What: A new approach to store network optimisation.

Why it is important: Tomorrow will mean fewer stores but better stores.

With store inventories and real estate costs weighing heavily on their cost base, fashion retailers have been in a race to capture e-commerce spend as consumers’ uptake of the channel skyrocketed during the pandemic. But omnichannel won’t resolve a bigger issue that most global store footprints are no longer the right size, shape or scope for the times in which we live. Store network optimisation now needs a major rethink too and some commercial real estate experts have begun to encourage retail clients to examine their global store portfolio as though it doesn’t already exist.

But whatever happens next, the key to building a successful physical retail portfolio will hinge not only on sophisticated and seamless digital integration for ultra-connected consumers, but on the ability of brand leaders to seize the moment in terms of location, format and next-generation strategies that generate good return on investment.

The Retail Footprint of the Future