Rahul Saraswat’s Post

From Retail Therapy to Retail Frustration: Why Shopping in Stores Has Lost Its Joy Highlights from the article 👉 Shopping was once a pleasurable social activity but has become frustrating due to understaffing, inventory problems, and theft prevention measures. 👉 Retailers have been unable or unwilling to invest in stores, including adequate staffing, leading to a decline in the joy of shopping. 👉 The early department stores were an elegant innovation with knowledgeable and attentive staff ready to aid customers. 👉 Retail jobs in department stores were coveted and provided a novel path of economic opportunity for white women in particular. 👉 Brick-and-mortar stores have been closing for years, retail foot traffic is down, and the future of retail is uncertain. #retail #ecommerce #shopping

From Retail Therapy to Retail Frustration: Why Shopping in Stores Has Lost Its Joy Highlights from the article 👉 Shopping was once a pleasurable social activity but has become frustrating due to understaffing, inventory problems, and theft prevention measures. 👉 Retailers have been unable or unwilling to invest in stores, including adequate staffing, leading to a decline in the joy of shopping. 👉 The early department stores were an elegant innovation with knowledgeable and attentive staff ready to aid customers. 👉 Retail jobs in department stores were coveted and provided a novel path of economic opportunity for white women in particular. 👉 Brick-and-mortar stores have been closing for years, retail foot traffic is down, and the future of retail is uncertain. #retail #ecommerce #shopping

Retail Today / Retail Renaissance: People love to shop, visit any regional lifestyle center or a “AA” Mall, even a Costco or Walmart. However this article points out the pain points of Brick&Mortar Shopping, empty shelves, self-checkouts, lack of convenience, locked cases and understaffed with unhappy employees. This is an excellent wake up call for retailers! Hire ENTHUSIASTIC PEOPLE, teach them, train them, pay them and love them or your days are numbered. You can’t expense your way to profitability but you can drive sales. “Going Shopping Isn’t Dead” but you’re not investing in your business. Excellent comments from Pamela Danziger #retail #brickandmortar #ecommerce #shoppingexperience #stores ##retailtrends #retailindustry #retailstrategy #retailexperience #selfcheckout #associates #walmart #costco #amazon #apparelindustry #customerexperience

Self-checkout is an excellent case study of the challenges #retailers face with new #technology; the need to balance operational efficiency and cost savings with the needs of associates and the ever-shifting (and often unclear) preferences of #consumers. #SCO started as a way to accelerate #checkout for small basket orders while enabling #retailers to reduce store #labor costs. #Covid greatly expanded the rollout of #SCO lanes, fueled by consumers’ desire for #touchless experiences … and the promise of ever-greater #cost savings. But as #shopping behavior normalized, consumers grew frustrated with having to continue to take on the work of scanning and bagging, especially with larger #grocery orders. This was exacerbated by years of price increases, which left many shoppers feeling taken advantage of, and has contributed to the “15% of self-checkout users [who] admitted to stealing an item on purpose.” A cautionary tale of getting too far ahead of what #consumers were / are willing to take on … and a needed course correction by the industry. https://lnkd.in/ePs_wSHM

Should Target Be Limiting Self-Checkout Hours? Target is limiting access to self-checkout terminals in some locations as part of efforts to reduce shrink while directing more customers to cashiered... Read More at VMR https://lnkd.in/ezBpCeyZ #retailnews #target #targetretail #supermarkets #stores #selfcheckout #selfservice #retailcustomers #retailquestions #retaildiscussion #shoppingnews #foodnews #shoppingchanges #shoppingtrends

The retail world is undergoing a shift as online shopping continues to outpace brick-and-mortar stores. With predictions of 45,000 store closures in the next five years, businesses are feeling the pressure. Listen in as as Michele M. Gordon tells us more on this Hot Topic from today’s show! Click here to watch the entire episode - https://lnkd.in/dPk585is #onlinestores #brickandmortar #digitalmarketingconsulting #digitalmarketingsolutions 

Traditional department stores in their current format are a sunset industry, slowly dying out as ways of shopping and consumer preferences rapidly change. While the expected closure of Smith & Caughey's may have come as a surprise to consumers and the public, for those working inside the retail industry, it was inevitable. Read more about this and the challenges of the model in today’s SST

The internet was supposed to kill in-person shopping - not so! More retail stores are opening Interesting article on how Bass Pro is winning in the mega store space. What can be adapted for your business? Read the full article by clicking the link in the comments.

What's New to The Street... Discover the retail revolution: Bricks-and-mortar stores find new life as online shopping saviors! 🛍️🌐 Retailers are leveraging their physical locations as crucial fulfillment hubs, bridging the gap between online convenience and in-store experience. 💼 👉🏻Follow New To The Street for more! #RetailInnovation #FulfillmentHubs #OnlineShopping #BusinessChallenges #BusinessNews #businessnews #business #news #newtothestreet

Funny. I was at a Target, I repeat TARGET, last week (on a Saturday, early evening) and they had zero cashiers. ZERO! They ONLY had self-checkout open. It was completely ridiculous! While self-checkout can be convenient, I find many stores are over-relying on it, making the in-store experience complete trash. That's not good for impulse purchases and shopper marketing. https://lnkd.in/e5N5qqFh #Retail #Ecommerce