Inside Outdoor Winter 2018

In-store Retail’s Youthful Look Editor’s Letter Martin Vilaboy Editor-in-Chief martin@bekabusinessmedia.com Percy Zamora Art Director outdoor@bekapublishing.com Ernest Shiwanov Editor at Large ernest@bekapublishing.com Berge Kaprelian Group Publisher berge@bekabusinessmedia.com Rene Galan Associate Publisher rene@ bekabusinessmedia.com Anthony Graffeo Associate Publisher anthony@bekabusinessmedia.com Beka Business Media Berge Kaprelian President and CEO Neil Ende General Counsel Jim Bankes Business Accounting Corporate Headquarters 15560 N Frank LloydWright Blvd Suite B4 – 5433 Scottsdale, AZ 85260 Voice: 480.503.0770 Fax: 480.503.0990 Email : berge@bekabusinessmedia.com © 2018 Beka Business Media, All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in any form or medium without express written permission of Beka Business Media, is prohibited. Inside Outdoor and the Inside Outdoor logo are trademarks of Beka Business Media The recent holiday season provided a bit of good cheer to physical re- tailers across America. Stilled mired in the muck of the retail correction of 2017, in-store sales and foot traffic for the 4th quarter largely outdid most projections. Even some storied brands, including department stores, out- paced expectations, and retail stocks outperformed the broader market as the calendar turned to the New Year. More good news for physical retail came by way of the National Retail Federation and its most recent annual Consumer View . NRF’s survey of consumers on their attitudes and experiences in today’s retail environment found that the vast majority of shoppers, some 80 percent, say they are visiting physicals store as much or more than they used to. What’s more, younger demographics of shoppers are visiting stores at higher rates than the “average consumer.” Whereas 78 percent of overall consumers say they go to physical stores more or the same as the year earlier (with 28 percent saying they go more), 83 percent of Gen Y and Z shoppers say they are getting physical at the same or higher rates (with nearly half saying they visit brick and mortar stores more often). Younger shoppers also are more likely to visit a store to hang out and browse, or for opportunities to socialize, show NRF figures. Half of Gen Zers and 35 percent of Millennials say they typically visit a store just to browse, compared to just 23 percent of Gen X and 17 percent of Baby Boomers who say the same. Overall, 55 percent of younger shoppers sometimes see an in-store visit as a “social activity,” compared to a third of all shoppers. Of course, younger cohorts tend to have more time on their hands to browse and are more in need of finding places and reasons to be social, so enthusiasm regarding the future of in-store sales should be somewhat tempered. “With most Gen Zers still too young to own credit cards, drive a car or live away from home, it remains to be seen how their attitudes toward physical retail will evolve over time,” say NRF analysts. Even so, NRF’s findings suggest younger shoppers still value the physical retail presence, and they might not see a trip to a brick and mortar store as antiquated and old-fashioned, as some may argue. And while the clock may still be ticking on just about everyone but Amazon, the recent holiday bump could signal the same, at least in the near term, for the broader consumer market. Goodbye 2017 “apocalypse.” Here’s to a more prosperous 2018. – MV Inside Outdoor | Winter 2018 6