Who killed mom and pop stores? Chain stores to the most extent – 199X

Who killed chain stores? Amazon to the most extent 201X

Who killed Amazon? Mom and pop stores to the most extent 203X

Who killed mom and pop stores? Chain stores to the most extent 205X

Who killed chain stores? A new concept will come up for sure 207X

And the saga continues….

I hope the above is not true, but principally they have not been proven false.

The truth is today’s retail is being crushed by Amazon. Consumers are changing the way they shop. They are looking for convenience. Parents no longer have to drag their kids, spend hours shopping and wait in line to checkout. Most items are available with the click of a button. With IoT we even see automatic orders when an item is about to go out of stock. With AI and IoT, intelligent systems will organize and shop for you with the lowest cost and stock up items when they falls in price. With IoT and future of AI, maintaining and managing lengthy shopping list will become history.

The truth is Amazon is building the future of retail. Most retailers are playing the catch up game by jumping up the floor, whereas Amazon has already reached the moon. The retailers who are just jumping up the floor will fail and fall down fast enough. That’s why we are seeing so many store closures. Businesses are struggling to compete with technical and process advancements that amazon had in the past decade.

Where do traditional retail go from here?: A downward spiral

Can retailers avoid the downward spiral?: Yes, obviously there is a solution to every complex problem

How to avoid the downward spiral?: Retailers should collaborate, network & innovate with peers