Retail is Changing Part I: Who are the Winners and Losers?
There’s no way around it: the digital era has disrupted every single sector but one that has seen a lot of transition is retail. We’ve talked over and over about what businesses must do to keep their customers happy in the digital age. The businesses that have been able to adapt and change their business to adjust to the technological era are emerging on top of the market; those who are slow to change have seen unfortunate declines in recent years. This doesn’t mean that retail is dead, but actually means that it’s more alive than ever with many opportunities to take advantage of. There are winners and losers in a rapidly changing retail sector and in this blog post, we’ll be going over who the winners are.
Distribution and Logistics
The increase in online orders and mail deliveries means that the previously simple and compact mail delivery market has become more complex and demanding than ever. Led by FedEx, UPS, USPS, and DHL, companies must meet the demand for weekend deliveries, delivery hours of 6 AM – 6 PM, and optimization of routes to ensure extreme efficiency.
The door has opened for new players to enter the logistics business to not only take over delivery services, but to further optimize them. Flexport is an innovative logistics company that is valued at over $1 billion and has major, international partners to make the process of shipping and delivery smoother than ever.
Warehouse Owners
Also driven by the growing demand for delivery is storage and sorting of goods. E-commerce is driving the demand for distribution centers of every size and warehouse property owners stand to benefit more than ever. And in this market, the demand for distribution and logistics space is almost too high to keep up with.
According to a recent report from CoStar, the metro-Boulder market has one of the fastest growing flex warehouse space markets in the country. The county has 12.5 million sq. feet of flex-warehouse space which is nearly 50% of the industrial leasing market.
E-Commerce
The early days of e-commerce are commemorated by eBay auctions, but that quickly evolved into the 2-day shipping glamour of Amazon Prime. Today we have endless e-commerce sites and tools like Shopify, which make it easy and effortless for small businesses to host online websites and provide secure check out systems.
The rise of e-commerce has created a massive shift in resource allocation for any company and subsequently, new jobs. Developers are hired to ensure a seamless e-shopping user experience, delivery companies are hired for logistics and shipping, and consultants are hired to build a watertight customer experience plan.
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Retail is truly alive as ever. It just looks a bit different — Amazon makes it possible to shop from every vendor possible at the tip of your fingers. Shopify is changing brick and mortar businesses and getting them connected at unprecedented rates. More importantly, the change of e-commerce creates opportunities for companies and property owners to take advantage of their assets.
