Fall 2019 - Inside Outdoor Magazine

Inside Outdoor | FALL 2019 37 And while store closures capture at- tention, recent research from IHL Group found that for each company closing stores, 5.2 are opening doors. Indeed, for every segment of retail, there are more companies opening stores than closing stores, said IHL. What’s more, a large majority of retail executives re- cently surveyed by Retail Systems Re- search agreed that physical stores are their most profitable channel (50 percent strongly agreed while only 17 percent disagreed with that assessment). “This is counter-intuitive and shows a real attitudinal shift,” write RSR analysts and managing partners Paula Rosenblum and Steve Rowen. “There was a time when investors and retailers alike believed that their best road to profitability lay in moving more of the business online. But something happened on the way to online suc- cess: retailers started adding up the marketing, handling, shipping and returns-handling costs that erode the profitability of direct-to-consumer orders.” Expectations that volume would improve profits simply did not materialize, they continued. “Now, we are more likely to see pure play retail- ers opening stores than we are to see brick and mortar retailers closing all their terrestrial outlets.” In other words, physical stores aren’t disappearing any time soon. Rather, brick and mortar outlets are likely to drive the vast majority of U.S. retail sales throughout the coming decade, with most estimates pegging in-store sales accounting for at least three-quarters of total retail sales as we move into the second half of the 2020s. So, the question is less about whether or not the in-store experience remains relevant and more about which roles and functions the physical store will serve – both new and old – within the new and emerging multi- channel shopping experience. After all, just about every shopper nowadays, across all demographics and geographies, is an onmi-channel shopper. Consumers are sophisti- cated and savvy. They know what they want, how they want it and where to get it at a fair price. At certain times, for certain purchases, they prefer the convenience of their “smartphones on the couch” and the endless options and information they can access from anywhere. Other times, although fully aware of the powers of e-commerce platforms and portals, they still want to physically browse an assortment in-store, interact with other people and, most importantly, make their final transactions face-to-face, within an in-store environment. That’s especially true for outdoor specialty customers who identity with the community a store might cater to. W Sou Camping Accessories Categories on the Rise (Percentage Change Over 12 Months: Apr’18 - Mar’19) Source: Th NPD Group Source: Outdoor Foundation 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 TO 4 YEAR 5 TO 7 YEAR 8 TO 10 YEAR 11 to 15 YEAR 16 to 20 YEAR 21+ YEAR 0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% Aver by B Sourc Assessment of Current Role of the Store (Strongly Agree) Source: Retail Systems Research It is our primary face to the customer It is the primary point of customer order fulfillment It’s one of several ways for consumers to shop our brand Stores are our most profitable selling channel It’s a significant place for community to aggregate around our value proposition Stores are old, but major modernizations could save them It’s only a showroom for products we fullfill in other ways 2019 2018 70% 59% 64% 43% 56% 53% 50% N/A 44% 36% 36% 18% 28% 16% More t Camp Toiletries Camp Tables Thermal Insulated Containers Portable Audio/ Accessories Portable Power