Retail is constantly evolving and changing. In order to compete in today’s environment, retailers must be incorporating omnichannel into their strategy. The dinosaurs that are reluctant to invest the time and resources to morph their retail practice into the standards of today for future growth and sustainability will be left in the dust. Many retailers such as Kroger and Macy’s are aggressively adopting omnichannel platforms in order to meet today’s consumer expectations.

At the ICSC Recon convention this past May in Vegas, Kroger reported that it had $5 billion of online sales in 2018, a 58% year over year increase and anticipates that to double in the fiscal year 2019. Consumers want to engage at the store level, want to conveniently pick up products in-store and expect the option of home delivery. If you are a retailer and do not provide this to your consumer, unless you are an extremely rare commodity, your consumer will go elsewhere to an option that is less frictionless and aligns more with their expectations. Millennials are playing a large role and are having some of the biggest impacts on the shopping center industry. Their shopping patterns are much different from their parents, they are tending to start families later in life and are showing more loyalty towards altruistically minded retailers.

[Source]