“Online of Course”

I needed a funky lithium battery—hadn't checked my weight all summer and I noticed the scale in the bathroom was on “lo” heading fast for dead. I went to the hardware store, two drug stores, Staples and Best Buy. Each had batteries but not the model number I needed. In frustration, I asked a salesman at Best Buy “where should I go.”

“Online of course,” he said matter-of-factly.

So in a couple of minutes back at the office, I found the battery number on Amazon and had a package of two shipped home for a grand total of $3.50. Now I had to wait a couple of days to find out my weight, but the scale works again, and it beats running around town hunting for the item. I won't do that again.

This type of story isn't really new, but again speaks to the increasing convenience/cost/benefit equation of shopping on your computer or i-device especially as time becomes more valuable in an increasingly congested world. From the manufacturer's perspective, distribution and stocking becomes more efficient too through the direct purchase format, especially for select items. And if you know what you want and don't want the hassle of getting it immediately, online shopping wins hands down, and cuts out trips to a store.

It's becoming second nature, the norm and not the alternative especially for pace-setting Gen Y.

Meanwhile, attempts at marrying bricks and mortar with e-commerce continue apace as retailers scramble to keep themselves more competitive. The Wall Street Journal reports how Saks experiments with changing store formats to make them more web-friendly and recreate a web browsing experience for in-store shoppers.

At the same time, basic retail formats continue to emulsify and cannibalize each other—malls, power centers, lifestyle centers and malls scramble to lure or retain the same tenants as department stores and venerable big box brands struggle against the online onslaught. Mall owners begin to run out of anchor alternatives while the old line category killers aren't expanding and neither are the discounters.

The homogenization trend risks making the in-store experience more predictable, if not boring, and less entertaining. Once reliable growth in cineplex attendance erodes thanks to internet interlopers—like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video—and the food court isn't enough of a draw anymore. Mall owners ponder whether to try new theme restaurants or chef brands—but these gambits tend towards fad. Supermarkets, gourmet stores, and food become part of the essential merchandizing mix beyond strip centers. But isn't that the Whole Foods concept, which has already lost cache in over exposure?

Really most of what's being tried despite the talk is a reconstituted version of the same old, same old. And that's a problem for owners of retail real estate.

In retail the action dictating the future is “Online of course.”

I needed a funky lithium battery—hadn't checked my weight all summer and I noticed the scale in the bathroom was on “lo” heading fast for dead. I went to the hardware store, two drug stores, Staples and Best Buy. Each had batteries but not the model number I needed. In frustration, I asked a salesman at Best Buy “where should I go.”

“Online of course,” he said matter-of-factly.

So in a couple of minutes back at the office, I found the battery number on Amazon and had a package of two shipped home for a grand total of $3.50. Now I had to wait a couple of days to find out my weight, but the scale works again, and it beats running around town hunting for the item. I won't do that again.

This type of story isn't really new, but again speaks to the increasing convenience/cost/benefit equation of shopping on your computer or i-device especially as time becomes more valuable in an increasingly congested world. From the manufacturer's perspective, distribution and stocking becomes more efficient too through the direct purchase format, especially for select items. And if you know what you want and don't want the hassle of getting it immediately, online shopping wins hands down, and cuts out trips to a store.

It's becoming second nature, the norm and not the alternative especially for pace-setting Gen Y.

Meanwhile, attempts at marrying bricks and mortar with e-commerce continue apace as retailers scramble to keep themselves more competitive. The Wall Street Journal reports how Saks experiments with changing store formats to make them more web-friendly and recreate a web browsing experience for in-store shoppers.

At the same time, basic retail formats continue to emulsify and cannibalize each other—malls, power centers, lifestyle centers and malls scramble to lure or retain the same tenants as department stores and venerable big box brands struggle against the online onslaught. Mall owners begin to run out of anchor alternatives while the old line category killers aren't expanding and neither are the discounters.

The homogenization trend risks making the in-store experience more predictable, if not boring, and less entertaining. Once reliable growth in cineplex attendance erodes thanks to internet interlopers—like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video—and the food court isn't enough of a draw anymore. Mall owners ponder whether to try new theme restaurants or chef brands—but these gambits tend towards fad. Supermarkets, gourmet stores, and food become part of the essential merchandizing mix beyond strip centers. But isn't that the Whole Foods concept, which has already lost cache in over exposure?

Really most of what's being tried despite the talk is a reconstituted version of the same old, same old. And that's a problem for owners of retail real estate.

In retail the action dictating the future is “Online of course.”