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Re-Inventing Retail

From the Co-Founders of The Retail Owners Institute.
Tips | Tactics | Insights on the Business of Retailing.

What's Really Happening to Retailing? Bookmark

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You've seen all those comments, right? All the dire news about the demise of retailing?

It was 20 years ago this week that Amazon went public. Twenty years. And now they are valued at twice the value of Walmart.

As an independent retailer, this is certainly not news to you. The domination of retail first by Walmart and then Amazon is all-too-well known.

Look, we are not fond of what Amazon has done to independent retailers. But, we were struck by a comment by Jeff Bezos in a 2013 interview with Charlie Rose which we had missed earlier.

Bezos asserted, "Amazon is not happening to bookselling. The future is happening to bookselling."

In fact, as you know, the future is ALWAYS "happening" to retailing!

Meanwhile, consider how Amazon is continuing to adapt to keep the future from happening to themThey are growing and evolving in wholly new directions – Amazon Web Services, supply chain logistics, air freight, drones, etc, etc.

Hmm. Might Amazon be sensing that there is a limit to what people will buy online? 

They are opening their own brick-n-mortar stores, after all. Perhaps their "retail growth curve" is starting to flatten out, causing them to turn elsewhere for growth.

Sounds like an opportunity for smart retailers! 

Remember this: your customers (and others like them) are still there. 

They want to buy things, especially with personal attention from knowledgeable staff.

And they want that in-store experience.

But...they will not give up the information and convenience that the web provides today. 

They want it all! (Haven't they always??)

That is the future, whether or not you are ready. Don't let the future "happen to you." 




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About The Co-Founders

Pat Johnson and Dick Outcalt, The Co-Founders of The Retail Owners Institute®, have been called "The Zen masters of retail finance!"

Since 1999, they have been assembling  their proprietary content into a unique self-help website. The Retail Owners Institute is an unmatched resource that assists retailers worldwide with basic financial training, assistance and easy-to-use tools.

Their engaging and empowering how-to resources about the financial levers in retailing are informative, fun(!), and retailer-friendly. Their promise: "Everyone will 'get it'!"

Pat and Dick are recognized experts in strategic retailing. Working only as a team – Outcalt & Johnson: Retail Strategists, LLC – they have been consulting, publishing, and speaking professionally throughout North America since 1990.

They focus exclusively on retail, or wherever retail is involved. They work with CEOs, CFOs, boards and owners of retail operations, as well as manufacturers or wholesalers expanding into retail. And they also are Retail Turnaround Experts.


Since 1999, empowering retailers and store owners to "Turn on your financial headlights!"