Once again, the J.C. Williams Group team attended the Retail Council of Canada’s STORE 2015 Conference. With a record attendance including the who’s who of Canadian retail, this annual event was undoubtedly the most important retail conference in Canada this year. STORE 2015 provided once again an outstanding opportunity for retailers and vendors to meet and discuss pressing issues.

Photo: (left to right) Neil Stern Senior Partner, McMillan/Doolittle, and Chairman of the Ebeltoft Group; John Williams, Senior Partner, J.C. Williams Group; Lisa Hutcheson, Senior Advisor, J.C. Williams Group; Andrew Siegwart, RCC; Diederik van Gelder, Founder, Bilder & De Clercq; Adam Saper, Managing Partner & CFO, Eataly

This year’s theme was appropriately dubbed ‘Disruption’. From my perspective, that was certainly the vibe felt throughout the conference. The following are a few key takeaways that have stuck with me.

1. Retail is facing major disruption
From bricks-to-clicks, the changing consumer, the impact of millennials, and disruptive new business models (e.g., Uber, Airbnb) were just a few of the issues abuzz amongst the delegates. Retailers are under more pressure than any other time in history to dramatically ‘shake things up’ within their organizations. That doesn’t mean ‘make some tweaks’; that means that radical transformation needs to happen. We have seen a line-up of retailers that have failed to reinvent and stay relevant, succumbing to extinction or announcing mass store closings so far this year – The Gap being one of them just announcing the closure of 175 stores. Retailers that fail to innovate and provide a meaningful offer are failing to meet customers’ expectations.

Neil Stern Senior Partner, McMillan/Doolittle, and Chairman of the Ebeltoft Group takes the main stage to talk about retail innovation

2. The physical store still has an important role
With the growth of online sales, many have pondered what that means for the physical store. However, as retailers and customers move to omnichannel, the physical space still has a role, albeit in different forms:

A place to showcase merchandise in a way that boldly delivers an experience
A social gathering place
A space for knowledge, learning, and information
A place of recreation, relaxation.

3. Innovation
Retail innovation is changing the retail landscape in many ways. J.C. Williams Group, in partnership with The Ebeltoft Group, has been tracking retail innovation for over a decade.

We have taken the many retailer examples and categorized their approach to innovation into seven trends:
1. Curated Collections
2. Customization
3. Experiential Retailing
4. Hyper Local
5. Online Offline Mashup
6. Retailvention
7. Technology Intervention.

For sixty examples of outstanding retail innovation from around the globe, download our Retail Innovations 10: http://www.jcwg.com/pages/common/?id=na2004

Diederik van Gelder, Founder, Bilder & De Clercq, featured in RI10

Conferences are always stimulating and inspirational but when we get back to the office, often the daily work takes priority. BUT, those that continue with the status quo will quickly find themselves left behind. It’s mission critical to get your organization focused on innovation and transformation; it must become part of the culture.

Want to talk more about ‘Disruption’ and how your organization would like to innovate? Let’s connect.

Written by: Lisa Hutcheson, Senior Advisor, Innovation and Non-traditional Retail at J.C. Williams Group @_lisahutcheson

Real Estate & Community Master Planning

Your vision for a thriving business is integral to any economic infrastructure; your customers are at the centre of all planning and decisions. Creating a clear and concise roadmap that factors every facet of the customers’ experience is crucial for success. Your plan must consider vendors, tenants, landlords, developers, government agencies, and other facilities that your retail space will benefit or affect. Your collaboration with the JCWG team will ensure a detailed master plan that includes clear objectives supported by extensive research that considers every component of your business community.

Resources and Techniques:

Retail demand calculations
Trade area analysis
Market gaps and opportunities
Zoning and space requirements
Retail supply audits
Trade area psychographics and demographics
Pedestrian and traffic counts

Expert Witness & Advisory Services

There are many moving parts in a customer-centric business, and you may encounter legal setbacks and disputes at any stage of your business journey. Your collaboration with the JCWG team will provide you with expert reports and testimony in trials and hearings while advising legal counsel to ensure that you have the necessary resources required to manage and support litigation impacting every aspect of your case.

Resources and Techniques:

Discovery
Expert report preparation
Trial testimony
Business strategy review
Determination of damages

Concept Development & Space Planning

Concept Development services include background research, branding, right-sizing, capital budgeting all the way to detail design. JCWG can work from an idea or join a design process to enlighten, validate and support implementation. A vacant property can also be best filled from a concept development exercise.

It may be your idea, our research results, or both. Once a potential retail concept is identified is needs to be developed and validated. The JCWG team has the capacity to develop the concept characteristics from aesthetic & functional planning, design standards, location requirements, capital requirement and validation through demand, trade area and benchmarking analysis.

Resources and Techniques:

Functional planning and programming
Concept design and development of design standards
Detailed design services including base building requirements
Marketing plan and strategy execution
Management and staffing selection
Tenant mix and product curation
Short term and long term KPI definition and monitoring
Operational audits
Expertise sourcing and partnering
Site selection, design development and project enduring, operations human resources, start up inventories, and capital costing
Physical programming and concept design

Branding & Marketing

Winning brand equity must happen on so many platforms in today’s retail world with a consistent message and quantifiable return. JCWG understands comprehensive internal and external brand messaging that identifies the uniqueness and market advantage of a retail busines. Your collaboration with the JCWG team will strengthen your marketing strategy to build stronger connections with your audience through your brand.

Resources and Techniques:

Brand assessments
Unique selling proposition, noble purpose, and differentiation authentication
Brand and marketing implementation
Communications plans
Insightful transition to row market share from research
Customer feedback and product evaluation

Research & Insights

The amount of data available to customer-centric businesses can be overwhelming. Understanding the metrics’ influence on strategy is imperative to success. An experienced eye can save a lot of time and misguided investment to provide relevant and actionable insights.

The JCWG project team collaborative approach provides access to unparalleled experience to mine and capitalize on.

Resources and Techniques:

Custom market studies and benchmarking
Market sounding and listening
Case studies
Global resources through our International partners, The Ebeltoft Group
Demand assessment and market share analysis
Daytime population data, tracking, and analyzing where consumers are and when
Quantitative consumer data gathering, both published and unpublished, from various external sources and our personal database gathered from industry projects
Qualitative data gathering and insights
Interviews (consumer and executive), focus groups, online surveys, and social listening
Employee and customer motivational metrics
Research validation and interpretation to insights

Retail Strategy

JCWG supports retail-related businesses with a proprietary approach that is based on a strategic model developed through nearly 50 years of experience guiding clients. Retail strategy must translate vision into a plan which addresses the client’s resources to implement. JCWG focuses on delivering strategies with vision and is supported by a ‘nuts and bolts’ approach to operationalizing. JCWG applies strategic thinking processes and market research to develop or revitalize your strategy.

Resources and Techniques:

Definition and prioritization of client goals, needs and wants
Thought starter and results oriented workshops to enhance planning team input and integration of JCWG research and expertise
Current situation snapshot, trade area analysis, market gap, and competitive audits (physical and digital)
Tenant and product curation, clustering, and right sizing
Tailored processes to match client cultural, operational, and financial needs
Productivity metrics and comparisons
Active, fun, and energized learning, sharing, and strategizing experiences
Financial modelling incorporating research findings
Risk analysis and mitigation
Threat and opportunity analysis
Omnichannel platform harmonization
Stakeholder and financing approval support

Store 2015 Review

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