A Baker’s Dozen Of Provocative Retail Predictions For 2018

2017 was one of the most transformative years for the retail industry that I can remember. 2018 is likely to be just as wild and woolly, albeit in somewhat different ways. Here’s my attempt to go beyond the more obvious predictions and go out on the limb just a bit. Number 1. – Physical retail isn’t dead. Boring retail is. A lot of stores closed in 2017. Often forgotten is that a lot opened as well. Many stores will close in 2018. Many will open as well. By this time next year roughly 90% of all retail will still be done in physical store, so please can we shut up already about the “retail apocalypse.” The train left the station years ago on products that could be better delivered digitally. What’s happened most recently has everything to do with a long over-due correction of the overbuilding and the collapse of irrelevant, unremarkable retail. The seismic changes in retail have laid waste to the mediocre and those that have been treading water in a sea of sameness. Great retail brands (Apple, Costco, Ulta, Sephora, TJX, etc.) continue to thrive, despite their overwhelming reliance on brick & mortar stores. Ignore the nonsense. Eschew the boring. Chase remarkable. Read more at Forbes.