Are showrooms the future of retail ?

In 2018, managing supply chain efficiently seems like squaring the circle. It seems impossible due to numerous competing pressures. Retailers need to deliver faster, to ship the right product to the right place (store, client home…) and at the right time. Retailers must streamline processes to avoid inefficient products sent between stores. Particularly, they must make their online business profitable. In that field, almost everything and its opposite factor co-exist, adding to the retailers’ puzzled mood. In the U.S.A., Rebecca Minkoff (accessories), Pirch and Dyson (household appliances) are drastically reducing in-store inventory. Some firms go even further, with showrooms dedicated to high-end products and sales advice. These include Warby Parker (eye glasses) and Bonobos (men’s fashion, 47 stores), which was purchased by Wal-Mart in June 2017 in a US$310-million deal without being profitable. “The zero-stock model generates rent savings because we operate smaller and unrestricted spaces,” said the Marketing Director of Bonobos’,…