A lot of people will tell you that the days of Retail are numbered. And online is going to take over. Physical retail may be going through rough times but it is here to stay.

A few years before it was the availability of better prices online that drove people to Online shopping. The convenience of home delivery was a great advantage. But most of the retail stores now offer identical service. Most retailers also offer the ‘buy online and pickup at a local store’. And most Retail stores are also pushing with their digital presence. Still the millennials are somewhat elusive.

Now, there is a greater understanding and acceptance among the Retail experts that what is really ailing the Retail is the people working in the Retail itself. Simply put lack of talent.

Retail has focused too much on offering the lowest price and it came with a very hefty cost. Retail relied too much on low paid low workers who lacked the right skills. Also, the low investment in retail employee trainings did not help much. To make it still work, Retail stores relied on the centralisation of the key high skilled tasks.

In the end retail has become the marvel of the industrial scaling which does not recognize the existence of intelligence at the local components. And only the head office can be smart.

21st century is telling – ‘Welcome to the Agile World’. It is time to put out in very capital and bold letters – ‘Welcome to the Agile Retail’

Talent is the single biggest Retail challenge. Read more:

http://www.growthengineering.co.uk/retail-challenges/

Pic copied from the growthengineering.co.uk website.