The so-called “retail apocalypse” may have been debunked, but there’s still no question that the industry is in the midst of profound change. Retailers aren’t just looking for ways to tweak the shopping experience; many seek to reimagine every aspect of how they will interact with consumers. Pano Anthos, Founder and Managing Director, XRC Labs, brings a perspective that is both future-oriented and grounded in today’s retailing requirements. He has identified five key themes that are reshaping store-based retail:

Pirch, an upscale appliance and kitchen retailer that was hailed as an avatar of experiential retail, recently announced it would be closing most of its stores as it seeks to overhaul its operations. Joe Hasenzahl, Principal Consultant for Retail Technology Strategy at HighStreet, provided this exclusive analysis of the Pirch phenomenon, as well as its strengths and weaknesses, to Retail TouchPoints. Those of us who’ve been evangelizing, proselytizing and preaching “experience” as the savior of brick-and-mortar collectively gasped when the news broke last week that one of the industry’s shining lights, Pirch, was shuttering stores. The announcement of the impending close of most of their much-lauded luxury showrooms both shocked and confounded us. How? What could possibly have caused such a rock solid, industry-inspiring store experience to suffer the same fate of their less enlightened brand brethren?