MAPIC 20–TWENTY INSIGHTS feature 20 minutes with the innovators and disruptors redefining the retail industry’s future.
In the first in our series, Yves Curtat, chief executive and founder of omni-channel specialist Retail Reload, explains how real-time, unified inventory management can help retailers to construct new business models, improve store operations and customer experiences for a full omni-channel offer.
In his insightful conversation, he argues that following the Covid19 crisis, retail will accelerate four major structural changes:
- An increase of online business penetration
- A powerful upswing in deconsumerism [customers getting used to buying less]
- A reduction of square footage and store networks
- A decrease of merchandise volumes
In this exclusive podcast for MAPIC, Curtat says: “Something good has to come out of the crisis, an opportunity for innovation among all stakeholders. Covid is a forced opportunity to reinvent retail by learning to do more with less; to be stronger and leaner, more profitable and able to meet digitalisation expectations.”
He argues that now is not the time to for step-by-step processes but a reinvention of the retail business model and says retail needs to move from sales engine to margin logic and reminds retailers: “Your stores are a key asset. Connect customers to store inventory. Help them use their smartphones for better shopping.”
