Shops
Stores that learn from their customers
In his book “The end of stores?” author Cor Molenaar describes that retailers need to move away from their sales-oriented approach. They need to move towards a customer-oriented approach, an approach that online retailers have already mastered much better on average. Given the nature of their interactions with customers, they collect much more information: where they live, what they buy and when, what they look at and search for. In order to remain attractive to customers, it is essential that physical stores also respond to the needs of the customer.
One of the few retail chains that is structurally collecting information about customers in physical stores is Zara. Zara store managers are encouraged to learn from their customers. What do customers buy and what do they search for? What do customers look like? What are the trends in the region? The store managers have daily contact about their findings with the district managers, who in turn have contact with the market specialists several times a week. Because the market specialists are in close contact with designers, Zara can present a new collection twice a week that matches the needs of the customers.City centres in the Netherlands have become increasingly lively over the past four decades. Visitors go there for entertainment and relaxation. At present, a reverse development is threatening, partly due to the increasing popularity of online shopping. If this development continues, it will be a loss for both the public and the entrepreneurs. How can the tide be turned?
Since the 1970s, city centres have changed significantly. The working city has become a fun city. City centres are now areas where people go to have fun and enjoy the proximity of others. They are places with a mix of shops, restaurants, events and culture. This change has been caused, among other things, by the fact that people have more time and money at their disposal due to increased prosperity and because families have moved to the suburbs and more single-person households have ended up in city centres.
For a long time, researchers have been engaged in research and theory development brother cell phone list around the cold and impersonal sides of city life. The book “The Warm City” by Thaddeus Müller from 2002, focuses on the new urbanity. This book shows that contacts in the public domain also have personal, friendly and intimate dimensions.
Due to a number of causes, of which online shopping is one, shopping areas in city centres are in danger of becoming less lively. That is a shame, not only for entrepreneurs, who are losing turnover. If the function of the city centre as a lively, warm meeting place disappears, this will be a loss for many people. You can say what you want about shops, for example that they have a negative influence on historical city centres with their signs. But shops clearly also contribute positively to city centres. The success of physical shops is an important aspect for maintaining lively city centres, because shops are important crowd pullers.
In this article I will discuss the extent to which online shopping threatens physical shopping areas. I will then explain how vacancy in shopping areas in city centres and the resulting reduction in the attractiveness of city centres is and can be combated. The approach I propose is user-centric, focused on cooperation between all stakeholders and on the “experience” of the visitor.