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With the recent closure of department stores such as JCPenney, Amazon’s domination of the consumer market continues to increase and change the retail landscape.
In fact, believe it or not, 64 percent of American households have an Amazon Prime account, according to the Internet Retailers Conference and Exhibition (IRCE), making it pretty clear to competitors: If Amazon hasn’t already impacted your business, there’s a good chance you could be next!
According to a 2016 Forbes article, Wal-Mart was the world’s largest retailer, but Amazon was not far behind, coming in at the eighth slot.
And the e-commerce giant is only continuing to grow.
Amazon has recently added a wedding registry section, initiated a takeover of Whole Foods and announced Amazon Prime Wardrobe (still in the beta phase), which will allow you to try on and return clothes for free.
When it comes to knowing precisely what customers want and making it easy for them to get it, nobody does it quite like Amazon, so honestly, it only seems like a matter of time before they top the list of world’s largest retailers.
Forbes has made suggestions as to what other stores need to do to remain competitive.
Competitors will need to introduce tactics like augmented reality in stores, personalized advertising and more if they are going to continue to be relevant in a world where people are increasingly choosing to shop online.
When JCPenney announced store closures, they also released information about their plan to revamp stores and get more people in the doors.
According to the L.A. Times, “With a slimmed-down store portfolio, [J.C. Penney] will be able to focus on making its remaining stores more of a destination,” Neil Saunders, managing director of retail research firm GlobalData Retail, said in a report. “This is essential, as while progress has been made on categories like home, other departments still require attention.”
Stores are trying harder to give customers a reason to get off the couch and go into their stores.
For example, Forever 21 announced plans to open boutiques selling beauty products, accessories and home goods in addition to their popular clothing, no doubt to give consumers more reasons to walk through their doors.
Brick-and-mortar stores are being forced to get more and more creative in order to compete with Amazon—especially now that an Amazon Prime membership is looking more enticing than ever before.