What: Customers are moving out, and retailers are adapting

Why it is important: New experiences and services are the solution, not new stores

In the US, mall operators are following the new consuming and housing habits, and predict a rise of suburban malls, taking precedence over city centres. However, retail specialists such as Robert Burke object that simply relocating or opening new stores will not be the right answer for new consuming trends. Footfall metrics are obsolete in a world where traffic is less important than customer retention. Experience, digitisation, meaning and seamless integration in every-day life will be key for retailers to stand out of the crowd, and avoid being commoditised, a risk taken by big box or strip malls today.

Social experience will be the real currency in the future, and retailers need to adapt to this new reality.

Retail Reorients as Shoppers Migrate