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Reengineering Retail: The Future of Selling in a Post-Digital World
Since the release of Doug Stephens’ first book, The Retail Revival , change in the global retail sector has accelerated beyond even the boldest forecasts. As predicted, online giants like Amazon and Alibaba.com are growing at a dizzying pace. Hundreds of well-known brick and mortar retailers have closed their doors, and brands and retailers across categories are struggling to understand the shifting needs and expectations of a new consumer.
Picking up where The Retail Revival left off, Reengineering Retail explores the coming revolution in the global retail and consumer goods market, offering sales and marketing executives a roadmap to the future.
Author and internationally renowned consumer futurist, Doug Stephens, paints a bold vision of the future where every aspect of the retail experience as we know it, will be radically transformed. From online to bricks and mortar, the very concept of what stores are, how consumers shop them, and even the core economic model for revenue, will be will be profoundly reinvented; changes sure to affect not only retailers large and small but any business with a stake in the global retail industry.
Infused with real world examples and interviews with industry disruptors, Reengineering Retail illustrates the vast opportunities at play for bold brands and business leaders. Stephens’ strategies will provide businesses with the foresight required to move quickly and effectively into the future.
Picking up where The Retail Revival left off, Reengineering Retail explores the coming revolution in the global retail and consumer goods market, offering sales and marketing executives a roadmap to the future.
Author and internationally renowned consumer futurist, Doug Stephens, paints a bold vision of the future where every aspect of the retail experience as we know it, will be radically transformed. From online to bricks and mortar, the very concept of what stores are, how consumers shop them, and even the core economic model for revenue, will be will be profoundly reinvented; changes sure to affect not only retailers large and small but any business with a stake in the global retail industry.
Infused with real world examples and interviews with industry disruptors, Reengineering Retail illustrates the vast opportunities at play for bold brands and business leaders. Stephens’ strategies will provide businesses with the foresight required to move quickly and effectively into the future.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2017
158 people are currently reading
853 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
March 30, 2018
Omni channel, product catering to millenniels, social media brand-to-consumer marketing…are among the key strategies we would most likely hear from CEOs of today’s strugggling brick-and-mortar retailers facing the disruption by e-commerce juggernaut Amazon.
Doug Stephens attempted to convince us none of the aforementioned strategies will rescue the battered industry; everybody else is desperate to catch up with Amazon, while Amazon is like a chess master, staying several moves ahead.
He laid out his vision on the retail renaissance, driven by the exponential growth of technology--a utopia that made me dizzy!
• Alexa or Amazon dash buttons will fulfill our everyday shopping needs for commoditized products, and have them automatically delivered.
• We can shop, with our trusted shopping buddies through virtual reality, in the comfort of our own home.
• Technology will be able to simulate the look and sound of a physical store, the texture of a cloth, the fragrance of a perfume, and even the smell of gourmet cooking.
• Physical stores will no longer be pretty warehouses that stock on best-selling commoditized products, instead, it will become a yoga studio, a rock climbing wall, or a design lab.
• Ephemeral stores, some are on the wheels roaming on the streets, can shapeshift every day to showroom different products or brands.
• We will use 3D printing to design or even manufacture our products.
• Wholesalers will be the thing of the past, brands/manufacturers will sell directly to the consumers.
Stephens pointed out the pitfalls of today’s retail revamping strategies, namely outdated productivity benchmarks (sales per square foot, same store sales etc.), focus on sales rather than customer experiences, channels instead of specific moments during customer’s shopping journey (discover, try, inspire, and buy).
The therapies he prescribed including encouraging innovative ideas regardless of immediate financial benefits, letting go futile attempts to create product scarcity, extending consumer-to-consumer marketing, generate alternative revenue source from consumer data, among others.
Stephens’ Sci-Fi vision were well-argued, but his recommendations are more applicable to emerging brands starting from scratch. The painful reality is we have way too many stores; shopping space measured by square-foot per person in U.S is at least twice as much as that in Europe. Store closing and bankruptcy are among the fastest ways to trim the excess. The incumbent retailers have neither time nor cash to engage in “reengineering, as long as Wall Street is the Big Brother, and stock price determines executive compensation.
So in my mind, the industry will get much worse before getting better. But maybe retailers who are more futuristic, and who can escape Wall Street's stranglehold will have a better shot of survival.
Doug Stephens attempted to convince us none of the aforementioned strategies will rescue the battered industry; everybody else is desperate to catch up with Amazon, while Amazon is like a chess master, staying several moves ahead.
He laid out his vision on the retail renaissance, driven by the exponential growth of technology--a utopia that made me dizzy!
• Alexa or Amazon dash buttons will fulfill our everyday shopping needs for commoditized products, and have them automatically delivered.
• We can shop, with our trusted shopping buddies through virtual reality, in the comfort of our own home.
• Technology will be able to simulate the look and sound of a physical store, the texture of a cloth, the fragrance of a perfume, and even the smell of gourmet cooking.
• Physical stores will no longer be pretty warehouses that stock on best-selling commoditized products, instead, it will become a yoga studio, a rock climbing wall, or a design lab.
• Ephemeral stores, some are on the wheels roaming on the streets, can shapeshift every day to showroom different products or brands.
• We will use 3D printing to design or even manufacture our products.
• Wholesalers will be the thing of the past, brands/manufacturers will sell directly to the consumers.
Stephens pointed out the pitfalls of today’s retail revamping strategies, namely outdated productivity benchmarks (sales per square foot, same store sales etc.), focus on sales rather than customer experiences, channels instead of specific moments during customer’s shopping journey (discover, try, inspire, and buy).
The therapies he prescribed including encouraging innovative ideas regardless of immediate financial benefits, letting go futile attempts to create product scarcity, extending consumer-to-consumer marketing, generate alternative revenue source from consumer data, among others.
Stephens’ Sci-Fi vision were well-argued, but his recommendations are more applicable to emerging brands starting from scratch. The painful reality is we have way too many stores; shopping space measured by square-foot per person in U.S is at least twice as much as that in Europe. Store closing and bankruptcy are among the fastest ways to trim the excess. The incumbent retailers have neither time nor cash to engage in “reengineering, as long as Wall Street is the Big Brother, and stock price determines executive compensation.
So in my mind, the industry will get much worse before getting better. But maybe retailers who are more futuristic, and who can escape Wall Street's stranglehold will have a better shot of survival.
March 8, 2021
Interesting when looking back at how drastically online sales have outperformed brick & mortar retail, but for the entire time he writes about how shopping will change in the near future he focuses solely on the upper-middle class. That's fine (I guess I'm asking for too much) but considering how the change in commercial infrastructure will change the lives of people in both high and low classes would ground the imagination he exercises in the book, without it the book reads like a series of "in the future CARS will DRIVE THEMSELVES!" statements.
it's cool though
it's cool though
January 9, 2018
If you are in the retail industry, this book is a must-read. In the age of many big names closing shops, thanks mainly to Amazon, Doug explains why the retail is "not" dead yet. In essence, the purpose of the brick-and-mortar retailers is changing from being an inventory of products to "centers of experience". With gazillion choices offered by online giants like Amazon, shoppers need a reason to come to the store. The challenge is to create the reason.
October 5, 2017
A must read for any retailer or marketeer!
Interesting and eye opening take on the future of retail full of real world examples. Clear and concise. A must 're add for any modern retailer, marketeer or entrepreneur.
Interesting and eye opening take on the future of retail full of real world examples. Clear and concise. A must 're add for any modern retailer, marketeer or entrepreneur.
January 13, 2023
Mientras leía, estaba seguro de que le iba a dar 5 estrellas a este libro cuando lo terminara. Como profesional de la industria del retail por más de 7 años, este libro tocó muchísimas cuerdas sensibles, sobre todo porque estoy mucho más involucrado con el canal digital que el físico. Pero al final, después de todo el análisis real, concreto, simple y exacto de la industria, me deja con una sensación de insatisfacción por lo que viene. Por supuesto que nadie sabe exactamente qué sigue en la industria, pero habiendo tocado tantos puntos relevantes, me parece que el autor pudo haber aterrizado al menos una de las muchas ideas que plasma por aquí, y dar una versión más realista y/o acertada a lo que veríamos al menos 10 años después de escribir el libro (y vale la pena mencionar que este review lo hago 5 o 6 años después de que fue escrito el libro).
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September 22, 2018The world, it is a-chanin'. However, once you know the tricks that are being used, it becomes easier to avoid them? Maybe? Or respond as competitor to this?
In a nut shell, anything that makes spending money automatic or too easy means it is pretty hard to avoid (literally brains like easy and reward us for ease). We aren't thinking about the habits of even evaluating for the value, need, or use of the thing we are buying. 'Hyper convenience, how it hurts you, and how to resist' is what I got out of this book, combined with some marketing tips that I hope to employ in a way that the author may not have intended.
In a nut shell, anything that makes spending money automatic or too easy means it is pretty hard to avoid (literally brains like easy and reward us for ease). We aren't thinking about the habits of even evaluating for the value, need, or use of the thing we are buying. 'Hyper convenience, how it hurts you, and how to resist' is what I got out of this book, combined with some marketing tips that I hope to employ in a way that the author may not have intended.
April 21, 2019
Reengineering Retail by Doug Stephens talks about the future of retail - the challenges the industry faces and the opportunities the industry has in a post-digital world.
I still have to encounter one single industry that cannot be disrupted by technology. It's amazing how technology can disrupt so many industries in a way that nothing is left the same.
That's what's happening in retail, in banking, in insurance, in health...you name the industry, you can trail the disruptive effects of technology.
That being said, it is exciting to read about the opportunities that technology presents for a complete reimagining of the customer experience.
It's truly amazing to read about companies making an effort to design the whole customer experience, taking care to reflect about their touch points, their pain points and, in turn, providing memorable moments to its customers.
Still, there's a long way to go until this retail reality the author envisioned in this book becomes the norm and not just some case studies you marvel at while reading about them.
I still have to encounter one single industry that cannot be disrupted by technology. It's amazing how technology can disrupt so many industries in a way that nothing is left the same.
That's what's happening in retail, in banking, in insurance, in health...you name the industry, you can trail the disruptive effects of technology.
That being said, it is exciting to read about the opportunities that technology presents for a complete reimagining of the customer experience.
It's truly amazing to read about companies making an effort to design the whole customer experience, taking care to reflect about their touch points, their pain points and, in turn, providing memorable moments to its customers.
Still, there's a long way to go until this retail reality the author envisioned in this book becomes the norm and not just some case studies you marvel at while reading about them.
January 6, 2023
Interesting, but not terribly inventive. The book does an sound job of summarising the development and implementation of paradigm shifts in the big and successful retailers/tech companies (Amazon, Starbucks, Uber etc). Unfortunately, this is mixed in with what I saw to be fairly shallow analysis or fairly obvious forecasts for what lay ahead, rather than anything novel, unique or frankly even risky.
In fairness to the author, many of the issues I take with this book could very well be owing to the timing as it was released a good 5 years ago.
I could really only recommend this book to anyone very out of touch with the current state of play in technology and retail.
In fairness to the author, many of the issues I take with this book could very well be owing to the timing as it was released a good 5 years ago.
I could really only recommend this book to anyone very out of touch with the current state of play in technology and retail.
April 12, 2020
An interesting vision of the future and that all is not doomed for brick-and-mortar operations.
Inspiring and frightening at the same time because even if author stays positive and suggest that companies seek refuge in enhancing physical experience for buyers, I think that in the long run every company will need a back up plan or invest into some side business.
When the bottle neck of shipping time improves further and further through advanced drone and transportation tech I don't think that anything can save retail as we knew it.
Light 4/5
Inspiring and frightening at the same time because even if author stays positive and suggest that companies seek refuge in enhancing physical experience for buyers, I think that in the long run every company will need a back up plan or invest into some side business.
When the bottle neck of shipping time improves further and further through advanced drone and transportation tech I don't think that anything can save retail as we knew it.
Light 4/5
April 26, 2020
Mandatory for people in retail business and entrepreneurs. Game changer!!
August 21, 2019
Reengineering Retail isn’t a bad book. It’s just…whatever. Written by Doug Stephens, Reengineering Retail tries to lay out a theory that encompasses the future of retail. The central idea is this. Digital technology has upended the traditional retail industry. The retail store is no longer a static distribution point for a product. Instead, Stephens, a self-proclaimed “consumer futurist”, sees them as “experiential media channels.” Now, throw in a bunch of business buzzwords, technology-centric case studies, and a weird 20-page diversion into innovation consulting, and you have successfully described Reengineering Retail.
Now again, on the surface, there is nothing inherently wrong about Reengineering Retail. Retailers need to get leaner, they need to reevaluate how they use store space, and they need to focus on creating experiences rather than just transactions. There are a handful of case studies in the book that made me think. The case studies are also almost uniformly geared towards high-end lifestyle retailers. Stephens would probably recommend that every grocer in America turn itself into Eatily — despite the fact that dollar discount stores are the only reliable growth engine left in retail. But then again, dollar stores aren’t as fun or exciting as having a private chef teach cooking lessons to sell more cheese.
I think that’s my biggest issue with the book. Reengineering Retail’s overall premise is probably true, but it spends the bulk of the time trying to make its’ case through buzzwords and glittering objects rather than the nuts and bolts of retail.
Let’s take his discussion of “building a network.” Stevens argues that in the future, successful retailers will build networks, not empires. Now, he never actually defines what he means by a network. Instead, he gives a string of loosely collected buzzwords.
First off, the “they operate on…” sentence is just describing joint business planning, a business function almost all retailers use to some extent. Secondly, “Intrinsically broader collective market intelligence…” Who is he kidding? I get what he’s probably trying to say. That the wisdom of the crowds is more significant than any one individual buyer. But how does that translate to brick and mortar retail? From a back-end operations perpsective it doesn’t.
Retail is a complex operation. For manufacturers, sorry, partners, roughly speaking you have a team that creates a good, a procurement team that figures out a way to buy the raw materials, a supply team that figures out how much to make, a demand team that forecasts how much and when retailers will buy, a sales team that sells the product to retailers, a finance team that makes sure they make money, and a customer service team that handles any issues. The retailer then, has a similar organization, only on its side.
How does this fit into Reengineering Retail’s network model? Well, it doesn’t. At least not to the extent that Stevens insinuates. A more rational future state would include major investments into warehouse management, inventory control, and trade planning software. The efficiencies gained from those could free up massive amounts of capital to invest in the “experiences” that Stevens suggest.
But that’s not nearly as innovative as a network, now is it?
Now again, on the surface, there is nothing inherently wrong about Reengineering Retail. Retailers need to get leaner, they need to reevaluate how they use store space, and they need to focus on creating experiences rather than just transactions. There are a handful of case studies in the book that made me think. The case studies are also almost uniformly geared towards high-end lifestyle retailers. Stephens would probably recommend that every grocer in America turn itself into Eatily — despite the fact that dollar discount stores are the only reliable growth engine left in retail. But then again, dollar stores aren’t as fun or exciting as having a private chef teach cooking lessons to sell more cheese.
I think that’s my biggest issue with the book. Reengineering Retail’s overall premise is probably true, but it spends the bulk of the time trying to make its’ case through buzzwords and glittering objects rather than the nuts and bolts of retail.
Let’s take his discussion of “building a network.” Stevens argues that in the future, successful retailers will build networks, not empires. Now, he never actually defines what he means by a network. Instead, he gives a string of loosely collected buzzwords.
Networks, on the other hand, are capital-light, structurally lean and able to scale rapidly. They operate on transparency and a sense of shared ownership with peer-to-peer trust and governance. Their success ultimately depends on a balanced scorecard of stakeholder interests, from shareholders to employees and network partners. They are more fluid, flexible and adaptable to change, in part because they offer an intrinsically broader collective market intelligence.
First off, the “they operate on…” sentence is just describing joint business planning, a business function almost all retailers use to some extent. Secondly, “Intrinsically broader collective market intelligence…” Who is he kidding? I get what he’s probably trying to say. That the wisdom of the crowds is more significant than any one individual buyer. But how does that translate to brick and mortar retail? From a back-end operations perpsective it doesn’t.
Retail is a complex operation. For manufacturers, sorry, partners, roughly speaking you have a team that creates a good, a procurement team that figures out a way to buy the raw materials, a supply team that figures out how much to make, a demand team that forecasts how much and when retailers will buy, a sales team that sells the product to retailers, a finance team that makes sure they make money, and a customer service team that handles any issues. The retailer then, has a similar organization, only on its side.
How does this fit into Reengineering Retail’s network model? Well, it doesn’t. At least not to the extent that Stevens insinuates. A more rational future state would include major investments into warehouse management, inventory control, and trade planning software. The efficiencies gained from those could free up massive amounts of capital to invest in the “experiences” that Stevens suggest.
But that’s not nearly as innovative as a network, now is it?
February 23, 2018
I hope my superiors are reading this book.
December 4, 2017
Great book to understand the change the Retail industry went through in the past year, in what state it is today, and what changes need to happen in the future if retailers want to survive.
In Opposition to the retail is dead message we have been hearing since a few years, this book pictures a bright and exciting future for the retailers that are able to adapt.
In Opposition to the retail is dead message we have been hearing since a few years, this book pictures a bright and exciting future for the retailers that are able to adapt.
December 20, 2017
Brilliant book on the way retail is shaping up. Echoes superbly the struggle I am involved in to make retailers and frontline understand to get off the monster of KPIs that we have created and ride the wave of customer experience instead.
November 23, 2017
A good broad overview of retail an industry. Maybe a little too panicky sometimes. Nonetheless some really great ideas and developments listed.
December 31, 2025
Interesting book. COVID accelerated a lot of the things that Mr. Stephens was predicting in 2017, so reading this book now makes him look very smart. I don't know about you, but in my town there are still a lot of empty retail storefronts and no sign that it will change anytime soon. And driving down the street these days requires constantly threading the needle between Amazon and UPS delivery trucks.
I think that he is right in predicting more and more integration between retail and online shopping, more shop bots that buy things for us and more custom-made products. There is an ongoing merger of media and sales that isn't finished yet. He talks a bit about AI, but he was too far off from the current world of ChatGPT to have been able to foresee some of its impacts. His predictions of VR shopping have not come to pass, and I don't see VR as becoming a factor in retail any time soon, if ever, but I'll give him a break for having one prediction that was a miss.
His biggest prediction is that retail locations will change in style and purpose to be less about sales and more about creating an experience that builds the customer relationship. He sees us moving into a world where retail stores delight us, where they tell stories, where we can have natural hands-on experiences with products. Maybe. That will happen sometimes. But it is risky and high cost and to do it right takes imagination. When you get into the business of telling stories, you have to accept the risk of stories that don't click. The failure a few months ago of Pirch, the high end appliance store that is one of his beacons pointing the way to the future makes my point. Yes, it was only one company, but it shows that being innovative and willing to invest in a new kind of retail store does not guarantee success. As much as I like the vision, and as much as I think that there will be a few shining examples of companies that make this work, I don't see it becoming ubiquitous. My fear is that we end up with a general decline of commercial areas and more and more Amazon for everything everywhere all the time. I hope not.
I think that he is right in predicting more and more integration between retail and online shopping, more shop bots that buy things for us and more custom-made products. There is an ongoing merger of media and sales that isn't finished yet. He talks a bit about AI, but he was too far off from the current world of ChatGPT to have been able to foresee some of its impacts. His predictions of VR shopping have not come to pass, and I don't see VR as becoming a factor in retail any time soon, if ever, but I'll give him a break for having one prediction that was a miss.
His biggest prediction is that retail locations will change in style and purpose to be less about sales and more about creating an experience that builds the customer relationship. He sees us moving into a world where retail stores delight us, where they tell stories, where we can have natural hands-on experiences with products. Maybe. That will happen sometimes. But it is risky and high cost and to do it right takes imagination. When you get into the business of telling stories, you have to accept the risk of stories that don't click. The failure a few months ago of Pirch, the high end appliance store that is one of his beacons pointing the way to the future makes my point. Yes, it was only one company, but it shows that being innovative and willing to invest in a new kind of retail store does not guarantee success. As much as I like the vision, and as much as I think that there will be a few shining examples of companies that make this work, I don't see it becoming ubiquitous. My fear is that we end up with a general decline of commercial areas and more and more Amazon for everything everywhere all the time. I hope not.
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Halo. Nama saya Rudi. Saya adalah seorang Konsultan Toko Ritel dengan pengalaman kerja dan prestasi selama 30 tahun di sebuah perusahaan ritel terkemuka di Kota Bandung.
Beberapa prestasi dan penghargaan yang pernah kami dapatkan :
> Pada tahun 2007 mendapatkan penghargaan "BEST PERFORMANCE STORE MANAGER" Griya Sumber Sari Bandung.
> Pada tahun 2013 mendapatkan penghargaan "BEST PERFORMANCE STORE MANAGER" Yogya Kopo Mas Bandung.
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Tahun 2023 ini beberapa project konsultasi kami adalah sebagai berikut (sampai Bulan Juli 2023) :
> Sebuah toko ritel di Kota Sukabumi.
> Sebuah perusahaan ritel yang memiliki beberapa chain store di Priangan Timur, Bandung (sedang berjalan).
Untuk profil lengkap kami, silakan bisa lihat lebih lanjut di LINKEDIN : https://www.linkedin.com/in/rudi-wigu...
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#konsultanritelterbaik, #konsultanritelmodern, #konsultanretailmanagement, #konsultanminimarketbandung, #konsultansupermarket, #jasakonsultanritel, #konsultanswalayan
Halo. Nama saya Rudi. Saya adalah seorang Konsultan Toko Ritel dengan pengalaman kerja dan prestasi selama 30 tahun di sebuah perusahaan ritel terkemuka di Kota Bandung.
Beberapa prestasi dan penghargaan yang pernah kami dapatkan :
> Pada tahun 2007 mendapatkan penghargaan "BEST PERFORMANCE STORE MANAGER" Griya Sumber Sari Bandung.
> Pada tahun 2013 mendapatkan penghargaan "BEST PERFORMANCE STORE MANAGER" Yogya Kopo Mas Bandung.
> Pada tahun 2016 mendapatkan penghargaan "BEST PERFORMANCE STORE MANAGER" Griya Dinasty Bandung.
Tahun 2023 ini beberapa project konsultasi kami adalah sebagai berikut (sampai Bulan Juli 2023) :
> Sebuah toko ritel di Kota Sukabumi.
> Sebuah perusahaan ritel yang memiliki beberapa chain store di Priangan Timur, Bandung (sedang berjalan).
Untuk profil lengkap kami, silakan bisa lihat lebih lanjut di LINKEDIN : https://www.linkedin.com/in/rudi-wigu...
Konsultan Ritel, Konsultan Manajemen Ritel, Konsultan Minimarket Mandiri, Konsultan Bisnis Minimarket, Konsultan Supermarket, Konsultan Manajemen Minimarket, Konsultan Swalayan
#konsultanritelterbaik, #konsultanritelmodern, #konsultanretailmanagement, #konsultanminimarketbandung, #konsultansupermarket, #jasakonsultanritel, #konsultanswalayan
May 13, 2019
This books rating on here shocked me at first sight and did not disappoint. Doug Stephens does an incredible job leading you down thought rabbit holes and then pulling you back out, his version of “dropping the red pill” he does an incredible job laying out his own observations as a major thought leader in the retail space. He counteracts interesting points with events that took place (Macy’s CEO talking about amazon vs what Jeff was doing in that very moment) and then adds a stark reality at the end and he curses in a very fruitful, enjoying way. This is one of the best books I’ve read so far and if you’re getting into retail in 2019. There is no better starting point than this book. Truly great work
April 27, 2020
A new chapter of retailing is coming very near. Doug Stephens is truly a master for his vision and acknowledgement on future retail. This is a must for any commercial expert. This book will open your mind on different aspects of how channels will grow, what manufacturers and retailers need to prepare now and then. You may know some of the examples of this book but Doug would take you to a deeper level of analysis and learning.
What I love about this book is as it talks a lot about the upcomings, it is not far away from practicality. You can easily take lessons from this book and apply right away to your business.
100%. 5-star. No-brainer.
What I love about this book is as it talks a lot about the upcomings, it is not far away from practicality. You can easily take lessons from this book and apply right away to your business.
100%. 5-star. No-brainer.
September 9, 2018
Doug does a great job laying out today's retailer problems and very thoughtful future scenarios.
As a person who has spent well over thirty years in retail technology I have seen and experienced all of what Doug lays out in this book. I do agree that the time has come for a changing of the guard in retail.
It is a wonderful time if you can reflect and be an active participant and not a deer in the headlights.
As a person who has spent well over thirty years in retail technology I have seen and experienced all of what Doug lays out in this book. I do agree that the time has come for a changing of the guard in retail.
It is a wonderful time if you can reflect and be an active participant and not a deer in the headlights.
March 11, 2019
Gripping. Reading one sit in (on a long flight)
With all the doom and gloom about the British high street and familiar names going bust this book a) explains why this is happening and b) paints a really exciting future.
I don’t work in retail but I found this a fascinating read and can’t wait until the shoots of the vision in this book become widespread. And don’t worry...it’s not all moving online.
With all the doom and gloom about the British high street and familiar names going bust this book a) explains why this is happening and b) paints a really exciting future.
I don’t work in retail but I found this a fascinating read and can’t wait until the shoots of the vision in this book become widespread. And don’t worry...it’s not all moving online.
September 14, 2019
Mindblowing.
I learned so much from this. The author does an excellent job at taking a few select examples of businesses, business techniques, and technology (the very few and only examples that exist so far in this pre-post-digital world) and expanding upon them to make a sound, reasonable statement that says "this how things will be".
Anyone that attempts retail without this as a guide will surely perish a pitiful death at the hands of Amazon and commoditization.
I learned so much from this. The author does an excellent job at taking a few select examples of businesses, business techniques, and technology (the very few and only examples that exist so far in this pre-post-digital world) and expanding upon them to make a sound, reasonable statement that says "this how things will be".
Anyone that attempts retail without this as a guide will surely perish a pitiful death at the hands of Amazon and commoditization.
December 7, 2020
Cuốn sách phân tích cuộc đối đầu giữa thương mại điện tử và bán lẻ. Một bên tập trung mang lại sự thông dụng của hàng hóa cho khách hàng thông qua việc giao hàng nhanh, mẫu mã đa dạng, thanh toán dễ dàng. Trong khi đó giải pháp và điểm tạo nên sự đặc biệt của ngành bán lẻ chính là từ sự trải nghiệm. Từ đó, đưa ra một vài giải pháp của ngành bán lẻ, như kết hợp sự phát triển của công nghệ để tạo nên những robot/ứng dụng giao tiếp với khách hàng; khuyến khích sự sáng tạo và đổi mới...
January 8, 2020
Stephens makes a compelling case that the future of retail is bright, but that it must be centered around customer experience and not on products. After our VP for DutchCrafters Brand read it, she bought copies for all of our managers and several others in the company - required reading and a guidebook for our renewed vision.
March 11, 2019
Sales, returns, experience, stores as media, innovation Vs iterations, capture the right talent, bright future of retail but as a different forum, old marketing Vs new marketing, etc and etc!! Exposure to future - what to expect and what not to, what to prepare for and what not do. Good read!
December 6, 2019
A motivating piece of business sci-fi. Alarmist and sensationalized but also consistently interesting and eye-opening. It will have you imagining the future of retail and, most convincingly, whether or not you will have a role in it.
April 15, 2018
Stephens discussed some interesting concepts in this book, but it was rather repetitive. I found myself skipping through concept reiterations about two thirds of the way through.
April 29, 2019
Scary - but realistic.
This reads like a manifesto for transformation.
This reads like a manifesto for transformation.
May 19, 2019
Worth reading book
It’s not completely new content but very organized and easy to read. And, this book focuses on not digital but retail in the end.
It’s not completely new content but very organized and easy to read. And, this book focuses on not digital but retail in the end.
February 5, 2020
Yes
Good book gives you a great look about retail's situation right now and how to survive in digital era .
Good book gives you a great look about retail's situation right now and how to survive in digital era .
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