Retail Minute: Shoptalk 2023 focuses on retailers' agility

Elizabeth Lafontaine gives her top takeaways for retailers to Connor Perrett on the show floor at Shoptalk 2023 in Las Vegas.

Transcript

Connor Perrett, Editor, Retail Leader:
Hi, I'm Connor Perrett, the editor of Retail Leader. I'm here on the show floor at Shop Talk 2023 in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay. I'm joined by Elizabeth Lafontaine. She's the Chief Retail Analyst for Retail Leader Pro. Elizabeth, thanks for joining me here on the floor.
Elizabeth Lafontaine, Chief Analyst, Retail Leader Pro:
Of course. Thanks for having me.
Perrett:
I want to pick your brain a little bit. Tell me a little bit about what you've seen so far at the show. We're kind of nearing the end. So, what are you noticing?
Lafontaine:
It has been a whirlwind of a few days, but I think that you and I were both at NRF, and I think that we've seen, there's been a lot of differences at this show. And I think one of the major takeaways is that retailers are really understanding that they need to be agile. And that comes in many different formats, but I think that they really recognize that the customer is moving at such a warp speed, and retailers right now are not set up to be able to meet the demands of that consumer. And they always feel like they're falling behind.
So I think we heard a lot about generative AI and ChatGPT this week, but I think a lot of that is because retailers really understand that they need to put tools in place to be able to service customers wherever they are, whenever they want to shop, and making sure that they're getting products to consumers fast and easily so that they can stay with the trends. I think the other thing that we've seen is a lot of short-format video. I think people are realizing the power of TikTok, Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, and that we're just not a market that's really going to embrace livestreaming as a consumer segment. So making sure that brands and retailers are connecting with consumers authentically through those platforms and really using them as conversion tools is so important right now.
Perrett:
You're a brand, you're a retailer, and you're not at the show, so what are the chief analyst's top two takeaways from the show floor this year?
Lafontaine:
I would say the first one is really that e-commerce — despite the fact that we've seen exponential growth over the past few years — stores are not dead. We've seen so much on the show floor about innovation in-store. Really a lot of solution providers coming to create great in-store experiences for retailers. And retailers are investing heavily in their stores to make them more agile, to make the path to purchase for consumers better and to really kind of embrace consumers and the fact that they want to come back into stores.
I think the other thing that we've seen is that brands are really focusing on building the brands themselves. They want to appear to be authentic for consumers. They want to make sure that they are building communities with their consumers. And I think that we're seeing that retail, and entertainment, and content and community, you're all kind of centered within the retail ecosystem themselves. It's not just retailers can't just buy and sell goods to people anymore. They need to embrace the 360-degree view of the consumer.
Perrett:
Yeah, absolutely. Well, Elizabeth, thanks so much. This was great. I really appreciate the insights.
Lafontaine:
Of course. Thanks for having me.
Perrett:
For more coverage of ShopTalk 2023, head to RetailLeader.com.