Changing the face of traditional bricks and mortar retail stores
Many Asian retail operators are taking a fresh look at their physical footprint, which is often one of their biggest assets. This is a major consideration for the retail industry, which is facing increasing pressure from competitors and consumers who want
Globally, larger retailers are looking at how they can reconfigure their physical space to better deal with multiple sales channels. Take the case of popular coffee chain, Starbucks, which as of 2013 was worth USD$14.9 billion (Bt523.54 billion) and had 19,767 stores in 62 countries.
With such a powerful network of stores, Starbucks last year announced that it was looking at new ways to maximise both its physical footprint and digital opportunities through mobile payment apps. Customers could order online and pick up in-store, as well as benefit from online loyalty programmes. This was just one example of an international retail chain realising it needed to move away from the traditional retail store to integrate with new technologies and the digital world.
Many more retailers, including those across Asia, are looking for more economical, environmentally sustainable and sound ways to improve the quality and accessibility of their business while rethinking or reducing their precious real estate. The approach varies from one retailer to the next; for many it might mean more emphasis on franchising, reducing the current space footprint to eliminate overheads or outsourcing some of their services (such as banking or bill payment) to partner businesses that have a larger network of stores.
Enter today’s technologies. Taking a fresh approach would see most of this infrastructure reduced to a single handheld device or a combination of two to three small devices that would take up a fraction of the space outlined above. Incorporating many of today’s solutions, this footprint could be shifted into a vertical space with wall-mounted or handheld technology, instead of consuming precious floor or counter space.
Many if not all legacy functions that once required several separate components and frequent manual transcription of data between disconnected systems can be accomplished in a single easy-to-learn workflow. A user equipped with a handheld computer, a small desktop or mobile printer with a payment attachment could replace virtually every other piece of equipment in the retail counter.
While traditional physical retail stores in Asia have evolved from operating as the singular point of interaction with customers to being one of many options, including e-commerce, they expect to be offered by customers.
This new clean slate approach, with the introduction of more versatile and space efficient technologies, could potentially enable much of the current physical space taken up by traditional retail stores to be turned back into productive and more profitable retail spaces. It would also allow potential conversations with floor space-sensitive franchise locations to function far more smoothly.
Tawan Jandang is regional director Thailand and IndoChina, Honeywell Systems (Thailand).
