Trends shows the term first appeared in 2005, with intermittent spikes every couple of years until it skyrocketed to unprecedented popularity at the start of 2017. This begs the question — is retail really dying, or is it being forced to face constant reinvention to keep up with the evolving demands of consumers and a constantly changing economy?

Conflicting news headlines are perpetuating a state of retail limbo in which the fate of many brands is unclear. For every story claiming the Retail Apocalypse is officially here, there is another claiming it’s purely a scare tactic. So why all the contradictions? Is it possible both sides could be right? Shouldn’t the focus be on the solutions, rather than the problem themselves?

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The Retail Apocalypse Is Real And It Can Be Stopped

Just like Retail Apocalypse rumors themselves, problems in retail have been building for years. So while the recent demise of brands like RadioShack and JCPenney appear threatening, their struggle is not a surprise. Many of these brands, and others facing similar trajectories, have something in common — they failed to adapt to the era of the new consumer.

The problem in retail is not that consumers aren’t spending or e-Commerce is all they want — in fact, retail sales at the start of 2017 were up by nearly 6% from the same period in 2016, demonstrating an increase in consumer confidence. The real problem is that retailers aren’t listening to consumers who say they want an experience rather than just a product or service.

Instead, many brands are approaching the Retail Apocalypse with cost-cutting measures to counter favoritism of deals and ‘off-price’ retailers like TJ Maxx and Burlington Coat Factory. Often forgotten is that there are different “types” of purchasing decisions that aren’t influenced by bargain deals. Typically, lower prices won’t sway competitor loyalty or keep customers from shopping around if the alternative brand takes the time to recognize shopper preferences. In the fate of retail, a race to the bottom helps no one!

Personalization Is The Ultimate Survival Skill

Despite fears to the contrary, retailers do have control of their fate. As a crucial first step, they must measure progress in broader, longitudinal terms by asking themselves if they would be standing where they are today had they taken steps to reinvent customer engagement sooner.

It’s time for retailers to reintroduce themselves to their consumers and get to know who they really are, outside of traditional and static demographics. Taking steps to not only collect but refine data that tells the true story of a customer is critical to acquiring and retaining store visits and re-invigorating the concept of brand loyalty.

Retailers must overcome the notion that the current industry landscape can only be addressed with price cuts and online sales, and instead invest in pinpointing the insights that will help engage individuals with deals, experiences, offers and conversations they actually desire.

Consider this: as Retail Touchpoints reported in March, the TimeTrade State of Retail 2017 report identifies that $150 billion in potential revenue fails to reach retailers’ registers due to a lack of personalized shopping experiences. Would we still be discussing an apocalypse had that $150 billion not been thrown out the store window?

By leveraging actionable insights to reach customers in precise moments of their pre-store, in-store and post-store journey, retailers take the reins of customer experience and engagement to draw customers to the store and keep them coming back — the ultimate apocalypse survival skill.


Enda McShane is CEO and founder of Velocity Worldwide. First established by McShane in 2000, Velocity Worldwide began as a boutique retail-marketing agency called Spirit Communications Limited, later becoming Spirit Marketing Group. A key milestone in Velocity’s evolution was the introduction of Darius, a one-of-a-kind platform that supports every stage of the customer journey to deliver measurable ROI for a broad range of retail clients, in 2014. McShane has since grown Velocity to become a global entity with headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and offices in Dublin, London and New York. Prior to founding Velocity, McShane held various senior marketing titles with London Events Agency and Archer Leisure. He is a thought leader and accomplished speaker across the retail marketing, shopping center marketing and customer engagement industries. He also is an active member of several industry associations, most notably RG Data IE Retailer Association, Scottish Grocers Federation and ICSC. McShane attended the University of Ulster where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Sports and Fitness Administration & Management.

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