The Changing Nature of Retail

The Changing Nature of Retail

Last week, Macy’s announced it was closing 100 stores, and Walmart announced it was paying $3.3 billion for Jet.com, a one-year-old e-commerce retailer that tried to take on Amazon directly. Both moves show that conventional brick-and-mortar retailers are struggling to attract shoppers to stores. But the two retailers are pursuing different solutions to the same problem.

Macy’s is one of the first companies to attempt to become a true omnichannel retailer. It is using radio frequency identification technology to improve store inventory to the point at which it has confidence to enable you to buy products online (even from your phone while in the store), and then pick up those products in one of its stores, or have them shipped from the store to your home. This transition, of course, takes some time—not just for Macy’s to execute but for customers to embrace.