Canadian Retailer - The Technology & e-Commerce Issue - 13

Diane J. Brisebois: Retail is about a
lot of things. But, more than anything, it's about constant change and
disruption. Looking ahead, what are
some of the things that you think will
drive change and disruption within
the industry in 2018?

"THE CONSUMER'S
SENSE OF VALUE HAS
BEEN POLARIZED.
NOT LONG AGO, MOST
CONSUMERS WERE SORT
OF TRAINED TO ACCEPT
THE MID-MARKET AND
TO GRAVITATE TOWARD
IT. BUT, WHAT WE'RE
SEEING TODAY IS THAT
PEOPLE ARE MAKING
VERY DIFFERENT CHOICES
CONCERNING HOW THEY
SPEND THEIR MONEY."

Doug Stephens: A lot of people within
the industry tend to use Amazon as a
scapegoat for all of the disruption. It's
Amazon's growth. It's Amazon putting downward pressure on pricing.
It's Amazon that's funded endlessly
by their investors and can seemingly
do no wrong. It's become the poster
- DOUG STEPHENS
child for all of the ills of the retail sector. But that's not realistic. There's no
question that Amazon's a juggernaut.
It's disruptive. It's now responsible for
six-tenths of every incremental dollar
that's spent online. There's no question it has an impact. But if we net
that impact out, considering what's
sold online versus the rest of the retail
economy, Amazon is only responsible
for six to eight per cent of total retail
in Canada. So, the question becomes-
what are the other factors impacting retailers in the country?
result, the mall is no longer the
Perhaps the biggest disruptor is the fact that the consumer's
apex of convenience that it once
sense of value has been polarized. Not long ago, most consumwas. The conventional mix in most
ers were trained to accept the mid-market and to gravitate
shopping centres has always been
toward it. But today, people are making very different choices
70 per cent retail and 30 per cent
concerning how they spend their money. For commodity
food and entertainment. There are
product, the things they need, consumers are defaulting to the
100 retailer stores, a theatre and a
low-end of the value spectrum-going to dollar stores, research- food court. Traditionally, as long
ing online, going to off-price and outlet malls. However, when
as malls had that mix, they were
they want an experience attached to the product they purchase, at least moderately successful.
they're shopping at market. What this is resulting in is a colLooking ahead, that mix is what's
lapse of the mid-tier of the market. That's responsible for a lot
going to change fundamentally.
of the disruption and impact the industry's currently experienConsumers are still going to want
cing and will continue to experience heading into 2018.
places to go as humans and as
consumers. But they're increasDJB: Talk to me a bit about shopping centres. What does the ingly seeking out food and
future shopping centre look like, and what experience do
entertainment experiences, social
they need to provide consumers to remain relevant?
experiences. As a result, shopping
will become less a factor in a
DS: Three or four decades ago, when a consumer decided that
shopping centre and more about
they needed something, their first stop, in most cases, was
experiences. We're already seeing
a shopping centre. It's where they found a wider selection of
that transformation take place in
products than anywhere else, and the most brands under one
shopping centres in the US. And
roof. Today, however, a shopping centre is no longer the first
some developers in Canada are
step in the consumers shopping journey. Now, consumers
now considering taking their shopeither go to Amazon or to Google to start the search. As a
ping centres in the same direction.

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THE TECHNOLOGY & E-COMMERCE ISSUE

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