As I wrote in Shouldn't We Make Place Special, retailers have spent billions of dollars to create physical environments that today they all too often ignore. It's hard to find merchandise, pricing and usually even staff. In todays economy, can you afford to have hundreds of thousands (or millions) of square feet of retail space and all of the expenses that go with it, and just have it act like windows for people to do online shopping -- and they may not even shop online at your store! Can you continue to support online social media efforts while creating physical spaces that are almost anti-social?
Are you treating your stores as an asset or a liability? Is the physical plant of your store up to current standards of both practicality and design? Do you treat your employees as an important part of the retail experience or simply one more line item on your P&L?
If you're putting more effort into turning your stores into a web site, rather then capitalizing on what makes place unique, you might want to start looking for a great real estate broker to help you sell off your stores.
AUSTIN, TX – A Walmart executive at the Mobile Shopping Fall Summit said that although the brand initially focused its mobile strategy around optimizing its dot-com experience, the company is now eyeing the in-store service as the best way to take advantage of the medium. “Our biggest asset is the 4,000 stores that we have across the nation." Wendy Bergh, senior director of mobile and digital strategy at Walmart.
Walmart exec: The biggest asset in mobile are bricks-and-mortar stores
