What: IADS’ partner Marc-André Kamel from Bain explains his views about the future of retail

Why it is important: He defined a set of models that help assess strategic opportunities

Bain identifies 7 types of retailers in the future, all with their strengths and weaknesses:

• Legacy laggards: once-mighty business struggling to adapt to market changes, with partnerships or M&A (merge and acquisition) as their only options.
• Unsustainable innovators: new business models which are extremely attractive, but which will never prove profitable in the future.
• Regional gems: retailers who lack absolute scale but with a strong local leadership.
• Hitchhikers: retailers able to detect trends and produce innovative proposals, but who need to partner with other companies as they lack critical mass to keep pace with must-have investments.
• Value champions: low-cost chains evangelical about passing on savings to their customers. Ability to reduce their cost of operation to remain profitable on the long range and not be put at risk by newcomers with a similar strategy.
• Scale fighters: reach a big enough size to bankroll their own omnichannel and data-analytics capabilities, in order to gain pre-eminence on given territories. Such a strategy can be achieved through M&A.
• Ecosystems: the strongest model for the future, becoming a place to browse, buy, read, chat, play and more. However, this implies fighting with the likes of Amazon or Alibaba.

Kamel also highlights that Gen Zs have a different consumption pattern than older generations and are more focused on sustainability and meaning, suggesting that in the long run there will be less of a rush for consumption. Retailers should also take that into consideration.

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