As customers get ready to return to stores reassured by the vaccination rollout, retailers are reevaluating how their stores stack up in the omnichannel customer journey given the online trend. They are transforming stores into experience zones, dark stores, and micro fulfillment centers to strike a balance between product discovery, immersive experiences, and operational efficiencies.
Now is the time for retailers to move the spotlight from ‘relevance of stores’ to ‘profitable retail’ by embracing a machine-first paradigm across the omnichannel retail value chain. With automated, intelligent, and autonomous operations, store execution can be streamlined, resulting in lower operational costs [(sales, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses and cost of doing business ( CODB)] and improved profitability while being customer-centric.
This white paper prescribes a transformation road map for realizing future stores across the enterprise.
