As the internet is the primary foundation for industry disruption, every year I look forward to Mary Meeker's latest trends report.
Global Internet Growth is Slowing
The internet global population is now at 3 billion. Overall growth is flat at 9% year on year. Excluding India, global internet growth was only 7%. This contrasts to 2009 when the internet was growing at over 15% per year.
India now has 277 million people on the internet, growing at 40% in the last reported year. In 2015, India passed USA to become the number two global user market behind China.
"A business based on brand is, very simply, a business primed for success" - David F. D'Alessandro
Forbes recently published the latest list of the Top 100 World's Most Valuable Brands. By the numbers, following are key insights from the 2016 edition:
Top countries: USA (52 brands), Germany (11), Japan (8), France (6), Switzerland (4).
"Customers attach value to a product in proportion to its perceived ability to help solve their problems or meet their needs. All else is derivative...There is no such thing as a commodity. All goods and services are differentiable. Though the usual presumption is that this is more true of consumer goods than of industrial goods and services, the opposite is the actual case." - Theodore Levitt, Harvard Business School
The future of retail requires:
Immersive interactive customer experiences across all channels, both virtual and in the store.
Store associates as passionate brand ambassadors that engage a mobile educated shopping consumer.
Back to retail basics, this means that store employees need to spend the majority of their time on the actual sales floor interacting with consumers. All tasks that detract from the actual retail selling process need to be either totally eliminated or highly minimized.
Recently, I had the pleasure of introducing a new Tyco evolutionary technology solution branded "Source Tagging as a Service" (STaaS). On multiple levels, this new innovative service delivers a secure and profitable future of retail.
Are Department Stores the Dinosaurs of the Digital Age?
In March, I had the pleasure of speaking at an Intercontinental Group of Department Stores (IGDS) industry conference in Amsterdam. My topics included a retail industry update, the future destiny of the department store, and the sector's RFID adoption trends.
A November 2015 article proclaimed "The long, painful death of the American department store."
Are department stores stuck in the middle trying to serve all consumer segments?
Are the stores too big and missing the industry trend of stores getting smaller?
Is retail sales growth possible for department stores?
How can department stores evolve and thrive in the future of retail?
Key Insights from the 2016 Global Powers of Retailing
Every January, Deloitte publishes an updated view of the Top 250 largest global retailers. Following is a synopsis of my favorite content from the 2016 19th edition.
In New York this past month, NRF invited you to a special area on the trade show floor to "see, touch and experience some of the most interesting and innovative products finding their way into the marketplace and some that are still on the drawing board. The (NRF) iLab features the products that inspire customers to buy and the brands to innovate."
Following is a partial list of some of the innovative products on display.
Hello Barbie Doll "Play" Innovation
Using Wi-Fi and speech recognition technology, Hello Barbie can interact uniquely with each child by telling stories, playing games, and even laughing at jokes. With more than 8,000 phrases, Hello Barbie enables enhanced play experiences never before possible with a fashion doll.
The 105th USA National Retail Federation (NRF) and EXPO delivered more than 33,500 attendees, hundreds of educational sessions, miles of exhibits, and some technologies that boggled the mind. I would describe the event as a cornucopia of digital innovation.
The NINE retail disruption takeaways from NRF 2016 include:
The Robots Are Here
In a recent post, we introduced OSHbot deployed at Lowe's and Tally from a San Francisco startup. At NRF 2016, I had the pleasure of meeting Pepper, a friendly and smart retail focused robot assistant (photo).
In Part 1, we discussed the following 2016 retail technology headlines:
The Retail Robots Are Coming
There Goes Another Drone
Omnichannel or Die
Analyze This
The Smart Store Revisited
In Part 2, we will focus on branding the future of retail, venture into the internet of things, and do some micro shopping of the target consumer. Can you believe that in 2016, we will still go to stores to shop? Finally, in the spirit of the new Disney Star Wars movie blockbuster, we will discuss whether the "force" is still with the retail industry.
It's that time of year when once again we reflect on the retail industry's progress as it transitions forward to new horizons. Disruptive change continues with online sales being an even bigger influence on the just completed holiday season. New technologies continue to transform the vibrant retail industry.
The retail robots are coming and if you look close there goes another drone. Is it time to omnichannel or die? Why don't you just analyze this? Is the 'smart store' finally here?
In part 1, we envision five of the top ten retail technology headlines that will be popular in 2016.
The USA holiday of Thanksgiving carries a special meaning in our family as many years ago it marked the exact day we started our immigrant journey to the United States. From a small town south of Rome, to Zurich, and then on to Cleveland, my youth was brimming with dramatic cultural changes.
Our USA trip was arduous from the start as my family was literally lost in New York. On arrival by cruise ship, traveling with an uncle who we thought spoke English; we were taken to the wrong train station. For the planned train journey to Cleveland, instead of Grand Central, we were dropped off at the nearest New York subway station.
On the journey to learn something new, we travel to Montreux Switzerland. After the creation of a Jazz Festival by Claude Nobs in 1967, the founding of the world-class Mountain Studios inside the local casino in 1975, and favorable tax benefits, this quiet Swiss Lake Geneva (or Lac Léman) town became a destination to create music by legends such as Queen.
The earliest settlement in Montreux dates back to the late Bronze Age. The name Montreux comes from the Latin word monasteriolum, meaning "small monastery". Over hundreds of years, the local language changed this Latin word into Mustruel by 1215, and later into the modern name Montreux.
Deep Purple got the inspiration to the song “Smoke on the water” here. The rock group Queen with lead singer Freddy Mercury recorded 6 albums here. The studio was inside the casino that burned down in 1971 that inspired the Deep Purple memorable song.
For Freddy Mercury, Montreux became his second home; a place where he could escape the spotlight and focus on what he loved most: making music. Today, his legacy lives on through the iconic Freddie Mercury statue overlooking Lake Geneva in this picture.
Being a fan of classic rock, I truly enjoyed my visit to Montreux and blasted “Smoke on the Water” in my ear pods on arrival. This particular pose with Freddy was a personal reminder that life is short and never forget to let your guard down and have fun.
Psychologist Mike Rucker once wrote that "Happiness is a state of mind, but fun is something you can do. It doesn't require education, money or power. All it requires is intentionality. If happiness is a mirage, fun is your backyard oasis."
My oasis is celebrating life, always having a positive attitude, listen to all types of motivating music, and living each single moment as it was my last. At the top of my voice, I will continue to scream that we are all champions of possibilities that must keep on fighting towards our destined end. Rock on my friends.
Confidence in physical retail remains solid this year. More than 55% of survey respondents said they feel confident or very confident about brick-and-mortar performance in 2026, while only around 20% expressed concern. - From Place AI Read more
The Number 1 country continued lead reinforces a broader trend: countries with strong institutions, high trust, and robust social safety nets consistently rank highest in life satisfaction. - From Visual Capitalist
"A business based on brand is, very simply, a business primed for success" - 
In March, I had the pleasure of speaking at an Intercontinental Group of Department Stores (
innovative products finding their way into the marketplace and some that are still on the drawing board. The (NRF) iLab features the products that inspire customers to buy and the brands to innovate."
