E-commerce shocks are significant, and the US retail industry is welcoming
Due to the impact of e-commerce, the traditional retailers in the United States have continued to close this year after the closure of nearly 7,000 stores last year. On the 31st of last month, after the announcement of the closing of the store news and the dismal performance, Sears fell four consecutive shares and was accused of bankruptcy this year. The bad news of the industry has also made the US’s largest retailer Wal-Mart feel at risk. The company frequently emphasized the sense of crisis at the shareholders’ meeting and introduced a number of measures to maintain competitiveness. With the acceleration of the industry’s “free fall”, the US retail industry has begun to differentiate. While some retailers are on the verge of bankruptcy, the market believes that retail companies that focus on data and technology applications will survive the industry’s winter, including Wal-Mart. Macy’s and Kroger stand out.
Retail winter continuation
Most institutions expect that the fall of the US retail giant will be the traditional retail giant Sears. The old-fashioned retailer, which has consistently ranked first in the last century, reported on May 31 that its revenue in the first quarter fell more than 30% to $2.9 billion. Not long ago, the company also said it would close its 72 stores, and Sears has closed more than 160 stores so far this year. Sears Chief Financial Officer Rob Rickel explained, “The company needs to continue to adjust the store base and focus on the best stores, including new small store formats.” Negative stacking, last week’s share price It fell, which fell 18.86% to 2.28 US dollars on Friday, and the company’s share price hit above 158 US dollars before the financial crisis. In addition, in the list of 15 national retail companies that S&P has released in 2018 that may be declared bankrupt, Sears is ranked second with a ruin probability of 25.37%.
At present, the data of many consulting organizations show that the winter of the US retail industry is still continuing. Among them, consulting firm Cushman & Wakefield expects that the United States will close more than 12,000 stores in 2018. Commercial real estate company CoStar data also shows that nearly a quarter (about 310) of shopping malls in the United States are on the verge of bankruptcy.
JPMorgan Chase said that in addition to the high base of retail stores in the United States, rising labor costs, and changes in consumer habits, the bottom line is that technology empowerment has accelerated the decline of traditional retail. At present, the large-scale rise of e-commerce represented by Amazon has already brought a huge threat to Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer. But consultancy AlixPartners believes that the vast majority of retailers are now closing the store to streamline unnecessary retail networks to create maximum value, which means the industry is undergoing a reshuffle rather than a massive collapse.
Technology empowerment drives transformation
The precarious data of the company has chilled American retail companies, and even the world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart has repeatedly stressed the "crisis" at last year’s annual general meeting. Tony Rogers, the company’s chief marketing officer, said that retailers who are afraid of change are finally behind, with the top three retailers Sears, JCPenney and Kmart in 1970 not in the top ten in the US in 2017. The retailer’s list is open. Among the US retail giants in 2017, Wal-Mart ranked first, followed by competitors Kroger, the city, and Amazon. In order to fight against Amazon and other e-commerce companies, Wal-Mart has introduced high-tech tools such as scanning robots, quick unloaders, store maps, and mobile express returns to enhance the service experience. At the same time, after nearly 5,000 offline stores in the United States, Wal-Mart also purchased online online retailers such as Jet.com, clothing e-commerce Shoebuy, and women’s fashion e-commerce ModCloth. Optimistic about Wal-Mart’s omni-channel development model, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have raised their Wal-Mart ratings this year.
Most institutions believe that retail companies like Wal-Mart that use new technologies and models will survive the industry’s winter. Among them, Goldman Sachs saw potential opportunities in the US retail industry transformation, saying that by 2022, 70% of US retail sales will still occur in physical stores. The agency is optimistic about the enabling of data for the industry, indicating that the data will help managers better manage inventory, optimize costs, and precision marketing. For example, Amazon can track user shopping preferences and recommend products through a series of tools such as self-built cloud services, so how to establish a digital “future store” in the traditional offline retail stores will be the key. Wal-Mart, Macy’s and Kroger have come to the fore.
When talking about the development trend of the US retail industry, FGRT, the global retail technology analysis agency, is also optimistic about the driving force of technology empowerment. It believes that retailers will use the diversified technologies such as blockchain and 3D printing to make their supply chain more intelligent in 2018. To enhance market competitiveness. Wal-Mart has filed a patent application in April, applying blockchain technology to its shopping guide service, with a view to building accurate user portraits.
In addition, the US retail magazine Store released the 2018 US retail industry’s eight major predictions, especially mentioning that after decades of exploration of data mining, artificial intelligence will become the next opportunity for the retail industry. According to market research firm Gartner, 85% of retail interactions will be managed by artificial intelligence by 2020.
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