Yes, if retailers do their homework, say Clemens Renker and Falk Maiwald in their current article "Advantage strategies of stationary retail in competition with online retail" in the edited volume "Digitalization in Sales" (Binckebanck/Elste, Springer-Gabler-Verlag), which will be published in December 2015.
The industry, cities and numerous specialist conferences have been focusing intensively on the future of retail for years. However, digitalization is now rapidly accelerating the "wheel of retailing", threatening the existence of many businesses. In order for customers to return to the store, retailers must first perform their basic tasks in their "filter function" for consumers in a perceptibly satisfactory manner. However, improving interaction skills with customers through learning and staff development, adapting strategies and transforming into a new business model are sufficient for successful survival in the new competitive environment. The integration of new digital media is a sine qua non. Customers and employees alike will then benefit. The attractiveness of many city centers will also increase again.
As P. Ovidius Naso said in his "Metamorphoses" shortly after the birth of Christ: "For no thing retains its previous appearance. The creative nature and "creative destruction" (Schumpeter) of the markets generates one form from another. Believe me, nothing perishes in the whole world.
Contact
Faculty of Business Administration and Engineering Management
Prof. Dr. Clemens Renker
Marketing, Commercial and Banking Studies
Email: c.renker(at)hszg.de
Faculty of Managerial and Cultural Studies
Dr. Falk Maiwald, Director ZKI
Email: f.maiwald(at)hszg.de