New research from Javelin Group (part of Accenture) explores the impact of COVID-19 on footfall in the retail venues of five major global cities—London, New York, Berlin, Tokyo and Sydney—across different stages of the pandemic.  Using new generation geo-data (anonymised mobile geo-location data provided by Huq Industries) we explore consumer movement in and around a mix of representative commercial retail venues to answer questions such as: How quickly will the performance of my stores recover? What should the future shape of my store estate be? and How should we operate t ..read more

Where are the dominant shopping venues in the USA? What is the retail mix (food, fashion, finance)? Does the venue target affluent or value consumers? Where do consumers travel from to shop there? and what are their demographics? How can this help me better understand my investment asset, store network and/or target customers? VENUESCORE USA from Javelin Group (part of Accenture Strategy) provides retailers, brands, property developers and owners with insight into the US shopping venue hierarchy including scale of offer, market positioning, ‘fashionability’ and age positioning.The spatial rela ..read more

For many retailers, AI & machine learning is transforming the way they optimise their business. Those which stick to traditional tools lack the ability to make full-use of their growing datasets and risk being left behind. Machine learning helps ensure you make the best possible decisions – whether that be the right products for your customers, ensuring you have the right stores in the right place or optimising your customer marketing. Recently, machine learning has been adopted into Javelin Group’s “Shape of Chain” methodology to help drive our predictive models for evaluating existing st ..read more

Retail stores meet online experience Digital leaders are threatening traditional retail models by reinventing the store experience. The growth in ecommerce is continuing to impact on the traditional store, and whilst some retailers have not been able to adapt, others are becoming increasingly creative in how they leverage the physical bricks and mortar channel. Online native merchants are also now investing in a physical presence to extend and enrich their propositions, increase consumer engagement, and raise the profile of their brands. Most recently, there is the Amazon 4-star shop in New Y ..read more

The grocery business is having its moment. Retailers are adapting to the challenge of online faster than many can keep up with. Ocado’s pivot into an e-commerce platform provider and Walmart’s continued heavy investment into digital are just two examples of how the market is responding. As retailers are forced to consider existing logistics strategies in response to customer demands and fierce competition, new innovative fulfilment models are being explored to address the need to provide fast, cost effective and accurate e-grocery delivery services. The question is if these new operating mode ..read more

The growth of digital has created complex customer journeys and cross-channel behavior, interspersed with disruptive new players looking to capture value from the retailer-consumer relationship; in response, retailers are being forced to evolve and innovate the role of the physical store. Nowhere else is the impact of the changing role of the store being felt more than by retail real estate investors including shopping malls, retail parks and high streets, and this pace of change is placing real strain on the traditional landlord / tenant commercial business model. To survive and thrive, land ..read more

Despite a growing number of consumer brands and retailers already working together to step up key business areas, significant collaboration opportunities remain still untapped or not thoroughly exploited for most. While this is not new, collaboration has never been so necessary and complex due to digital disruption. To provide the advanced omni-channel propositions that customers expect today, it is essential for manufacturers and retailers to team-up and strengthen their ties. We can distinguish three main levels of collaboration between brands and retailers 1 Transformative: Develop activit ..read more

One of the most significant changes in the consumer goods industry in the last few years has been the emergence of transactional direct-to-consumer (D2C) propositions. These new ventures stand in stark contrast to the traditional route to market for these firms (where brands have sold to wholesalers, distributors and retailers), and offer brands an opportunity to develop a direct relationship with the end consumer. To this end, it is crucial for all consumer packaged goods (CPG) firms to understand why they should consider D2C, and how they can assess whether it can be a successful strategy fo ..read more

As the UK’s high streets change rapidly in the face of shifting consumer trends and digital disruption, retailers need the right insights at their disposal to help inform their retail store location strategy. To this end, Javelin Group has developed a new report – DESTINYSCORE – to add to its portfolio of retail location intelligence tools, which anticipates the future trajectory of UK urban centres, based on retail, consumer and macro-economic forces. DESTINYSCORE’s hypothesis is that a strong and sustainable retail offer in a town centre location is the function of a range of factors. Each ..read more

As many retail venue operators (venues include malls, retail parks and mixed-used locations) respond to changing consumer behaviour, they need to reinvent themselves to remain relevant. In this new era of retail, this reinvention must be supported by a strong digital strategy to build lasting and meaningful relationships with customers. Many retail venue operators have invested in apps or the latest shiny proptech, such as beacons, but technology on its own does not constitute a digital strategy. To be successful, operators must have a clear long-term vision, enabled by a coherent roadmap, th ..read more