The future of retailing

Professionalization of convenience

Globally, we have seen ongoing growth of big box retail, the (re)-emergence and professionalization of convenience and the rapid development of online pureplay and integrated multichannel propositions.

And beyond all that is the behemoth that is Amazon (and similar platforms) who are not just aiming to build a compelling online global retail platform – but to combine it with other propositions such as Prime and Marketplace, entertainment to create the flywheel that wins and sustains a high share of consumer transactions and interactions.

Evolving consumer purchasing journeys

At the same time we are seeing increasing polarization between value-led propositions and niche, premium or service-led propositions. Consumer purchasing journeys are also evolving – increasing levels of research, a higher importance of trust and greater influence of social media and digital marketing means many more purchasing decision are now influenced before the shelf-edge.

This has allowed brands who have taken advantage of these trends and built the right capabilities to gain market place traction and gain share – but also allowed new disruptive brands and models to emerge. For example, in the US, Dollar Shave Club has very rapidly gained a share of the men’s shaving market through combining a direct-to-consumer subscription model with a value orientated product and viral digital marketing.

The future of pet retailing

For those involved in the pet products industry, these trends raise many questions. What will the future of pet retail look like and what pace of change might we expect over the coming years? How might consumer purchasing behaviour evolve in the pet products space given how we have seen other categories evolve? What might be the implications for those supplying products and brands into the sector?

This might be a daunting set of issues to grapple with – but there is much that can be learnt from how other sectors have evolved and how brands and retailers have responded. Pet products has been a relatively slow adopting category in terms of online migration and multichannel development – and the successes (and just as importantly, the mistakes) of brands and retailers in more developed categories can guide potential successful routes forward.

We will have to see how retail in other product categories is developing, what that has meant for suppliers operating in those sectors (and how they have responded) and some potential implications for the pet products category. I believe these changes in the landscape create many opportunities for industry participants – and hope I can excite you enough to take advantage of these.