Over the last decades, the conventional retail model underwent significant changes as technological advancement, globalization, and major socioeconomic shifts occurred. Currently, traditional shopping centers yield power to the Internet, and from activity in which word of mouth was authoritative, it transformed into one where influencers impact buying decisions. Doug Stephens’s “The Retail Revival” envisions how the retail of the future will appear. In this new unprecedented era, many professionals in the field might have become disoriented, and the book under consideration serves to provide guidance and bring clarity. Stephens investigates and portrays present and only forming shopping habits and the phenomena shaping them. Hence, the book represents a comprehensive manual into the new retail era, reimagining customary ideas about the domain.
The first chapter in “The Retail Revival” provides insight into the retail marketplace’s formation how it was known until relatively recently. Stephens begins by portraying the 1940s and 1960s and how the tastes were constructed during the time; in particular, the author assigns a considerable role in this narrative to Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart (Stephens 35). Simplicity, thrift, and uniformity in tastes were primary tendencies, which helped establish hypermarkets offering constant discounts. In the second half of the last century, another essential shift happened – the industrialization of retail. Due to the process, the quality was replaced by abundance and availability, and such concepts as personal service, uniqueness, and artful merchandising become secondary. The way people spend their money also altered, as established during the Second World War need to save, and economic sobriety was disregarded and replaced by higher rates of consumer spending. The government adopted policies to allow free cash flow, as a result of which living off credit became a notable trend. It can be said that the beginning of the book sets the stage for an exploration of current trends by describing trends of the past and how they arose.
The middle of the last century’s social and economic conditions allowed for the creation of a well-defined middle class that currently diminishes. The state of social stratification of the past, particularly the prevalence of the middle class, was also in many ways favorable for retailers. Multiple chain stores emerged and spread across the country, and new products and services were continuously introduced. The second chapter indicates how the era came to its end with the disappearing middle class. Currently, the economic strata do not play as significant a role in the retail market as they used to. Buyers’ preferences and behaviors no longer extensively correlate with the social class to which they belong, as, for instance, household revenue ceased to be a predictor for brand preference. Furthermore, the value of commonness decreased, and the average choice stopped being a popular choice. Overall, in the second chapter, the author paints a gloomy picture for mid-market retailers that primarily relied on the middle class, which for several decades has been in decline. The conclusion bears substantial implications for beginners who consider starting in mid-market retail due to its shrinking size and increasing competitiveness.
The following chapter of “The Retail Revival” continues to unravel the theme established in the previous one – the end of mediocrity in retail. Stephens describes a supposedly common misconception about target consumers whom a large number of marketers picture as a traditional upper-class family with two children and a golden retriever. Accordingly to the author, this is a grave mistake since this socioeconomic image gradually disappears. Stinchcombe’s theory explains this fallacious perception: an organization’s social system is based on social resources available at the time of its creation. Thus, the marketers envision a traditional family as their target consumer because once it indeed was – at the very beginning of their careers. The perception of average consumer formed decades ago should be changed for efficient marketing; it is recommended to operate in terms of households instead of families, since the latter concept transforms. Furthermore, the author accentuates that mediocre service and products that were not an obstacle to success when Walton founded Wal-Mart, in the present can impede it. Multiple socioeconomic circumstances changed consumers’ needs and wants, which are no longer commonplace products or services. Accordingly, retailers should learn to function in this new framework.
The fourth chapter outlines the mediums that were preferred at various stages of the retail market’s evolution. For a sizable period of the twentieth century, television was the predominant form of media. Specifically, via TV, many well-known brands managed to ascend and become monumentalized in media discourse. Moreover, television was efficient with regard to Lewis’s purchase funnel – this type of media was able to create immediate awareness and build extensive interest. Nonetheless, despite its efficiency, the emergence and evolution of the Internet and subsequent descent of television reshaped the retail market anew. The Internet drastically changed the field, allowing consumers to make more informed decisions and providing spaces to interact and directly connect with brands. More alternatives regarding choice, delivery, and pricing also emerged. Additionally, the audience that brands can reach has increased due to online stores, but the brand image became more vulnerable as transparency rose. Therefore, technological advancement and different media types that followed created favorable conditions for brand expansion and changed a unified approach to buyers to a more diversified one.
The phenomena that Stephens describes seem to be ordinarily encountered in the present retail market. To observe them, a visit to a local mall should suffice. Popular fast fashion brands seem to accentuate that they offer everyone an opportunity to choose their individual style and change it regularly, marking the shift from the period when catering to mediocrity was commonplace. Despite being mass-produced, these brands try to transmit messages regarding empowering individuality in their ads. Besides, fast fashion publicity campaigns feature a more diverse population on the surface, which differs from frequently incorporated in the past image of a traditional American family. The brands’ extensive use of social media and online interactions with customers are also consequences of the changes that Stephens described in the fourth chapter. Since currently a growing number of people prefer online shopping, the author’s ideas regarding the Internet’s role appear to be especially poignant.
Due to technological, societal, and economic transformations, the global retail market underwent dramatic changes since the middle of the last century. The first part of Stephens’s “The Retail Revival” provides an insight into this complex process. The four chapters characterize the former prevalent tendencies and reasons for their modification. The author offers recommendations and identifies some dangers that retail professionals could encounter in the new market. Stephens approaches the subject from various perspectives (cultural, social, and economic), creating a comprehensive image of the current state of retail.
Work Cited
Stephens, Doug. The Retail Revival: Reimagining Business for the New Age of Consumerism. John Wiley & Sons, 2013.