Retail store closings in the US are making almost daily headlines with no projection of slowing down. What is going on here? Has the rise of online shopping finally tipped physical retail down a pathway of inevitable decline to eventual oblivion? The real story is not that simple, considering that nearly 90% of goods purchased in the U.S. are still purchased in a physical store, “oblivion” looks to be a long way off.

In this webinar recording, originally hosted by the Path to Purchase Institute, GfK took a deep dive into the eternal battle between online and physical retail with a focus on a roadmap for physical retailers to retain their shopper relevance and elevate their shoppers’ experiences in their stores.

This presentation is drawn from a multitude of GfK shopper trend-watching resources including the GfK FutureBuy study, Roper Consumer Trends and GfK’s proprietary panel of 5,000 shoppers whose e-commerce activity is continuously tracked, as well as the experience of GfK’s shopper team.

In this webinar recording, viewers will:

• Explore the state of e-commerce in the U.S. – including emergent models/players that are presenting fresh threats to the relevance of the brick-and-mortar retail model.
• Learn what shoppers want from physical stores today and the strengths to build on in the future.
• Discover best practice roadmaps for elevating the shopping experience in physical stores, including marketplace examples of winning executions and retail reinventions.
• Look at the projected impact of emerging technology platforms (augmented and virtual reality, AI, beacons, etc.) on a shopper’s physical store experience.