Future of Retail: Challenges and Opportunities for Big W Stores

This report examines the future of retail stores, focusing on the case of Big W, an Australian discount retail chain. The introduction highlights the challenges Big W faced due to the rapid evolution of technology and the rise of e-commerce, leading to speculations about its future. The report then discus...Read More

Running head: The Future of Retail Store 1
The Future of Retail Store
Name
Affiliate Institution

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Future of Retail Stores.....................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................3
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................4
Reference List..................................................................................................................................5

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The Future of Retail store: Case of Big W Stores
Introduction
Big W is an Australian based discount chain retail store. Currently the store has 186 stores in
Australia and Asia. It is the dominant biggest physical retail store in Australia. In November 206,
there were speculations about its future that arose due to loses reported in August 2016. We are
asking ourselves what happened? The case is they did not keep up with technology that was fast
evolving and several competing company were switching to e- commerce.
Future of Retail Stores
According to Strähle, (2015), the needs and preferences of people in this generation when it
comes to shopping are fast changing due to the speed at which technology is fast evolving and
the perspective of businesses looks clearer now. It has become a necessity for retailers to either
keep up with these changes or they will be shaped out. How will the future of retail store actually
look like? Some key points are discussed below.
Quicker and faster- consumers are shifting their preferences to quick and easy shopping.
Convenience and speed will be the crucial and important features characterizing a top retailing.
Personalization- this will be an essential distinctive feature in retail practices. Internet of things
(IOT) has enabled many devise to communicate with each other and with other different devices.
These devices are able to keep track on how they are being used and send these data to retailers
in order to facilitate them identify customer preferences.
Easy buy, easy pay- In the near future new technologies will facilitate development of payments
modes which are more secure and fast. Organizations have been dealing with biometric data to
facilitate secure payments through scanning of biometric features in future. The object is more or
less similar; to enable shopping exercise faster, smoother and safer. (Klanten, Ehmann & Borges,
2015).
Use of social networks- retailing will start encroaching into social media platforms like
Facebook, twitter and so on. Retailers will be able to add “buy” buttons on their social sites so as
to enables customers to shop right there. This will facilitate the retailers to reach a larger group
of people and this makes shopping experience more fun, social, convenient and easier.
M-commerce- a lot of people currently are using smartphones across the world. This will
facilitate development of mobile point of sale (mPOS) that will reach a greater number of
consumers speeding up transactions. (Stephens, 2017).
Conclusion
Internet of things has taken shopping to another level. It has facilitated ordering and doing
shopping whenever and wherever you are and products are delivered right at your door step.
Online shopping has made shopping easy, convenient and fun. According to Cambron, (2014)

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there is no need to physically visit a store to buy your products. However, this mode of shopping
doesn’t guarantee product quality and in case of any technical failure on their website or any
malpractice like hacking it can compromise the operation of the business at a greater impact.
Recommendation
Millennials are the biggest and fast growing group of consumers at the moment. Pro-active
retailer should shift their energy to these group of customers because they form the largest
market. Retailers like Big W should therefore, keep up with the fast evolving technology so as to
meet the needs of these emerging consumer groups in future. This group of consumers have a
tendency of being faithful to products and brands that mean the right principles including social
responsibility, transparency and authenticity. If Big W and other retail stores keep this in mind,
then their future is “bright” otherwise they will be shaped out.

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Reference List
KLANTEN, R., EHMANN, S., & BORGES, S. (2015). The Shopkeepers Storefront Businesses
and the Future of Retail. Berlin, Die Gestalten Verlag.
STEPHENS, D. (2017). Reengineering retail: the future of selling in a post-digital world. Figure
1 Publishing.
CAMBRON, S. (2014). The Secret to Retail: the Secret to Success in Retail. Cork, BookBaby.
STRÄHLE, J. (2015). Emotionalizing Fashion Retail. Norderstedt, Books on Demand.