Customization and the Way forward for Retail

Over the Thanksgiving vacation, I traveled to Pennsylvania to go to household. Thanksgiving dinner — crammed with loads of pie, in fact — was scrumptious. And the following day (Black Friday) I took a leisurely stroll by means of the native Boscov’s. 

Now, I sometimes don’t pay an excessive amount of consideration to Black Friday hype. I detest getting up early and have zero curiosity in combating by means of hordes of individuals to get my arms on one thing I don’t actually need. However I do buy groceries on Black Friday sometimes. I try shops late within the day, after the frantic crowds have dispersed. And I do my greatest to seek out one thing that’s a genuinely whole lot — and never simply low cost. 

That’s what introduced me to Boscov’s. 

Boscov’s is the one retailer I can recall having a powerful presence all through my childhood. I’ve fond recollections of going to the division retailer with my mom and getting misplaced among the many dizzying variety of clothes racks. Wandering previous the fragrance counters, the place floral scents and musky colognes wafted over me. Gazing at a counter stuffed with candies and watching my father purchase fancy truffles and chocolate-covered cherries for my mom for Christmas. 

The boring beige carpeting appeared to muffle the sounds of the shop round me, enveloping me in an oddly peaceable quiet regardless of the shop’s large measurement. That sense of peacefulness contrasted strongly with the busyness of the mall in a approach that I at all times discovered stress-free. 

And that’s nonetheless true at the moment. At Boscov’s, I can take my time. And I at all times discover insanely good gross sales. 

On the similar time, Boscov’s is an exception to the rule for me. Like a rising variety of individuals, I do most of my procuring on-line. I sometimes order garments on-line somewhat than wander round a mall or a division retailer hoping to seek out one thing I like. 

It is because my tastes have modified over time. I’m now far more intentional concerning the garments I buy. I search for particular gadgets for my wardrobe. And it’s far more environment friendly to sort one thing into Google and get 15-plus outcomes than it’s to drive to a retailer the place I would discover one of these choices. I additionally prioritize trying to find extra sustainable manufacturers. And I’m not alone in that seek for sustainability. 

Department shops sometimes aren’t as trend-savvy as newer manufacturers. And so they’re fairly far behind by way of adopting extra sustainable practices.

So Boscov’s is, in some ways, from a bygone period. Department shops throughout the U.S. have been struggling for greater than a decade. They have a tendency to hold legacy manufacturers. And so they have a tendency to supply a restricted array of merchandise. 

New manufacturers are capturing millennial and Gen Z clients on-line and by means of social media. And 62% of U.S. buyers store on-line extra now than they did earlier than the pandemic. Given e-commerce’s explosive progress even earlier than the pandemic and COVID’s obvious endurance, that development appears more likely to proceed.

On-line retailers are additionally a lot better at customizing their merchandise for purchasers. And extra buyers than ever need merchandise tailor-made to their particular person wants. They need personalized streaming companies, personalized skincare merchandise, personalized grocery supply. And small, agile startups are more and more addressing that demand. 

That doesn’t essentially imply that each one brick-and-mortar retailers are doomed. In-store procuring nonetheless has its advantages — as I’ve discovered at Boscov’s. Nevertheless it does increase a query for buyers: What’s the way forward for retail?

Will it proceed to be a hybrid of brick-and-mortar and on-line commerce? Will we finally shift to do all our procuring on-line? Will shops discover different methods to make themselves helpful to clients?

Each time I go to Boscov’s, I’m wondering about its future. Will it adapt to new traits? Will it survive as Amazon and different on-line retailers develop?

I can’t say. However I hope it does. Boscov’s doesn’t precisely provide a personalized expertise. However for me, it does provide a novel expertise. I solely go to Boscov’s perhaps yearly. It’s not the place I do most of my procuring.

However each infrequently, it’s like a blast from the previous… and it hits the spot.